Key Largo or North Carolina??

[jasondcrawford]

Hey, after some substantial (and very useful) feedback from the Florida Conch Divers, me and my wife have picked Key Largo as our potential Florida destination. Now it's between that and North Carolina (I don't know much about the areas, but we'd want to see the sand tigers!) for 3 days of diving this summer. We plan on flying our Wednesday, diving Thursday, Friday, and saturday, and catching a late plane home on Sunday.

We don't have any experience diving in that part of the country, so we could really use some help. I've heard NC diving is great, but for whatever reason, I picture it as cold with low vis and limited things to see. I don't think this is acurate, but need some help. We each have about 45ish dives logged, and only plan on bringing a 3mm full suit. Thanks in advance!

 

[cloudboy55]

Hey, after some substantial (and very useful) feedback from the Florida Conch Divers, me and my wife have picked Key Largo as our potential Florida destination. Now it's between that and North Carolina (I don't know much about the areas, but we'd want to see the sand tigers!) for 3 days of diving this summer. We plan on flying our Wednesday, diving Thursday, Friday, and saturday, and catching a late plane home on Sunday.

We don't have any experience diving in that part of the country, so we could really use some help. I've heard NC diving is great, but for whatever reason, I picture it as cold with low vis and limited things to see. I don't think this is acurate, but need some help. We each have about 45ish dives logged, and only plan on bringing a 3mm full suit. Thanks in advance!

NC isn't cold with low vis, but it can be challenging due to unpredictable current and depths in excess of 100 feet. I've seen more wildlife on the NC wrecks than I see in Key Largo, but you won't find tropical reef fish in NC.

For the number of dives you have, I'd probably stick to Key Largo. As long as you stay on the reefs, it's easier diving. The wrecks can be challenging there too, though.

 

[H2Andy]

if you want short boat rides, generally calm seas, clear waters, lots of coral fish and reef, and generally easy dives, Key Largo

if you want long boat rides, generally not calm seas, medium to little vis, lots of colder water fish and sea life, wrecks, and generally deeper and more challenging dives, then NC

 

[DudleyNMU]

We just got back from Key Largo. Stayed at the hoilday inn MIle Marker 100,Its very nice i would highly recomend it to anyone. It was great. Dove the Grove and 4 reefs along with the benwood. The Benwood is a must dive tons of fish sharks coral ect. Your 3 mill will be great. We also dove with Seadwellers and they have a nice operation. 50' dive boat with lots of room. PM me if you have any other questions
Also so for you should drive to Marathon and go to the Key Colony Inn and the Island tikie bar www.islandfishco.com Great food best in the keys my opinion.

 

[ecudiver]

hey have never been to key largo but nc diving is awesome. im from the east coast and do much of my diving with olympus dive center and they run a great dive operation. the vis is not always low and the water is not cold only in the off season months. in the summer the water gets around 80ish and the vis can be up to a 100ft on some dives. much depends on the time of the year you plan on going. as far as tiger sharks the papoose is the best sight for those. i dove the papoose about two weeks ago and saw a ton of them and picked up their teeth out of the wreck it was awesome. like said above though the currents can be very strong with strong swells and most sights like the papoose set about 115ft down. summer time a 3mm will be fine i plan on diving my 2mm shorty come mid summer. any more questions just shoot me a pm

 

[Walter]

If you want to see lots of wrecks and sharks, go to NC. If you want to see some wrecks and fewer sharks, go to Key Largo. There are deep sites in both locations. I've been deeper near Key Largo than I've been in NC, depth depends on the site.

 

[jasondcrawford]

Our only hesitation to Florida at this point is that we recently did a liveaboard in Belize, and are a bit worried that we'll just see more of the same. We saw lots of tropical fish and color coral, but not very much of the bigger things (no sharks, and only a few turtles/rays/eels the whole week). Is that a valid concern, or will I be amazed all the same?

 

[DudleyNMU]

Well you dont see many really really big stuff in the keys. We seen a few Nurse sharks and Jew Fish but not any sharks with teeth like you will see in NC. I am guessing Belize would be much better than the keys but i havent been to Belize yet.

 

[del_mo]

And not just any old wrecks in NC...how about a WW2 U-Boat? And not just sharks, how about bail balls as big as a living room?

Yeah, the water can be cold. Last Aug. we hit a thermocline of about 68 degrees. Not sure it's fair to compare viz. Sometimes 30 feet in Key Largo is considered good.

It's hard to compare the two sites because they are really different. If time is limited, try Key Largo first and then Morehead City next.

There are no guarantees of what you'll see. We just spent a week in Key Largo and saw maybe a dozen nurse sharks in one site....some swimming in a group, others as singletons and some sleeping; lots or morays; literally swam with spotted eagle rays; turtles; ocean trigger fish; and so much more.

 

[lmorin]

Our only hesitation to Florida at this point is that we recently did a liveaboard in Belize, and are a bit worried that we'll just see more of the same. We saw lots of tropical fish and color coral, but not very much of the bigger things (no sharks, and only a few turtles/rays/eels the whole week). Is that a valid concern, or will I be amazed all the same?

Well, it depends. You can go anywhere reputed to be the outstanding site for this or that and not see it. We've been to the Keys a bunch of times and have seen no sharks except on one dive when we saw 6 at a time. We haven't seen spotted eagle rays or turtles there, but a friend has, and in abundance. The density of various fish species, invertebrates and corals is also going to be different from Belize. It really depends on luck of the draw, your willingness to look for things hanging out down below and your ability to find them.