best scuba diving florida keys

Florida Keys Activities (After Diving)

This Blog is dedicated to scuba diving as you all know…and we all know that Key Largo is “DiveCapital of the World” But often after a great day of diving Key Largo…what do folks do to pass the time until the next dive trip? We get asked to highlight other activities here in the Keys regularly of course, and there is so much to explore between Key Largo and Key West in your free time!.

Florida Keys Overseas Highway!Let’s begin with the most straightforward option; a scenic and stunning drive south on US1, known to most world-wide as the “Overseas Highway”. This drive is the epitome of a Florida Keys vacation. To fully immerse yourself in this experience, it is highly recommended  that you spring for the rental convertible, put that top down, pull out your shades, and put on your favorite tunes.  And how about those Florida Keys bridges! There are forty-two of them and they are unlike any others anywhere! The most famous of them all, the “seven mile bridge”, connects the middle Keys to the lower Keys and is a spectacular backdrop to stop and take some pictures. Another bridge that should be noted is the old bridge to Pigeon Key. This bridge is a historical sight connecting to Pigeon Key which served as a base for railroad workers working on the Flagler railroad in the early 1900s. Nowadays, visitors can walk the two mile stretch to the key on the old railroad bridge or take a short boat ride.

Next, let’s highlight some attractions on your adventure. There are activities for everyone in theFlorida Keys Diving Museum Keys.  If you and yours happen to be “Dive-Dorks”- like myself, and enjoy history, you may want to make a stop into the in Islamorada at the “History of Diving Museum”, to learn about the evolution of Diving.

Dolphins Plus Key largoDolphins Plus of Key Largo offers many dolphin experiences for the whole family! Observe and interact with dolphins in many ways, from a dolphin swim to shadowing a dolphin trainer for a day. What’s more, Dolphins Plus is committed to educating visitors about these creatures and marine conservation.

The Turtle Hospital is a very special one of a kind place in Marathon. It is a non-profit organization that specializes in the rescue, rehab, and release of sick and injured sea turtles. Visitors can take a guided educational tour of the Hospital’s rescue efforts and meets some of its residents.

The Florida Keys Wild Bird Rehabilitation Center is another non-profit organization that is dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitate, and the release  native and migratory wild birds that have been harmed or uprooted.

Theatre of the Sea in the Florida KeysTheater of the Sea is located in Islamorada and is a go-to attraction for those who desire a variety of animal interaction programs for various ages and prices. Meet, pet, swim, and watch many offered shows.

Key Deer are very special to the Florida Keys. These miniature white-tailed deer are endangered and found only in the Keys. The National Key Deer refuge is an amazing place to learn about our special Key Deer and is located on Big Pine Key.Instructor Shorey

Certainly, scuba diving the Florida Keys is one of the biggest attractions in these islands, but there are many other fun things to see and experience here…after a great day of diving that is!

Everyone enjoy Paradise!
– Sea Dwellers Dive Center Instructor Shorey

 

Top 25 Scuba Diving Blog!

“Key Largo Diving Blog” Makes Top 25 Best Blogs!

Top 25 Scuba Diving Blog Award!
“Key Largo Diving Blog” Top 25 – FEEDSPOT

We’re proud to announce that our very own Blog, the “Key Largo Diving Blog”, has been voted into the Top 25 Scuba Diving Blogs by FEEDSPOT (Link) Content Reader!  Thanks so much to FEEDSPOT, and everyone involved in helping to contribute to our Blog!  The Key Largo Diving Blog was created to help keep our divers informed about scuba diving Key Largo and scuba diving in general. We thank everyone who follows it and appreciate the feedback we’ve gotten in the past.  Thanks again to everyone!Sea Dwellers of the Florida Keys
-Your Sea Dwellers StaffYour Dive Center Staff!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2017 Reunion Weekend! – Great Diving in Key Largo!

Great Friends, Great Diving, & Great Fun In Key Largo – Sea Dweller’s Reunion Weekend

Key Largo reunion Dive Weekend

After a turbulent month or 2 in Key Largo, we were happy to host our 11th Annual Key Largo Reunion Weekend Dive Event this weekend.  It was a full house, and the weather and Dive conditions were spectacular we’re happy to say!  We knew we were in luck when we woke up on Thursday to clear blue skies and a light northerly wind, perfect for scuba diving Key Largo reefs and wrecks!

