One of the best areas for diving in North America is in the Florida Keys, a long chain of islands south of Miami. For any scuba diver traveling to South Florida, even a quick day trip to the Florida Keys is worth it. There is excellent diving throughout the Keys from the first community of Key Largo, to the middle at Marathon and all the way to where Key West is located. One can reach Key Largo in about 45 minutes from Miami and the protected Pennekamp Marine Park in the surrounding waters offers much more marine life to see than the waters of Miami or Fort Lauderdale. Key Largo, in particular, is a town for divers with numerous dive operators and a few retailers selling scuba gear and equipment.
One of the best things about diving in the Florida Keys is the variety of dive sites for all levels of diver. Many of the best coral reefs stocked with fish are found at beginner dive sites like Molasses Reef and French Reef. With depths from 30 to 50 feet, these are perfect dive sites for newly certified divers, as well as those looking to do night dives. There’s even some good wreck diving at shallow dive sites like the Benwood wreck, where the resident marine life won’t let any diver down. For more advanced divers, there are some spectacular deep dives with large wrecks like the Duane, a former coast guard ship standing upright. The most recent ship to be sunk for diving is the Spiegel Grove, which again is for advanced divers.
Many divers from North America and other parts of the world come to the Florida Keys for their open water certification dives, as well as more advanced training. Accommodations are plentiful in communities throughout the Keys and range from simple motels to luxury resorts. Many have special packages just for divers where there is an agreement with one of the local dive operators. There are also relatively inexpensive accommodations in Florida City, which is the closest community on the Florida mainland, about 20 minutes from Key Largo. After the day of diving, there are many restaurants serving fresh seafood for even the hungriest of divers.
Another attractive feature of diving in the Florida Keys is the cost. Especially for the quality of the dive views, the cost of diving here is lower than in many of the Caribbean destinations like the Bahamas and the Cayman Islands. For those not quite ready to try scuba diving, there are some decent dive sites in the Keys, including one of the best in the US at Looe Key. The marine life that can be seen here has convinced quite a few divers to finally get scuba certifications. The Florida Keys have enough other things to do besides scuba diving to keep non-divers busy. There is interesting shopping, water sports, beaches (near the western part) and even two places to interact with dolphins. Of course, there’s also the funky Key West scene.
The only aspect of diving in the Florida Keys that some divers may not like is that the dives are not guided by the divemasters of the various dive operators. Divers who are used to following a local divemaster like diving in destinations like Cozumel will just have to join groups of friends here in the Keys. Despite this drawback, the Florida Keys still offer excellent tropical diving without leaving the US.