Key Largoby Beverly

Key Largo, 1999
Author: Beverly

Posted by Beverly on September 09, 1999 at 23:49:59:

Decided to pick a new dive operator this time, It's A Dive, on the Marriott property at MM 103. They'd always been rated highly in Rodales, but you never hear much about them, don't know why. Anyway, they were quite decent. The boat was very wide, and they take up to 20 or 22 divers, but that number is rare. If it goes over, they will take 2 boats, even if they could accommodate a few more snorkelers on the 1 boat. The most we had was 16 divers, but it seemed more roomy than any other boat in the area that I'd been on. The crew ranged from good to excellent. Even had one DM in front of the dive shop ask me where my car was, so he could put it on the boat. The service on the 3 days of diving depended on the crew that particular day, but it was good in general. Sometimes they'd be there to help you off the boat with fins & camera, sometimes not. Twice they set up your gear for the 2nd dive, once they did not. All dive briefings were good. Big cooler with soda. Separate camera & mask rinse buckets. Plenty of shade. Comfy vinyl seats. No toilet. Oh well.

There were snorkelers on board, including my travel partner, so no deep wrecks, but we didn't see the Jesus either, so I can't complain. We did Carysfort South & Carysfort on Saturday aft, Elbow & Mike's wreck on Sun, Caryfort & Carysfort South again on Mon. The only inexplicable thing the crew did was on Sat, when they did Caryfort South for the first dive, a max of about 25 ft, followed by Carysfort, where the best part was a mini-wall from 60 - 70 ft. Did the reverse profile, tried not to worry about it. Carysfort proper was the best diving I did there. The reef was in better shape than most areas, the fish more varied, there were 2 & sometimes 3 lobsters in every hole we looked. Saw a 6 - 7 ft free-swimming nurse shark, hawksbill turtle, and many schools of small fish the whole weekend. Huge permit, hogfish, green morays, a few big groupers (black, Nassau and tiger), one humongous crab, small schools of midnight & blue parrotfish, hawkfish, scorpionfish, 1 porcupine, several species of butterfly & angels, and forget about the grunts - I mean, I could go on & on & on. The fishlife is as prolific & varied in certain areas as anywhere in the Caribbean. Much of the reef could use help though. Vis was pretty crummy to fair most of the weekend (30 - 60 ft). It was my non-diving buddy's first time ever snorkeling. He was so proud of himself for staring a 'cuda down on the last day, but he was freaking from the millions of moon jellies at Carysfort.

BTW, I had the best 'buddy luck' I ever had down there. Same buddy for 2 days, another for 1 day. One guy was taking lots of pictures, like me, and the other woman was an instructor from Atlanta. Both were experienced, not too clingly, into their own thing, while we each pointed out the good stuff to each other - just perfect. My Matrix Master crapped out on the last day. No battery warning, but the current batteries had been replaced May and only 25 - 30 dives on it since. The nitrogen loading bar just kept creeping up fast, and 13 minutes into the dive at 60-odd feet I was in deco mode, so I took out my trusty PADI wheel.

Oh, I picked up my ScubaPro 0.5mm Steamer on Saturday from Ocean Divers. The small I had reserved was a little big, but luckily they had an extra-small. It was a teensy bit small, but snug & comfortable. Water temps were 85 plus, so not a good test for the Steamer. Easy to don & doff, so, so far I like it lots. The weather was absolutely perfect, BTW, until Monday evening, after my diving was done.

I figured it might be fun to see who had the best fish sandwich (since Key Lime Pie has been sufficiently covered in the past). You're not gonna believe this, but the fish sandwich at Hobo's was a major disappointment. They serve it on regular size slices of wheat bread. This piece of fish (mahi) was a 2 by 2 inch square - 2 small bites on each half - so I felt compelled to point this out to the waiter. My friend's was just a tiny bit bigger. He took it back, apologized, and brought it back right. But being that both sandwiches were that tiny, I 've got to think this is regular fare there these days, and they have gotten greedy. The fish sandwich at Marlin's started out a bit bigger, but was a slim 1/4 inch of grouper, unseasoned to imperfection, and topped with a slice of unmelted American cheese. On Monday, we found the best fish sandwich thus far at the Cracked Conch., a healthy cut of fresh snapper. We had our only piece of Key Lime pie there, and it had been frozen, and generally sucked. After going back to the room at shower (Travelodge in Florida City), we hit the road for happy hour at Coconuts. A nasty storm looked like it was gonna blow the roof right off the bar, so off we went. Seems like we saved the best fish sandwich for last when we got to the Fish House for dinner afterwards. The conch chowder was also very special, and I never go there without ordering it.

Didn't know where to fit this in, so...checked out the Tiki Bar for the first time on Sunday. How did I ever miss THIS place?!? There were a handful of squad cars baricading the exits trying to bust drunk drivers. Anyway, we caught a nice sunset there. All in all, a nice time, a great, fairly cheap, long weekend getaway.