Key Largo area info

[Jupiter31]

Gotta be much more than that one shop (this is Christmas, New Years, July 4th, and Presidents Day all rolled into one for dive shops, res't. and motels in the Keys) - would not surprise me if all of them offered lobster trips during Mini Season

So I suspect you are incorrect, htn123 - But I could be mistaken as I stopped doing Mini Season years ago; the crowds, craziness, pricing just got to me.

 

[MSPDiver]

Just did 20 dives there this past week. Up to 70' vis flat calm seas at high 80 temps. The best conditions I have ever had diving the keys.

 

[PatW]

I just did 10 dives off of Key Largo. The water was warm - about 85 degrees. The conditions were genereally flat to a very small chop (hardly counts). The vis was not really good from 30' to 70'. But it wasn't bad. The reefs were in pretty good shape and looked healthy to me. There were plenty of fish and many small invertebrates. The hard corals looked pretty good too. The diving is not as good as the best places in the Caribbean but it was much better than West Palm Beach, Pompano Beach or the Lower Keys.

As for the oil, you can do a search and they will give you a status report on the spill and its threat to the keys. There are 2 loop currents in the gulf. One loop is located just south of New Orleans. The other loop is north of Cuba and west of the Keys. For oil to get from the well head to the keys, the oil has to be taken by the first loop and then picked up by the second loop. Right now the two loops are disconnected. They say (whoever "they" are) that there is no immediate threat to the keys (whatever "immediate" means). But I would think that it would be 2 weeks anyway for anything to get to the keys. Hopefully the well head will continue to be capped so significant amounts of oil will enter the system. Also, the oil out there now will probably wash up in LA, MS, AL and the panhandle of FL leaving the Keys pretty much intact. It seems like wishing ill on the people in those states.

By the way, there are some tarballs in the keys. That stuff has not come from the spill. There is lots of shipping in the area and not too many of them are sail boats. I bet they flush their bilges and certain amounts of oil washes up.