Initial Planning for dive trip (Keys, WPB, central Fl springs)

[Skeptic14]

My wife and I live in North FL and want to plan a diving road trip of FL. We are thinking of flying into Miami and driving to Key Largo and doing several days of diving there. We'll probably spend a day in Key West doing non-diving activities, unless it would be a mistake not to dive there as well, but I've read that the best diving is Key largo.

Then we plan to drive to WPB to do a couple days of diving, making sure to do Blue Heron Bridge.

After that head to the central FL area to at a minimum do Devi's Den and The Blue Grotto on the way home.

We are new divers, just OW certified but we may be nitrox certified by the time of the trip, which we are thinking will be mid to late May.

Any suggestions, advice, dive site additions, etc on such a trip would be appreciated. Would not diving in Key West be a mistake? Are there other springs in the central FL area that might be better than Devil's Den and Blue Grotto? Any specific dives in the WPB area other than BHB? What dive outfits would be suggested for newer divers in these areas? What are typical conditions in May for Key Largo and WPB in regards to current, vis, winds?

Thanks

 

[tomfcrist]

If you get to dive key largo, key west will not impress you.

 

[Skeptic14]

That seems to align with most of what I've read.

Forgot to ask about snorkeling, would there be any snorkeling to speak of in keys or WPB from shore?

 

[billinwilliamston]

As relatively new OW divers not diving Key West wouldn't be the end of the world. If you had a little more experience and training not diving at least the Vandenberg would be a HUGE mistake.

 

[tomfcrist]

As relatively new OW divers not diving Key West wouldn't be the end of the world. If you had a little more experience and training not diving at least the Vandenberg would be a HUGE mistake.

And for those with ALOT more training and experience, not diving the Wilkes Barre or the Tournament reef would be a huge mistake. There are some excellent dives in KW, most are too remote or too deep for the "normal" diver. The shallow reefs are pretty torn up and the shallow wrecks aren't much to look at. Comparing that to Key Largo, where the shallow reefs are fairly decent and the shallow wrecks are really fun to poke around at. When I lived down in BPK, I used to trailer my boat to KL and Islamorada to dive the nicer shallow sites.