Key Largo Trip Report

[Sansho]

First, thanks to Scubatoys for being easy to deal with, having good prices, great selection, and for hosting these discussion forums.

We spent 8 days in the Keys, which as the first time in the Keys for us. My daughter, who completed her PADI pool/classroom Open Water work prior to the trip, was going to do her referral open water dives, I was going to do my AOW, and my wife was going to snorkel.

Researching Key Largo dive shops via the web, we decided to dive with Silent World (http://www.silentworldkeylargo.com/), located at mm 103.2. Chris and Alison at Silent World were a pleasure to work with in setting up the trip and accommodations, and were very flexible when our plans changed. Pat, who works there, is also an instructor. Boat captains were informative on the dive sites, and they tried not to repeat sites others had recently gone to, while going to sites with max viz. Singles were paired or added to an existing pair. Deb Madison was our instructor for both OW and AOW (not at the same time!), and I’d recommend her to anyone. Easy going and an experienced instructor, she paused to point things out underwater that you might otherwise miss. Everything considered, I’d recommend Silent World for dives and/or instruction, and will dive with them again. I’d also recommend AOW as a great way to get additional dive experience – the night dive was awesome and the deep dive to the Spiegel Grove was great.

Places we stayed:

Suites of Key Largo (http://www.suitesofkeylargo.com/), mm 100. Special divers rate at $129 vs normal $149 for condo-style place. Silent World made the reservations for us. Queen bed upstairs and foldout sofa bed downstairs. Kitchen (pans/plates/silverware included) and screened porch overlooking marina. Generally nice condition. Parking under the building or in parking lot. Safe in the bedroom ($1.50/day charge). Local phone calls are free. Our room was non-smoking. Horizon Divers, who we did not dive with, is next door, and Ocean Divers is across the waterway. The Holiday Inn is next door, and they have the African Queen from the Humphrey Bogart movie at their dock, if you want to see it. Cons: Only annoyance was a club across the waterway and down the way a little bit had outdoors entertainment that, consistently, wasn’t very good, which required sleeping with the fan on to mitigate the noise. Killed an ant each day upstairs.

Looe Key Resort and Dive Center, (http://www.diveflakeys.com/), mm 27.3. This is a dive center and hotel. We didn’t dive with them, just stayed there overnight prior to going into Key West for the day. Our room was non-smoking. Lots of motorcycles with limited mufflers cruising this section of the highway, so the fan stayed on at night. If you were planning on diving Looe Key with them, this would be a good place to stay, with the boat literally out your back door. Their Tiki bar/restaurant seemed very understaffed, so we ate across the road at Boondocks, supposed to be the largest Tiki hut in the Keys. Popular place, food ok, but not memorable.

The Pelican (aka The Hungry Pelican), (http://www.hungrypelican.com/), mm 99.3, is an older property, which has had some recent upgrades, judging by our $80 room, which included a refrigerator and microwave. Less expensive rooms are closer to the road, and required the a/c fan on to offset road noise at night. Their complementary breakfast is limited … coffee, apple juice, fruits, and some packaged muffins. Rooms are non-smoking.

Stores and restaurants:

Publix, at traffic light at Tarpon Basin Rd, mm 101.4 – good grocery store, better selection than Winn Dixie farther north on Key Largo if you want, for instance, individual bagels vs prepackaged. Super Kmart also there but didn’t go in it. Quiznos a few doors down from Publix, next to ice cream store.

Key Largo restaurants: First, stop by any hotel, supermarket, restaurant, etc and pick up one of those free booklets that tells you about the area – coupons for restaurant discounts are aplenty. Some we ate at:

Mrs. Macs Kitchen, mm 99.3, a diner with a good variety of food with reasonable prices. Easy to eat multiple meals there.

The Fish House, mm 102.3, excellent selection of fresh fish dishes. You can eat indoors or outdoors. They have another restaurant next door, The Fish House Encore, which is more foo-foo, a bit more upscale. That said, they have good sushi and other dishes. You can eat in the bar area, a dining area, or outside.

Num Thai, mm 103.2, same shopping plaza as Silent World. Good Thai/Japanese food.

Denny’s Latin Café, mm 99.6, good Cuban sandwich for $6

Ballyhoos, mm 98, nice selection of seafood, more expensive than The Fish House.

Of course you need to try the Key Lime pie at each place you eat. Of the places we ate, the Fish House probably had the best pie.

[TxScubaBear]

Thanks for the info- we're thinking of vacationing in August there (Keys) this year; wife's not a diver but she might snorkel.

[Sansho]

Thanks for the info- we're thinking of vacationing in August there (Keys) this year; wife's not a diver but she might snorkel.

My wife snorkel'd with Silent World as well as with Reef Roamers/Quicksilver (same company). When you go out on a combined dive/snorkel trip, it's OK to snorkel, but it's somewhat a compromise. With Reef Roamers (snorkel only), they sail from the Ramada/Holiday Inn, and take their catamaran out to an area suited to snorkeling. On one trip, they were in an area with 8' to 10' depths which made for enjoyable snorkeling.

[doczerothree]

Thanks for the imfor. I checked out Silent World site. There is a "wreck week" going on in April.

[Sansho]

Thanks for the imfor. I checked out Silent World site. There is a "wreck week" going on in April.

Might double check that ... thought it was August.

[Kokomo]

Great trip report! Thanks for sharing.

[texdiveguy]

I enjoyed the trip report...wish I was there!

[leesanhua]

thank you so much for the info.

[leesanhua]

"silent world" is more like for advanced divers?
I'm a beginner which does not have more than 20 dives.

i went with the "ocean divers" and "it's a dive" before.
well, im looking for more options here.
thank you for the information.

[gregor]

Silent world has 2 boats, one of the boats each morning goes to a shallow site (max 30 feet) reef dive and the second boat goes to one of the popular wrecks that require an advanced card (duane, bibb, speigel). In the afternoon the boat(s) go to a shallow reef or a shallow wreck like the benwood.

I used silent world in april and thought they were great, i'll use them again if i go back without a doubt. my girlfriend was very new to diving, had gotten certified a few months prior, had about 15 dives under her belt and did fine with the shallow boat at silent world. They never overcrowded the boat (max 10-12 divers) and gave a good safety concious breifing before the dive. One day she wasn't feeling well i went out on the deeper boat in the morning (switched at the last minute on the dock, no issues at all) and the captain ran a great ship.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Silent World to any one, of any skill level wanting to do any type of dives. I'd really like to go down there during their "wreckfest", 9 days of all out wreck diving.