For those who are not aware, we have been hosting this Key Largo Dive event for 11 years now, and it’s geared for our wonderful customers who have been diving with Sea Dwellers before…some diving with us for decades we’re happy to say!  Many participants return year after year for this event, and have become not just customers, but friends of management and staff.  Our staff has come to enjoy the event greatly over the years and we’re always happy to welcome back the divers we’ve come to know and love for this weekend of eating, playing, scuba diving and great camaraderie!
Dive the Florida Keys!
The Diving conditions, once again, were very good!  Blue water and lots of sunshine enabled us to get some amazing diving in over the weekend. it was a “turtle weekend” for sure…can’t remember seeing this many in awhile for some reason!  Also many Reef Sharks were sited each day, 3-5 foot range in Diving is great in the Florida Keys! size and very curious of the divers, enabling us to get a close look at these beautiful creatures!

Diving key Largo with Turtles!

The entire Key Largo diving weekend was wonderful!  3 days of diving including a 3-location dive trip, a Champagne Sunset Cruise, Saturday night Costume Party and lots of good times!   A special thanks to everyone who was able to attend this year’s Reunion dive event, and to those who couldn’t make it this year, you were missed by all and we hope to be diving with you at next years Reunion Weekend!

– Your Sea Dwellers’ Dive Center Staff

Scuba diving together in Key Largo

Key largo costume partyHaving fun in the Florida Keys!

Best Scuba Diving Florida Keys

So you ask…where is the “Best Scuba Diving Florida Keys“?

Best scuba diving florida keys

So you fly into Miami, maybe Ft Lauderdale, and a little over an hour later you’re driving across a bridge onto the first island of the Florida Keys, Key Largo.  You see the natural beauty of this unique ecosystem all around you. Plush green tropical islands surrounded by blue water and bridges spanning the distance between them, sometimes over distances too far to see both ends. Beautiful and unique in North America.  This is why the Florida Keys are sometimes referred to as “America’s Caribbean”. After your drive down from the mainland, you are in Key Largo. You’ve heard it said that the best diving Florida Keys is in Key Largo, right? Could this be true and if so, why?

Geography Means best Scuba Diving Florida Keys is Key Largo!

Key Largo is one of the longest continuous land masses separating the waters of the Florida Bay, (the West side of the islands), from the water flowing through our reefs on the Atlantic side, (the East side of the islands).   These Florida Bay waters, and then the Gulf of Mexico waters farther south, have a different temperature and salinity content than the waters on the Atlantic side of the islands.  When you have these waters mix over the reefs, it is damaging to their development.  Hence, Key Largo provides the largest barrier to this happening and has always therefore had a larger, healthier reef track than the other islands in the Florida Keys. So yes, the “best scuba diving Florida Keys” is off Key Largo!

Molasses Reef Find the Best scuba diving Florida Keys!

To be more specific, the largest, most dynamic reef in all the Florida Keys is Molasses Reef off Key Largo.  It is by far one of the most famous Dive Sites not only in the Florida Keys, but also all the Caribbean!  According to the REEF Foundation, Molasses Reef has one of the largest and most diverse fish populations in all the Caribbean, we are proud to say!    The best scuba diving in the Florida Keys in general is off key Largo, specifically, the best dive site in the Florida keys is Molasses Reef.

When divers explore for the “best scuba diving Florida Keys“, they need not travel past the first island in the Best scuba diving & Schooling fish!Florida Keys chain coming south from Miami.  Key Largo is known as the “Dive Capital of the World” for good reason, it’s close, and beautiful!

  • Your Sea Dwellers Staff

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy 4th of July!

One of my staff was diving Molasses Reef the other day, enjoying the bait ball we’ve had there for over a week now, and he said the obvious hit him suddenly…the marine life here is really awesome!    As a matter of fact, the marine life today in the Florida Keys is more abundant and diverse than it was 10 to 15 years ago, in our humble opinion.  Now to those of you who dive key largo and already knew that, it does seem obvious.

But in this world we live in now this should really be applauded.  Today we find many of our natural resources under attack from things like pollution, climate change, and lack of government funding for protection due to deficits, etc.   It’s very easy to talk about the negatives here on the only barrier coral reef in North America, of which there are still plenty.  And yet despite this, the marine ecosystem here in the Florida Keys has seen some positives over recent history, as shown most dramatically in the abundance of marine life we’re seeing these days.  Dive Key Largo

In 1990, the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary was established, along with many rules and regulations that some were concerned about.  But with this also came government  funding, for the protection of our waters and the ecosystem here.  I believe we have seen the benefits of this at this point, and while there are still many problems we face here, there are tangible improvements that we all can see today on our reefs…that we all can enjoy!

We at Sea Dwellers think this is something to celebrate…Happy 4th of July America!