traveling to the Keys end of March

Hello
We just found the SB and what a great forum! as we read the threads there are a lot of great diving friends out there openly helping all who have questions or issues and without bad attatudes, this is great and refreshing to see.

Now our first thread on the SB!

My wife and I are traveling down to Marathon and Key West area at the end of March for two weeks to get some diving in. We are from Canada and this is our 3rd trip down to the Keys, we love the area so much we decided last year to make the Keys our permanent second home and purchased a condo with plans of diving the Keys for many year to come (it's wonderful to dive in warm water, my wife has informed me that the only Icy water she interested in would be found in a glass!).

Areas we have dived include Sombrao, Washer Woman and coffins patch during the last year and are looking for other good dive areas around Marathon and Key West and places in between. We have a boat rented for the off shore diving during 1 of our weeks but we are also plan to do some shore diving also.
Another question is "are there any good dive spots on the gulf side in the Marathon area?"
Your comments would be much appriciated.

Now back to shoveling snow.

Best regards
bwsnorth

Thank you for the kind words and welcome to the board!

Best of luck on your purchase; as its 1/2 way between KW and KL, it makes a good base - and do dive Key Largo and Islamorada BTW - excellent diving (KW - great place to visit - the diving, not so much).

Re your question - Nope, not on the gulf side -

Some will post that there are small rocky patches, called patch reefs in the gulf - and they are correct - suitable for lobster, but nothing like Aligator Reef or Sombrero (like the hat) or a reef system.

Again, welcome!

Thanks Jupiter31 for your reply!

Great Info. We will not waste our time on the Gulf side, this will allow us more time to spend on the ocean side. Problem with only getting down to the Keys a few time a year, it doesn't allow for much time to search around and test other area.
Glad to find people like you that we can get some information from which will lead us to an enjoyable diving experiance as always in the Keys.

Thanks again!

Best Regards
bwsnorth