Best Florida spot to dive / snorkel pre-cruise?

[cawhite]

Hi everyone,

 

We (family of 4... 2 adults / 2 kids - ages 14, 11) are going to be cruising out of Ft. Lauderdale Spring Break 2006 (Key West, Cozumel, and Belize). DH and DD were dive certified earlier this year. DS and myself just snorkel, for now. All of us except DH did a dive / snorkel excursion in Coz 2 months ago.

 

We will fly into Florida 1-2 days in advance and possibly dive / snorkel one day prior to the cruise.

 

So here are the questions:

 

1. What is the best pre-cruise dive / snorkel spot for us?

 

2. How does this FL dive / snorkel spot compare with the ports we will be visiting on our cruise (please rate them 1-4)? We will probably only dive / snorkel 2 spots and do other things at the other destinations.

 

3. I'm assuming Islamorada or Key Largo might come up as a good pre-cruise dive / snorkel destination. If this is the case, would it make sense to fly into Miami, drive S. to the Keys, then drive all the way back up to Ft. Lauderdale for our cruise? We'll probably only be there 1 full day prior to the cruise. Or since we are already visiting Key West during the cruise (7 a.m. - 2 p.m.), do we not need to bother with another location in the Keys??

 

4. Where do you recommend we stay? We want some place nice that the kids will enjoy (they like great hotel pools), but don't want to break the bank either, pre-cruise.

 

Thanks for your help!!

 

Carole

[cawhite]

OK... after a little research.... it appears that Looe Key and the Dry Tortugas are good places to dive / snorkel in the Keys, correct? I'm thinking we would have to do one of these during our cruise port visit to Key West, not pre-cruise.

 

Will there be enough time to do either of these as excursions (we're in port for 7 hours)? We wouldn't be booking through the ship.

 

Still... would like to compare these spots to Cozumel and Belize.

 

Thanks, in advance, for your advice!!

[sportsterjohn]

I dove in both key largo and key west in the past year or so. The diving is ok but it will not compare to cozumel!! There are some private excursions you can book for you key west port stop. I used captains corner, they are ok but they are definetly a cruise ship dive op, meaning that they take divers and snorklers and have a pretty basic, shallow dive. If you do go to the keys prior to the cruise, the holiday inn in key largo has a package deal with the dive shop across the street. You will dive in pennekamp marine park. They also use a pretty basic dive profile for thier normal dives but you can also schedule a better dive with them. Still though the fla keys diving ( at least the spots I dove) is not nearly as nice as Cozumel.

[cawhite]

Thanks sportsterjohn.

 

I wasn't sure what to expect in Florida. So maybe we should do other things in Florida (sightseeing, etc.) and save the diving / snorkeling for Cozumel and Belize!

 

Anyone else?

[Capt_BJ]

1. He's right, the FL keys aren't going to be as good as the islands....but they beat a quary in Illinios too.....

 

2. If you are flying then cruising from Ft L then you want to stick with the upper Keys unless you want to spend 1 day driving to Key West and back. It wil be hard to fit a dive into that schedule.

 

3. Key Largo,an hour south of Miami, gives you access to PenneKamp - pretty decent diving and snorkeling.

 

4. If this was me I'd look into http://www.keylargodiving.com/ ; these folks run '6 packs' and on an off day you may end up as a private charter. With a small group they can easily pick a spot where the conditions are good to get the snorkelers and the divers both in a mutually good spot (not hard as most Keys dives are less that 40 ft depth. I have no connection to these folks other than diving with them on and off for over 20 years.

[Hilary]

I'll second the recommendation to dive in Key Largo. Pennekamp is a great place for your whole family to go and be able to both dive and snorkel from the same boat, but there are other dive ops that will accommodate you for that too. Pennekamp has picnic areas and a nice little beach with a swim spot for your family, so it's a great place to spend the day.

 

The drive down to Key Largo is about 1.5 hours from FLL, which is extremely doable as a day trip. We've done it before, and although I wouldn't want to do it day after day, it's no biggy once.

[cawhite]

Thanks Capt. BJ and Hilary.

 

If we do go down to there we would need to start looking for places to stay. We'll look into the Holiday Inn for the dive discount (still not 100% that we'll even dive / snorkel given the reviews of the area compared to our cruise stops). Heard the Pines and Palms was great in Islamorada... how much further is that?

 

Still considering just staying up in Fort Lauderdale / Hollywood Beach area and skipping the Keys pre-cruise.... I'll keep thinking and researching!

 

Thanks again.

[Capt_BJ]

Thanks Capt. BJ and Hilary.

 

If we do go down to there we would need to start looking for places to stay. We'll look into the Holiday Inn for the dive discount (still not 100% that we'll even dive / snorkel given the reviews of the area compared to our cruise stops). Heard the Pines and Palms was great in Islamorada... how much further is that?

 

Still considering just staying up in Fort Lauderdale / Hollywood Beach area and skipping the Keys pre-cruise.... I'll keep thinking and researching!

 

Thanks again.

