Kay Largo Dive Trip Report

[sea-jay]

Went diving in Key Largo in the Florida Keys this past weekend. Am now an Advanced Open Water Certified diver. My depth limit went from 60 feet to 130 feet. I am also Nitrox certified so can use the enriched air mixture which will let me dive longer.

 

Dove with Capt. Slate's Dive Center at MM 106.5 Capt. Slate has 4 boats (40 footers) so plenty of opportunity for smaller groups. Our first dive group consisted of 23 divers, 17 from here in Orlando and another 6 people that had signed up directly with the Dive Center. One couple was from Oregon, another from South Florida (new residents) and the other two were from England.

 

The coordinator of the Orlando group owns a dive shop here. He, wife, oldest daughter, daughter's boyfriend, his two cousins and their wives, made up half the group. The rest were others that signed up for the trip and myself. I went along since the dive shop owner was also my instructor for the Advanced open water and Nitrox certs.

 

Air temperatures were generally around 75-80 while the water was 75. Wetsuit weather! Seas were fairly calm all weekend long, 1-3 feet, but vis for some reason was down to about 40 feet for the most part. Usually it is 60-80.

 

Our first dive was a critter feed at 29 feet for 57 minutes. There were 6-7 Nurse Sharks, some up to 6 feet long, a couple of Barracudas, a giant Grouper, and many, many other fish being fed. We were all in a circle around the feeder and he would come up to each person with his feed bucket. Of course the sharks and other fish would follow him. Then he would pick up one of the sharks and put it in our arms to hold (for as long as the shark would lay still - but mostly they swam away pretty quickly.) Wow - What an experience. The giant grouper was about 5 feet long and probably 150 lbs. There was a video tape being taken and I will get a copy. Hopefully, someone will send photos of me holding the sharks also.

 

Our second dive was my Navigation course which I passed with (almost) flying colors. Only messed up once. Did the navigation in 30-35 feet for about 30 minutes, then went sight seeing for another 20 minutes

 

Third dive was a night dive 30 feet for 55 minutes on a wreck - The City of Washington. The wreck was really just a big debris field since the sinking was well over 100 years ago and the hull was pretty rusted and fallen apart. However, diving at night was a whole new experience because you see a lot of night creatures that are hidden during the day. Sure wish it had been lobster season. They were all out walking around. We only had 12 divers from our group that nite and 6 others for a boat with 18. Not too crowded since the boat could easily handle 30 or so.

 

Next day (Sunday) we went out for my deep dive and Nitrox certification. Again - only 18 divers. Dove a place called Nelson's Ledge which slopes down to 110 feet. Since I was also certifing for Nitrox at the same time, my dive limit was 94 feet. As a safety margin, the instructor limited us to 80 feet. For those of you not familiar with Nitrox, although you can stay down longer, you can't dive as deep because of the danger of oxygen toxicity. Surprisingly it didn't feel much different than diving at 50 feet until I looked at my air gauge. I could almost see it move every time I took a breath. Really used up air fast down that deep.

 

The last dive was a fun dive - again, about 30-35 feet for 52 minutes. My dive instructor gave me a lot of tips for taking underwater photos. Hope some of them turned out better than past potos. I will post them on my Webshots page as soon as I get them developed. Yes, I still use the old fashioned film camera underwater (Sea & Sea MX 5 II). Spent $250 for it and plan to get maximum use out of it before I get rid of it.:D

 

Overall, the trip was petty nice. If anyone has occasion to dive with Capt. Slate, bring your own snacks. The only thing they provide is Cold water (and that has a stong chorline taste like most of the water in the keys.) I would suggest a couple large bottles of water and some oranges, melon or pineapple for refreshments.

 

Keep looking for the webshots page update. I will post a note when I get them developed and posted.

 

Hope this review was informative. If you have any questions, please ask.

[turtlegirl2]

Hi! Just read your review! We will be in Miami in July for a conference and are planning on diving in Key Largo on a Sunday. Would it be likely we could get a twilight/night dive on a Sat. night? We'll be going on a four-day bahama/key west cruise after Miami and will get about 5 dives in but would like more. Thanks for posting!

