Key Largo - any recommendations?

[Victoria24]

Evening!

Myself and my boyfriend will be holidaying in Key Largo at the end of May/start of June, coming over from Scotland for a bit of sunshine

I've been to the keys a couple of times when I was younger with my parents but didn't pay that much attention to the restaurants we went to etc. so my first question is: any top recommendations for restaurants/bars in Key Largo or nearby?

Next questions are diving related: we're booking 3 days of diving with rainbow reef - what is the water temp like at that time of year? What kind of life can we expect to see? I did a couple of reef dives when I was last there but it was later on in the year. One of the days is a double dip on the spiegel grove (fingers crossed!), what's the protocol with dsmbs or is it always a return to shot? We'll take our reels anyway but would be interested to know what the common practice is there.

Any other top tips much appreciated!

Thanks

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2


Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Lorenzoid]

No requirement for SMBs, as you should be able to return to the mooring line, but it's never a bad idea to have one.

As for marine life and restaurant recommendations, I hate to be the snot who huffs "Do a search" but there are many threads here on SB with restaurant and bar recommendations and photos of marine life in the Key Largo area.

 

[iluvtheocean]

not sure about rainbow in particular -- but most ops down here want you to have an SMB on you especially for drift dives. does not mean they have to be deployed or anything..... but always good to have... and 1x or 2x actually need it...

 

[EL Pistoffo]

The Fish House in Key Largo is an excellent and favorite restaurant of mine. My family and I started dining there decades ago when I was a kid. It's been a while since I last went there but was always good stuff.
Their crab stuffed fillet and Veracruz were my favorites.

 

[mermaid0sea]

I have been in May and going in June myself. I plan on either wearing a shorty or my lavacore. Should be quite nice I am hoping!

I didn't enjoy the food as much as I enjoyed the ambiance of the Islamorada Fish Company. It is kind of commercialized and stuff but we went there at sunset and had a drink outside. Really neat. There are a lot of interesting places. We ate at this one place for breakfast, I think it was called Doc's. Big breakfast! Another time I went to Made 2 Order. Seemed pretty good for breakfast. Tripadvisor and urbanspoon are your friends.

 

[mrokern]

I should be there in early June as well!

I had a non-diving trip there last November (bad weather and perfed eardrum meant lots of time to hit the restaurants).

We liked Lazy Days and Marker 88 (especially Marker 88). If you get to Key West, the Hogfish Bar and Grill was our absolute favorite. Not fancy, just straightforward good food and lots of it.

Speaking of that...make sure you try conch fritters and hogfish. Is it June yet?

 

[scubadada]

Hi Victoria24

I've had water temps in the mid-high 70s to low 80s in May-June. I would wear my full 5mm or full 3mm depending on the temperature and always have my hooded vest with me for flexibility. I like to stay warm, particularly on the 3rd or 4th dive of the day. Make sure you take appropriate clothes to stay warm on the surface interval. It can be quite cold due to wind, even when the air temperature is relatively warm. You can follow the water temps from the NOAA buoy on Mollasses Reef NDBC - Station MLRF1

There are many fine restaurants, I'm sure the most popular will be mentioned. I would put in a word for the Galley Restaurant, above Sharkey's Pub (same food), and next to Ocean Divers. They have among the best fish tacos I've ever had (and I'm from SoCal), many other tasty and relatively inexpensive items, and a good beer list.

Enjoy Key Largo,

Craig

 

[Chugwhump]

I would expect water temps in the high 70's to low 80's about then.
(Umm.....Fahrenheit)
As far as grub goes, there are so very many options in Key Largo, but I will toss out a few, and some of them might be out of business at this point.
Tugboats in Key Largo for Breakfast.
The Fish House is good as already stated.
Mrs. Macs on KL is also very good for both lunch and dinner.
Snappers at the south end of KL can be both great and terrible on the same night.
Hit the bar, as it has a nice ambiance, and if it goes well, order an appetizer, and if it goes well, have dinner.
But as far as Snappers goes, if there is even a slight bump in the road with the staff, or drinks, or food....
GET THE HELL OUTTA' THERE!
Also.....
If you get bad weather for one of your days and need something to do while driving around....
One of my most treasured experiences is a little bit down the road in Marathon, right next to the Crane Hammock Nature Center.
It is a restaurant called "Herbies".
It is pure old Florida Keys.
Spectacular service with a snarl, "redneck sweet tea", conch fritters, and the BEST cracked conch in North America.
It's an experience not to be missed.
Everything on the menus is great, however, the service can be slow, as it is all made fresh to order.
They have a wine and beer bar, and yeah, they are right in the main road, US1, and that makes it even more awesome.

Chug
Knows Rock Harbor and Rodriguez Key very, very well.
And Indian Key
And Lignumvitae Key

 

[CheddarChick]

So many great places, here was my favorite:
Wahoo’s
83413 Overseas Highway Islamorada, FL 33036
OMG!!! Great food. We arrived before the sun set and the fishing boats were coming back in so we sat on the outer deck for the ambience. The crab bisque is thick and rich. Filled with chunks of seafood so big it really could be a meal if they served it in a bread bowl. I ordered the shrimp scampi. It was HUGE!! And delicious, and really really fresh. They make it with asparagus and cherry tomatoes and really large shrimp over angel hair pasta. The hubby wanted the giant prawn but they no longer serve it, so maybe they should revise the menu. He got the Enchilada Cubana instead, and again it is huge, and delicious.......served with yellow rice and a red sauce. Not spicy at first but had a nice after bite. Too stuffed to move, much less order dessert, I couldn’t pass up the Key Lime pie to go. After a couple of hours I dug in and it was spectacular. A little pricy, $95 with drinks and dessert. But well worth it....Oh, you can order off the lunch menu until 6:00 at night to ease the $$ pain.....

 

[sportxlh]

We liked....... Marker 88 (especially Marker 88).

I like that place too, but you have to sit outside to really enjoy it. The best time is the evening so you can enjoy dinner or beverages and watch the sun set over the bay. Any of the blackened fish dishes are good (its pretty hard to screw that up) and the Thai green beans are good too.

On the wrecks, you'll descend and ascend on a mooring line: but an SMB and reel are a good idea in case you get blown off.