Key Largo, Florida (March, 2000)
Author: Ken Graham

We went down to the Florida Keys the end of March 2000. We set up to meet some friends and my brother and his wife at Kelly's on the Bay to dive with Aqua-nuts. We arrived late on Sunday after the office had opened, but found a note on the door directing us to our room. The next day we officially checked in and went for the morning dive.

The first trip out was a disaster. Our friend's wife and daughter joined my son & I on the 8:00 am trip. The seas were about 5 to 8 feet due to a southeast breeze. The current was about 4 knots. When my son stepped off the back of the boat, I was right behind him, but two rude divers from New York cut in and by the time I hit the water, my son was half way to Cuba. I swam out to him and he was almost in a panic. We agreed to abort the dive and swam back to the boat. If you have never tried getting into a boat in 5-8 foot waves, you've missed an experience second only to 3 rounds with Mike Tyson. After feeding the fish for a while, we eventually made it back to dock. I'm not sure our friend went out again the rest of the week.

My son and I started our AOW the next morning after a good dose of Bonine. Our instructor was great. He helped my son gain confidence in his skills and ran us through the skills over the next few days. Although he had a very laid back style, we learned a great deal in those three days of diving.

The accommodations were not deluxe, but were clean and adequate. We had one of the more deluxe rooms with a hot tub and a grill out front in a fenced off area in front of the room. The other facilities were also not deluxe, but were quite nice. The pool was nice and had plenty of chairs. The hot tubs were down on the dock by the hammocks and the dive boats. The dive boats were Newton 42s fairly new and in good condition. The tanks appeared to be well maintained. I don't know how the rest of the equipment was as all we rented were tanks and weights.

The next time we go to the Keys I will definitely keep Kelly's and Aqua-nuts in mind.

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