Key Largo Scuba Diving

What you can see, what to expect, & what's the big deal?

Marine Life
We get asked ALL the time “what is Key Largo scuba diving like?" What that typically translates to is "what critters can I see while diving in Key Largo?" The good news is you can see pretty much all the amazing, beautiful and unique marine life you could ever want all in one place! We frequently see: sea turtles (mostly green, loggerhead, hawksbill with occasional sightings of leatherbacks and Ridley's), sharks (nurse, Caribbean Reef, blacktip reef, bull, hammerhead, tiger, silky, dusky, etc. every few years we get lucky and have WHALE SHARKS swing through), stingrays (southern and spotted eagle are most common but we occasionally get MANTAS in the area), eels (green, spotted, goldentail, chain, chestnut, mulatto, purplemouth, sharptail, goldspotted & brown), spiny lobster, crabs, parrotfish (midnight, blue, rainbow, striped, princess, queen, greenblotch, redband, redtail, yellowtail and stoplight), porcuipinefish, boxfish, trunkfish, filefish, damsels, hogfish, barracuda, angelfish (gray, French and Queen Anne), trumpet fish, spotted drums, triggerfish, grouper, snapper, pompano, permit, conch, squirrelfish, butterflyfish and jellyfish (did you see how I snuck that one in).

Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary
Now that all of the Florida Keys are a Federally protected sanctuary, the marine life here has gotten even more abundant! With many places in the Caribbean unfortunately struggling with conservation programs and marine life still under siege from over-fishing, the Florida Keys have enjoyed the protections that come with being one of the largest marine sanctuaries in the world! As a result, all water activities in the Florida Keys have gotten WAY better! With bait fish stocks rising due to fishing limits, and with the Sanctuary Preservation areas being completely off limits for spear fishing or line fishing, the fish populations are indeed flourishing!

The Barrier Reef, Dive Site Info, & Climate
Key Largo sits in the most active marine life area on the 3rd largest barrier reef in the world (Australia's Great Barrier Reef is 1st, Belieze's Barrier Reef is 2nd) and diving here is simply incredible. Most of the diving is on shallow reefs, in about the 25 – 50 foot range, which makes for outstanding bottom time! At Sea Dwellers Dive Center we offer a bit over and hour at each dive site, excluding the deeper wrecks, most of our divers average 45 - 55 minutes of bottom time when factoring in the time it takes to get on and off the boat as opposed to many operators in the area who offer 45 - 55 minutes at each site and pack way more divers on board which further eats into your dive time. The waters are usually clear and blue and offer scuba divers a great range of dive adventures on our many reef dives and wrecks with diverse and abundant marine life. The subtropical climate provides approximately 340 sunny days each year and the dive conditions are usually good to great year-round. So come on down any time of year, the diving is great and the critters are waiting! One of the BEST parts is our perpetually warm winters. Even in our coldest month of January, our highs average 75 degrees with lows around 63 degrees...brrr...just kidding....VIVA ENDLESS SUMMER!!!

Christ Statue

Key Largo scuba diving would be incomplete without a visit to the famous “Christ of the Abyss”. This beautiful landmark was placed in approximately 25 feet of water at Key Largo Dry Rocks about six miles North east of Key Largo, on August 25 1965. The reef lies in what was then part of the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. The statue itself weighs around 400 pounds, the concrete base to which it is attached weighs a whopping 20,000 pounds!

John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park
The Park contains a wide variety of tropical vegetation, shore birds and marine life. While the mangroves and tropical hammocks offer visitors a unique and interesting experience, it is the coral reefs and the marine life which calls it home that most people come to experience. The coral reefs of Key Largo and the Florida Keys are among the most diverse of all ecosystems on the planet!

Key Largo Scuba diving Trips Daily
Sea Dwellers Dive Center of Key Largo offers daily charters. So call us anytime to begin your Key Largo scuba diving Adventure!