 

Isla' is much farther down .... as you look around you'll see that Keys locations are typically given as mile markers. These are the US 1 mile markers where the end of US1 in Key West is zero.... As I recall the entrance to Penn' is about 104.5. But remember US1 has stop lights and is often only 2 lanes so don't figure an average speed of 65. From Key Largo south (actually west....but it is south US 1) you can probably figure more like 35 mph average. From Ft L or Miami to Pennekamp you will probably average 55 as Penn' is at the top of the Keys. Lot's of places to stay in Key Largo...

[sea-jay]

I have been diving in both Key Largo and Looe key closer to Key West. Both locations are great for both diving and snorkling. Cozumel can't be beaten for diving but since I haven't snorkled there, I can't comment. However, here is my recommendation:

 

Check out these sites for Key Largo. http://www.floridakeys.com/keylargo/diving.htm

 

Largo is a very short drive from Miami and the Pennecamp Park is great. There are also a lot of places to stay. I have stayed at Kelly's on the bay and dove with the Aquanuts. Kelly's is a 1950's style motel and probably hasn't been renovated since then.:) It's really a pretty rough spot to stay. (however, it will really make you appreciate your cruise:D ). Have also stayed at the Holiday Inn and dove with Capt. Slate. He does a "critter feed" which is really nice. You may want to look at some of my website photos (link is in my signature)

 

Looe key is also great for snorklers since the diving is really shallow. In places, my tank broke the surface in order to get over some of the really shallow reef spots. Looe Key is less than an hour from Key west. Depending on your time there on your cruise, you can easily arrange a dive.

 

Here is a link for them. http://www.floridakeys.com/lowerkeys/looekey.htm

 

One thing you must do however, is dive in Cozumel. I dove Planacar Caves and Frenchman's reef last time. Again, photos in my website. If there is a choice for only one dive - make it Cozumel. If two, do Key Largo also. You can always drive to Florida for another vacation and dive other spots and you may not get to Cozumel again for a while.

 

Happy bubbles.

[kristijen]

Sea-Jay

It seems as though you have done many dives, my dh and ds who are newly certified divers are wanting to know is Cozumel better than Grand Caymans for diving? What would you recommend? We will be in both ports in Dec. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

[cawhite]

Thanks Capt. BJ and John.

 

John, I'll check out those websites as well as the pictures you have. Just trying to make the best of our time in Florida as we don't make it to that side of the country very often, so thanks for your advice.

 

We dove / snorkeled in Cozumel this past April and had a great time. Looking forward to trying it out in Belize as well!

[sea-jay]

kristijen - If I had one choice, I would dive in Cozumel. Last year's hurricane did some damage to the Grand Caymen reef's and they need some time to recover.

 

Having said that, if you can dive in both places, do so. You won't regret either dive. Although I haven't yet done any diving in Grand Caymen, my dive club has an annual week long trip there or to Little Caymen and they all say the diving is normally great. Thus, even tho there has been some damage, it is not severe so you will still enjoy the dive.

 

Happy bubbles.

[michmike]

we stayed in key largo precruise in Nov last year and went snorkeling with capt amy slate at amoray dive resort . Stayed there as well.. Rooms are basic but clean and serviceable and they had a fairly nice pool.

 

Was our first time snorkeling from a boat (had done it from the beach in st thomas and in bahamas) and we loved it. Did the pennekamp reef, LOTS of fish and the crew was super helpful to a couple of relative novices w/ bad knees to boot.. would go again in a heartbeat.. and the drive from key largo to the port in FLL was only about 2 hrs.. an easy drive sat morning.

[cawhite]

Thanks sea-jay and michmike!

[Shellintampa]

A perfect spot is a l;ittle reef right off shore in Lauderdale by the Sea area.

I will locate our dive book and give you the info on it. it is a must see.

it is right off A1a I know there is a dive shop a few blocks from it also.

The town is Lauderdale by the Sea I know that. We stayed at a Days Inn last year precruise and It was right down the road within walking distance. There is a pier there also.

 

Shelli

[cawhite]

Shelli,

 

That sounds great.... I look forward to hearing back on that reef in Lauderdale by the Sea!!

[kristijen]

kristijen - If I had one choice, I would dive in Cozumel. Last year's hurricane did some damage to the Grand Caymen reef's and they need some time to recover.

 

Having said that, if you can dive in both places, do so. You won't regret either dive. Although I haven't yet done any diving in Grand Caymen, my dive club has an annual week long trip there or to Little Caymen and they all say the diving is normally great. Thus, even tho there has been some damage, it is not severe so you will still enjoy the dive.

 

Happy bubbles.

Thanks sea-jay for the advice.

I think Cozumel is the choice for them, they have so much they want to do I am not sure they will get to dive both ports.

[sgetto]

Cawhite.

I learned to dive at a place called the south florida diving. http://www.southfloridadiving.com They are located just off the beach in Pompano (just north of Lauderdale by the sea). The place that Energizedbunny referred to is called the Nursery. The website has a description/photos of a number of places to dive right off Pompano/Lauderdale by the sea.

 

Have fun.

[cawhite]

Thanks sgetto! I've written both down... South Florida Diving and the Nursery.

 

Carole