Key Largo - diving, dining, nightlife

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ericg753

Registered
Messages
68
Reaction score
15
Location
Westbury, NY
# of dives
100 - 199
Hi everyone,

Planning to visit Key Largo late December for the first time in my life. Looking for any advice as to best dive shops/centers to dive with, restaurant and hotel suggestions, and quality nightlife.

Haven't dived since last April, can't wait to jump back in!!! Hoping Key Largo will be as beautiful as Grand Cayman, would really like to see turtles, eagle rays, dolphins and mantatees on this trip or any trip in 2015. Did cavern, deep, shore, wreck and night diving at GC so I'm open to just about anything. Sharks.....well I'm still a bit hesitant. As long as they don't mind the smell of me "letting go" in my 3ml out of fear....lol
 
Here's my trip report from diving with Rainbow Reef Dive Center Sept. 2013. In a nutshell, reputable, free guides, big boats, cheap package deal if you buy 10 2-tank boat trips, option for deep wreck diving in the morning, and you can do 2 trips/day. Good stuff. If you stay at the Courtyard Marriott, the dive op.s at end end of the parking lot. Very convenient. Not the cheapest option, but very convenient.

Night life? What kind of night life? Are you 'look'in for love'in,' or having fun with the one you love, or you & a buddy hitting a bar, or what? My one week, Key Largo didn't strike me as a big night life place, but I wasn't looking for that. Sounds like more of a Key West thing. Then again, diving is said to be better in the northern Keys, such as Key Largo. You might hit the road for some of your nightlife.

You may see people recommend other op.s when they have different needs; a small boat without the guide service called Quiescence is spoken well of. I haven't used them. There are a number of reputable Keys operators.

I did 2 dives in Grand Cayman on a cruise ship stop. 20 Dives in Key Largo. It's not the same thing. Is other G.C. diving is like what I saw, I'd compare it to Key Largo like this:

1.) My 2 G.C. dives were deeper & had better viz.

2.) My Key Largo dives were (except the deep wrecks) shallower with less viz. (still good, but not G.C. good), and some sites (e.g.: Snappers Ledge) very fishy.

I'd like to see dolphins, too, but from what I understand that's not a common thing. Only dolphins I ever saw 'diving' looking like a far distance flea circus while viewed while floating at the surface in Bonaire. The sharks I saw in Key Largo were reef sharks and nurse sharks, and neither would likely scare anybody. On one deep wreck dive somebody maybe saw a bull shark, but I didn't.

I hear about Crystal River when people talk Manatees. So if I were after those, I wouldn't be heading to a reef to hunt them.

There's a main highway that connects the Keys to each other & the mainland. For restaurants, we basically went up & down it till something looked good.
 
Well, there is the Waffle House, oh, and there is a Starbucks. Night life is in Cancun. A bit of a swim.

There are no operations I can actually recommend, I am not particularly pleased with any of them, in fact, none of them and that includes all of them.

N
 
Well, there is the Waffle House, oh, and there is a Starbucks. Night life is in Cancun. A bit of a swim.

There are no operations I can actually recommend, I am not particularly pleased with any of them, in fact, none of them and that includes all of them.

N

Not terribly informative. Care to give a reason?

I have been happy with several of them. But then I want a safe boat ride, a decent site briefing, and help if I request it. Otherwise tell me when to be back and let me dive.
 
I'd like to see unicorns in Key Largo.

My wife and I like Key Largo, but after maybe 10 trips we think the diving doesn't quite live up to the reputation (marketing hype)? If you like wrecks, they have good wrecks. But the reefs are kind of colorless and lifeless. Despite that, we like the whole ambience of the Keys very much. "Ambience" is too fancy a word for Key Largo--it's a very homey kind of place. The mention of "nightlife" struck me as odd. There are bars where you can sit and have a drink and watch the sunset, and I suspect there are some grittier places--genuine drinking holes--where you can hang out until late, but I wouldn't consider that "nightlife." Besides, I'm there to dive, and hangovers don't work for me.
 
