wrybosome
Contributor
Key Largo is a trip I'm sure most of the SB regulars have done, but this might be of use to other newbie divers like me.
I was looking for a trip with fairly easy, shallow reefs to take my step daughter on for her first post-certification dives. Something with a hard bottom at shallow depth and easy surface conditions to make things as easy and pleasant as possible. So Key Largo reef dives seemed a good way to go. Based on another SBer recommendation I went with Conch Republic Divers in Tavernier and I wasn't disappointed.
CR has a full shop about 10 feet from their dock, bathroom and shower facilities, and allow you to hang your gear in the shop overnight between dives. It is just very conveniently set up compared to some of the other places I looked at down there. Morning check in after the first day is as simple as stopping in and saying hi so your name is on the manifest, then grab your gear off the hangers, and walk the ten feet to the boat.
They have two boats, a 30 footer (Aquatic Diver) used on the reef dives, and a larger one for the wrecks. Another dive op i talked to at Beneath the Seas described them as a cattle boat but this was absolutely not true. I believe there were nine of us diving on Aquatic Diver both days and I found that there was plenty of room on the boat and the crew (Clint, Lisa, and Bill?) were very helpful and friendly. The ride out was fast, comfortable, and dry under the canopy and in the stern.
One thing I didn't realize about CR was that the dives are not DM led. Once on site we were given thorough briefings by Clint that covered the site, how to navigate it, and what to expect to see. This was my first time (outside the quarry) getting to lead and conduct the dive on my own and was great fun. It's nice to be treated like an adult and a competent diver.
Boarding the boat after the dive was dead easy- Aquatic Diver has a christmas tree style ladder, dive platform, and cut out transom.
So thank you Clint, Brenda, Lisa, Bill.
Actual Dives:
We dove 2 days on Molasses, Pickles, Conch and Little Conch Reefs. Visibility was about 35' both days. There was abundant fish life on the reefs. We saw Grunts, snappers, squirrelfish, goatfish, rainbow parrotfish, puffers, filefish, conchs, urchins, anemones, butterflyfish, spadefish
First dive day was last day of lobster season, so naturally we saw no lobsters...and tons of them on the second day.
The highlights were a big southern stingray (about 4' across), a spotted moray, juvenile yellowtail damselfish, barracuda, some very cool daytime feeding pillar coral, and a free swimming nurse shark about 6' in length.
The shark sparked the only 'incident' of the trip. I'm not a good navigator (yet), and the reef we were on was the hardest to navigate of those we'd seen. I was already unsure of our position relative to the boat when it swam leisurely by us at about a 4' distance. We both had 1500 psi, were in 20 fsw, 1-2 foot seas with no current...so we just just followed the shark for about five minutes till it got tired of our company and took off. We were down to 1000 psi and had no clue where the boat was now so we surfaced and saw the boat about 300 yards off. This little boat waaay over there. We gave them an ok sign, rolled on our backs, and started off toward it. But Clint and Bill brought the boat to us after the other divers (some on their OW checkouts, we were probably a lesson for them) were back on board. They were friendly about it when we were embarrassed, and just joked that they had to charge us double for the second dive site.
I was looking for a trip with fairly easy, shallow reefs to take my step daughter on for her first post-certification dives. Something with a hard bottom at shallow depth and easy surface conditions to make things as easy and pleasant as possible. So Key Largo reef dives seemed a good way to go. Based on another SBer recommendation I went with Conch Republic Divers in Tavernier and I wasn't disappointed.
CR has a full shop about 10 feet from their dock, bathroom and shower facilities, and allow you to hang your gear in the shop overnight between dives. It is just very conveniently set up compared to some of the other places I looked at down there. Morning check in after the first day is as simple as stopping in and saying hi so your name is on the manifest, then grab your gear off the hangers, and walk the ten feet to the boat.
They have two boats, a 30 footer (Aquatic Diver) used on the reef dives, and a larger one for the wrecks. Another dive op i talked to at Beneath the Seas described them as a cattle boat but this was absolutely not true. I believe there were nine of us diving on Aquatic Diver both days and I found that there was plenty of room on the boat and the crew (Clint, Lisa, and Bill?) were very helpful and friendly. The ride out was fast, comfortable, and dry under the canopy and in the stern.
One thing I didn't realize about CR was that the dives are not DM led. Once on site we were given thorough briefings by Clint that covered the site, how to navigate it, and what to expect to see. This was my first time (outside the quarry) getting to lead and conduct the dive on my own and was great fun. It's nice to be treated like an adult and a competent diver.
Boarding the boat after the dive was dead easy- Aquatic Diver has a christmas tree style ladder, dive platform, and cut out transom.
So thank you Clint, Brenda, Lisa, Bill.
Actual Dives:
We dove 2 days on Molasses, Pickles, Conch and Little Conch Reefs. Visibility was about 35' both days. There was abundant fish life on the reefs. We saw Grunts, snappers, squirrelfish, goatfish, rainbow parrotfish, puffers, filefish, conchs, urchins, anemones, butterflyfish, spadefish
First dive day was last day of lobster season, so naturally we saw no lobsters...and tons of them on the second day.
The highlights were a big southern stingray (about 4' across), a spotted moray, juvenile yellowtail damselfish, barracuda, some very cool daytime feeding pillar coral, and a free swimming nurse shark about 6' in length.
The shark sparked the only 'incident' of the trip. I'm not a good navigator (yet), and the reef we were on was the hardest to navigate of those we'd seen. I was already unsure of our position relative to the boat when it swam leisurely by us at about a 4' distance. We both had 1500 psi, were in 20 fsw, 1-2 foot seas with no current...so we just just followed the shark for about five minutes till it got tired of our company and took off. We were down to 1000 psi and had no clue where the boat was now so we surfaced and saw the boat about 300 yards off. This little boat waaay over there. We gave them an ok sign, rolled on our backs, and started off toward it. But Clint and Bill brought the boat to us after the other divers (some on their OW checkouts, we were probably a lesson for them) were back on board. They were friendly about it when we were embarrassed, and just joked that they had to charge us double for the second dive site.