[Tarkus]

great report - thanks! i love diving that area - and your times show why (you don't have to go deep to have spectacular dives). besides, as you observed on the deep dive, every breath you take you can almost see the needle move.

 

one slight word of caution - it varies for each diver on each deep dive - but since you didn't actually get down to the 130' sport limit be careful if you decide to give that a try (e.g. on a dive like the duane, where the deck is at about 105'). there are times when you'll be near 130' and you will start getting slightly narc'ed - it happened to me on the lake deep dive i did to 125' for my aow... we were doing math problems (as best we could, it was so damned dark even with the flashlights) and it was obvious i was somewhat impaired - not so badly as to render the dive unsafe but definitely enough to raise a caution flag. i've been back that deep again a couple more times but it didn't feel the same.

 

anyway, congrats on both certs. btw, i have found that if i do my first dives on nitrox then a second, shallower dive on air, it's amazing how much better i feel afterwards (when, normally, after two dives i need to go take a nap). i know a lot of folks like to dive exclusively nitrox once they have the cert, but for me i haven't seen the need if my second is only in the 30'-50' range. just my two cents there...

[sea-jay]

Turtlegirl2 - Yes, I think you can get in a nite dive on Sat. Check with either Capt. Slate or Aquanuts in Key Largo. I know both of these operators have nite dives.

 

They usually leave about an hour before sunset to give them time to get to the dive site and get you into the water just at sunset. That way, you are not trying to gear up in the dark. By the time you come up, it is really dark out there.

 

Have fun.

 

Tarkus - Yes, I am aware of the dangers of deep diving and nitrox. I don't plan on doing any really deep diving unless I am with an instructor or very expirenced dive master. Thanks for your concern.

 

BTW - New photos are up on my site from my recent dives in Belieze and Cozumel. Link is in my signature.

[Tarkus]

capt slates brings back fond memories... that's who i used when i last dived the key largo area back in '99. and great pics! gets me all-the-more excited about my eastern caribbean itinerary on the zuiderdam that commences one week from tomorrow. btw, what kind of camera were you using?

 

hey, i haven't looked through her entire list, but (if you haven't already done so) you should consider joining sailfish's dec-2003 cc scuba adventure aboard carnival's valor... diving will be cozumel, belize, roatan, and grand cayman - hard to beat, huh?

 

and i know you'll be careful at depth... i've never seen anyone with a nitrox cert that didn't have pretty good buoyancy skills (as you're well aware - but others might not be - plunging down past max operating depth can have very serious consequences!).

 

:)

[Capt_BJ]

First dove with these folks about 20 years ago.

 

How many divers are on the typical KL boat (can you say cattle boat)?

 

how about 6 divers max?

 

http://www.keylargodiving.com/

 

down side is if the water starts getting ruff - they are the first one to canx

 

but then you have two options

 

go to a cattle boat, that probably has a bunch of CANX because of the wx

 

or

 

be sane and devote the day to heavy drinking :eek: cuz dive boat or drunk - puking is highly probable :p

 

p.s. no affiliation - just like their style

[KaC-Cruiser]

Another great Dive Op in the area is DiversCity at mile marker 90. Just got back from the Keys and had a great time diving a few days with Barbara & Bob. NOT a cattle boat - the most we had was 7 divers. They offer steel or alum. 85's and are strong on the service side .... even changing over tanks for everyone! They also offer 3 tank dives which is great. No rushing back for an afternoon switch. Did our 1st dive on the Duane, and it was perfect! We used them on our last trip to Florida, and I would book with them again in a heartbeat!

[w&k]

I dove with a group at Capt. Slate's the week before Hurricane Andrew...and drove out in the advance storm bands. Good week of diving, but what a cattleboat. For some reason, we didn't get a feeding dive back then.

 

Is Mrs. Mac's still there on the bay side headed south? That's my favorite place for dolphin and REAL Key lime pie.

 

How is the coral down there now? Last time we went, Largo was getting chewed up, and we found better diving down at Marathon. That was about 8-9 years ago, and the reports we have been getting keep us diving further north.

 

The last time we went to the keys was on our honeymoon in '98, and we spent the week fishing as it was less than a week after Hurricane Georges.

 

We Floridians might not know the years, but we remember the storms!

 

Wendy