Caribbean Club. Kind of a dive (the other type) bar but a lot of history and if weather's clear, sit around back and watch the sunset.
 
Not terribly informative. Care to give a reason?

I have been happy with several of them. But then I want a safe boat ride, a decent site briefing, and help if I request it. Otherwise tell me when to be back and let me dive.


I want solo, more adventurous diving, sticking to the published schedule especially after they have taken money and not bumping at the last second just because another more lucrative group of divers comes in wanting to go the Christ Statue after booking for the Elbow Deep or whatever. And then there is the time limits.

That is my opinion of Key Largo, per my original response, I will stick with it and will probably continue to go there though for the money and time, there are much better locations with much better diving and much less nanny factor.

I am quite sure it is possible that you and I have differing expectations. I will stay with what I said.

N
 
Eric:

Per your profile you've got under 25 dives. Considering how reputable a number of Key Largo dive op.s are, and what a popular destination it is, I was surprised at Nemrod's 1st post and I've been thinking over his follow up, especially since getting mixed messages from different posters can be confusing when you're new. A few points:

1.) Different people are different, and even good dive op.s have bad days, or inexplicable bad chemistry with a minority of customers. Staff change. The weather changes. And so on.

2.) Some things, like schedule changes, especially in the absence of weather problems and in favor of a different group, can potentially aggravate most anybody. But often changes are conditions-related. Rule of thumb: don't 'get married to the idea' of a dive site schedule. They tend to be tentative.

3.) Nemrod pointed out he likes solo and adventurous diving and apparently has issues with some time limits. When I dove with Rainbow Reef, they generally wanted us back on the boat in an hour. A lot of divers, particularly newer divers, have no problem with that. And with R.R., if you want that boat back in time to go out on the afternoon 2-tank trip, too, so you can nail 4 dives/day, sticking to the schedule matters. But there are many seasoned divers who like to 'dive their tank,' and might get an hour & a half dive. Many dive boat op.s don't allow solo diving; some do. 'Adventurous' sites might be avoided by boats with a lot of newer customers, and some of those customers would prefer it that way.

My point is, when you get feedback on dive destinations, take a long, hard look at whether the 'feeder' has the same goals you do. I'm married with a little toddler, don't drink, only speak English, care little about sandy beaches and mainly go to cram in lots of dives (ideally in warm aquarium-like conditions). You might be single, enjoy the bar scene, love to mingle with locals & experience foreign cultures and practice your Spanish, and lounge on the beach. If so, we might prefer different destinations. And that's not even getting our diving preferences much!

Like many destinations, Key Largo has its pro.s and con.s, and you need to know to what extent they matter to you. So far, the only potential red flag I see is you plan to go in December. I don't know the water conditions that time of year, but you may want to check them out. September worked well for me.

Richard.
 
I haven't dove in Key Largo in a few years but, the Keys are a great place. We use to stay at Ocean Point condos. Quiet, with a good ocean views. We dove with Conch Republic divers. It's less than 10 minutes south of the condo in Tavener. Very good dive operation. They will let you store all store your gear there at the shop so you're not transporting your wet gear back and forth. There are some very good restaurants in the Key Largo area. Mrs.Mac's Kitchen where the road splits in Key Largo around mile marker 99 south. Very good conch chowder. The Islamorada Fish Company, mile marker 81 south, has a deck out over the water. We use to get the 2 lobster tail dinner for around $30. Stop by Key Lime Products, mile marker 95 north and try the conch fritters.
Plan on spending one day driving to Key West. The drive is spectacular. Watch the speed limit, lots of cops but, you will not want to speed since you will be enjoying the drive. Have a good trip.
 
poconodiver makes a good point. If the OP likes "nightlife," the place to find that is crazy Key West, not laid-back Key Largo. Back in the day when I was more of a partier, I did a couple of trips where I would dive a few days in Key Largo and then drive down to Key West to party it up for an evening before driving back up. Best of both worlds.
 
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