My family of 6 divers and 8 non-divers are going to the Keys next January. I am looking for suggestions on good places to stay that might have a beach for the non-divers, or near a beach... I have noticed that the places to stay are either on the Gulf side or the Ocean side, does anyone have opinions on which is better?
We will have a van, so driving to dive excursions is not an issue. We have never been down there so we really know nothing about what to look for in dive operators either. We do want to dive the Spiegal Grove though.
As far as any really good beach there really are none some sand on the coral but not much for a beach. PennyCamp by Key largo to stay in a park Key west Loo Key is a good place to stay close dive shops the preseve isn't bad Just depends on what you are looking for and expense
I believe that with both divers and non-divers your best bet would be Isle Morada "check the spelling". It's about half way down the keys with sandy beaches and still good reefs for the divers. I would stay on the ocean side because thats where the reefs are. There is a resort up there called the holidays inn which is a complete dive resort. I recomend them. They are reasonable and have alot to do as far as diving or just sitting around at the beach drinking cocktails. I think it takes about an hour and a half to get to key west from there. They have a pool bar over looking the beach and several other bars in the resort. I believe that on the resort there are two or three beaches. They also offer fishing charters if you are intrested in that kind of thing.
My only advice would be to go with a six pack and not a cattle boat.
The last two times I have been in the keys I have stayed in Key Largo and dove with Aqua-nuts. They do a decent job, but there's 20+ people on the boat. With all those people you have no flexibility. When we did dive the Spiegel Grove it was a strict depth (100') and time (45 min I think) limit, and then the next one had to be a 20' dive on a featureless reef.
With six people on a six pack, you would be able to do whatever you want (within reason) and you might get some discounts as well.
Not true Bahia Honda state park has a very nice real sand beach. I was just there last week! See
For a place to stay in Key Largo that's great for divers and non-divers check out:
For a great operator, check out:
We used both last March, with great success. This is an excerpt from a post on TDS:
"After our DIRF class we went down to Key Largo and did some diving there. We dove the Spiegel Grove, the Duane and Molasses reef, for a total of four dives. I had set up these dives through Alex Mendez at . Alex uses a local operator, Island Ventures (). On both days we didn't have more than 7 people on board (diveboat will hold up to 14 divers) and they ran a smooth operation. We were diving double AL80's - no question asked. We didn't have Nitrox stickers or any of the other BS on our tanks, and Brian (owner of Island Ventures) didn't hve any problems filling them with PPO2 blending. It was fun having Alex on the dives as he is squared away himself and knows the reef and wrecks. I can highly recommend both of these gentlemen if you're interested in diving the keys."
David
Check out all I have heard and read Jim runs a first class operation.
Al
So Al you have never been there or seen their operation first hand?
NO I have not used this shop yet, and did not say I had, did I? So whats your point?
Over the years Jim's shop has been mentioned many times on other sites and have read many glowing reviews of his shop. He is a frequent contribitor on scubaboard.com and thedecostop.com.
Just passing along what I hope was useful info. hope thats all right with you. Al
I'm just saying that it is nice to have people recomend shops/ places and such that have done a good job. Any shop can put out an add and have diving, but there are few shops that really do the extras.