Rainbow Reef or Conch Republic

[agesilaus]

Looking thru the last year or so of posts. We will be down at Key Largo next week for 4 days. I see mostly recommendations for Rainbow Reef and Conch Republic. Are those the consensus picks? My wife is fresh out of OW Cert class (and I'm not too long out of it) so we're looking for mostly fairly shallow dives. Not going to Spiegal for example...heh.

BK

 

[CajunDiva]

You must try them both

 

[herbdb]

Both run shallow boat trips where you will generally be around 40' or less. No problem there.

You will probably appreciate the free guide that Rainbow Reef puts in the water. They are helpful to point out interesting things you might otherwise miss. Remember that they are navigating to show you things, but as qualified divers, your personal safety is up to you.

You can also hire a personal guide for a small fee with most operators in the Keys.

Enjoy!

 

[LowVizWiz]

Looking thru the last year or so of posts. We will be down at Key Largo next week for 4 days. I see mostly recommendations for Rainbow Reef and Conch Republic. Are those the consensus picks? My wife is fresh out of OW Cert class (and I'm not too long out of it) so we're looking for mostly fairly shallow dives. Not going to Spiegal for example...heh.

BK

Both ops have friendly and good staff and 2 boats. One will usually do the deep dives while the other may do shallower sites. And they both will go to Molasses which is my favorite reef the life there never disappoints.

Conch Republic is actually in Tavernier which gives them access to some of the Islamorada sites like Davis Ledge, Hens & Chickens, Crocker Reef, etc.
That's not to say that there aren't good shallow sites in Key Largo. French is awesome. If you can get a trip to the north end of Key Largo you may want to check out Minnows Cave or Elbow Reef.

Either way you should have a good time.

 

[Mikko Ilari Laakkonen]

I went with conch, great experience

- Mikko Laakkonen -

I love diving and teaching others to dive.

 

[T.C.]

I'd disagree- I'm a fan of Quiescence Diving.

Quiescence Diving Services, World Class Diving in Key Largo, FL

Same prices, 6 divers max, and they run to some of the sites that the other operations never will visit.

 

[Capt Gary]

Well whoever you go with, I hope you have a good and safe dive. Our calendar show exactly the dives we're doing, so if you get a chance take a look. Here is the link. Conch Republic Divers Dive Calendar. You can also see dive conditions of our previous dives.
If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to ask us. We're here to make sure you have some great memories.

Good Diving,
Capt Gary

 

[drbill]

Haven't tried Rainbow but I did enjoy several days of diving with Gary and Brenda at Conch Republic a while back. One day they were doing a deep dive and my buddy and I wanted a shallow one so they put us on a competitor's boat. When they heard we went to Molasses Reef, which we had dived with Conch Republic the day before, they were very apologetic. I laughed and told Gary that we loved that site and were happy to go back again (heck, I've got a few thousand dives just in our local dive park and I still don't get bored... must be my Old Timers).

 

[agesilaus]

Well to wrap this up:

We intended to leave Sunday and to be diving Monday, but my wife developed a cough and was seemly having some ear problems, so I thought it best to hold off until we were sure she was OK. We did a couple of springs and she was OK over the next couple of days and headed down to the Keys Tuesday.

Signed up with Rainbow Reef. Wednesday morning there were 30 Kt winds and the whole day ended up canceled followed by small boat advisories every day thru Friday. So no diving. We'll try again later in April maybe. We did jump in the water Thursday with snorkels but vis was about 2-3 ft.

I spent a lot of time trying to find a tank boot for a round bottom faber steel 95. Not one to be found anywhere. Got home and called my LDS and he has two...heh. But he's only open Wed-Sat and wasn't open before we left. I picked up a new tank before we left, but it was a cave dive shop and they don't use boots.

I did get a Maris 2.5mm full wetsuit down in Largo at Scuba Outlet for $60.

BK

 

[T.C.]

Damn, That sucks. Feel sorry for you. You got no dives in the Keys in? :-(

Better luck next trip.