The diving was superb in May 2006. The Heavy Metal Tour of the Eagle, Duane and Speigel Grove made up our Wreck Speciality dives. These wrecks, along with the Benwood, offer a great variety of scale, condition, orientation and depth on which to work up your skills.
The reefs were in 'Spring' mode - the 'cuda were out in numbers, the Tarpon massive (hence the Sport Fishing contest taking place at the same time); on two or three occasions we saw three Eagle rays glide through the neighbourhood barely 15ft away! There is a MASSIVE goliath grouper (nicknamed the Vee-Dub) on Molasses Reef that just has to be seen!
Getting there was easy - LHR-MIA with BA, with a fly-drive option. Its a 1hr 15min drive from the airport to Key Largo, with only one junction onto the Florida Turnpike. Couldn't be easier for jet lagged UK drivers to stay on the right side of the road! Ditto on the way home - though it's worth checking out the dive stores at Florida City for a Memorial Day bargain at USD prices on the way down.
Last year we fell into the trap of not getting out very far and found ourselves eating in some very nice but expensive restaurants. A little leg work, read the guide book and ask a local and you'll find some cracking little joints like steak houses, sushi, crab shacks as well as pizza etc. The Key's are basically one long road, with everything 'just off' it (literally any further than 100yds in either direction and its water!)
Accommodation ranges from 'rustic' dive shacks on the beach, B&B's, to the famous brand hotel chains like Best Western and Ramada etc all at reasonable rates - even with the Sport Fishing contest in town.
Other activities - well, there are cinemas, tennis courts, as well as fishing boats, para-gliders etc but the high number of Adult Movie stores tells you there's not a lot else to do there! Hey, but the diving is why you're here, right? It is stunning, and the wrecks are fantastic.
Key Largo beats the Red Sea in my book, with many other advantages - only 30mins from dock to dive site, two boat trips a day (morning and afternoon trips) both with 2 dives, a full spectrum of dive sites - reef, wreck, deep, shallow, and teeming with life!
STIMO
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Christ of the Deep Memorial to Michael Kevorkian at Molassas...
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Multicolored Christmas Tree Worm, Spirobranchus giganteus.
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Old glory is still flown proudly from the Coast Guard Cutter...
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Great Barracuda fill the sky around the crow's nest of the U...
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Spirobranchus giganteus, Christmas Tree Worm reaching for th...
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Pederson Cleaner Shrimp, Periclimenes pedersoni, entering th...
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Branching Vase Sponge, Callyspongia vaginalis.
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A turtle takes a short break in the smoke stack of the Duane...
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Branching Fire Coral encrusting a Common Sea Fan with variou...
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A Great Barracuda, Sphyraena barracuda poses in front of the...
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Spotted Morey, Gymnothorax moringa, came out to eat my wife'...
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