Flordia Keys Liveaboards?

Does anyone have any recommendations for a live-aboard operating from the
Keys? My buddy and I want to do the most diving for the money, we aren't too
worried about night-life (except on the reef!) or land-based activities. We
just want to stay wet!

We are thinking about late 2005 as a date.

Lisa

"Lisa Z. Morgan" wrote

> Does anyone have any recommendations for a live-aboard operating from the
> Keys? My buddy and I want to do the most diving for the money, we aren't
> too worried about night-life (except on the reef!) or land-based
> activities. We just want to stay wet! We are thinking about late 2005 as a
> date.

I'm not sure there are liveaboard boats serving the Keys. Keys diving is
all 2 to 5 miles off shore. Other than the Keys themselves, there are no
protected waters like liveaboards, and their guests, prefer for meals and
sleeping. By the time you get to protected waters, you're pretty much back
at the dock. Even if there are liveaboard serving the area, I think I'd be
likely to avoid them.

If the liveaboard experience is what you're interested in, I suggest you
consider taking one into, or one that starts out from, the Bahamas. Bahamas
liveaboards offer a much broader variety of diving among islands much less
visited than anything the Keys have to offer. Some sites are only viable
for diving from a liveaboard. For the equivalent of camping out on the
water, we like Blackbeard's Cruises, out of Miami. They appear to be the
most bang for the buck. The Nekton Pilot leaves from the Fort Lauderdale.
It's considerably more upscale and correspondingly more expensive.

Another option, if you just have to depart from the Keys, is one of the
charters out of Key West or the Naples areas that visit the Dry Tortugas.
While the Tortugas are not as pristine as they once were, they're still some
of the least visited dive locations in the US. There are enough beautiful
and healthy reefs in the area to ensure that you don't have to see other
boats if you don't wish to. Much of the area immediately around the Dry
Tortugas and Fort Jefferson is part of the National Park and/or a
preservation area. There tends to be more and better life there than the
nearby hunting grounds I'm more likely to visit. Historic Fort Jefferson is
worth a visit as well.

The only liveaboard I have personal experience with is the Playmate, out of
Stock Island, just north of Key West. Their website is
http://www.seaclusive.com/ . If you found rec.scuba a bit too rough for you
tastes, you may not like the Playmate much either. The boat, food and
diving are all exceptional, but the owner/captain, Bob DeMauro is a bit on
the sarcastic side. He and I get along quite well, but we both willingly
admit to being assholes on occasion. If you've already become comfortable
in rec.scuba, you're Bob, and his operation is a good choice.

Lee

"Lisa Z. Morgan" <lisamorgan@lairhaven.com> pounded away at his
keyboard resulting in:
:Does anyone have any recommendations for a live-aboard operating from the
:Keys? My buddy and I want to do the most diving for the money, we aren't too
:worried about night-life (except on the reef!) or land-based activities. We
:just want to stay wet!

Go somewhere else. If all you want to do is dive, a lieveaboard is
what you want, but the keys are not. Check out the Agressors, Nekton,
Dancers, and Explorers to find a destination. I have been on all
these fleets, and they are all good.

If you want to dive your brains out and stay on land, Bonaire is good.
So is Habitat Curacao and Grand Cayman.Sunset House.

Another option is to go to Iberostar in Cozumel. You can do 4 boat
dives per day and not miss any meals.

Divi Tiara in Cayman Brac had a 3 dive per day schedule when I was
there.

Trip reports available here: http://www.pathcom.com/~bracuk/Trips/


Dan Bracuk
Is it my imagination, or do Buffalo Wings taste like chicken?
The Best of rec.scuba http://www.pathcom.com/~bracuk/RecScuba/

> Does anyone have any recommendations for a live-aboard operating from
the
> Keys? My buddy and I want to do the most diving for the money, we
aren't
> too worried about night-life (except on the reef!) or land-based
> activities. We just want to stay wet! We are thinking about late 2005
as a
> date.

I would say you pretty much have 4 choices for live aboards in the
Florida keys.

1.) Ultimage Getaway out of Ft Myers, which dive the Tortugas
2.) The Playmate out of Key West, which typically dive the Tortugas
3.) An expensive 85'-100' luxury charter that runs out Key West,
ean't remember name
4.) Charter your own boat.


The Ulimate Getaway ia a 100 foot liveaboard that will sleep 20 divers
and
departs out of Ft. Myers on Tortuga trips. The Tortugas have great
diving
and it hasn't been "ruined" yet by thousands of two-tank-boat-trips
like some other reefs have in other islands. Trip includes diving,
food,
non-alcoholic drinks, air fills, etc. Nitrox is available. You will
need to
bring your dive gear and sleeping bag/pillow. Also not included is
crew tip.
Diving is good and the ship is ok. You sleep in crew bunks. But is is
a great value for the trip. Might want to try to book via a dive shop
that
has charterd the ship because if is a trip put together by the "boat"
itself
and they don't have a minium number of people, the captain has been
known to cancel the trip at the last minute, which screws up your
dive vacation.

The Playmate out of Key West is I think an about 65 foot boat that
looks
like it started life as a fishing charter. I've never been on this
boat as
I'd heard some safety complaints about the boat and it's crew. They
apparantly allegedly left some divers stranded in the water on several
occasions. Pretty bad when they only take out 6 to 10 divers that
they can't do a diver count at the end of a dive. The boat charter
also
costs more as does airfare into Key West.

I've seen advertisements for a really expensive charter yatch that
is based out of Key West. It has a full time crew of about 5 people
and is a $2 to $5million dollar yatch, so for the most part, most
people with "normal" jobs, need not inquire. I bet a week long
charter is $50k to $75k (plus exspenses like gas and food).

Rent your own boat. We chartered a 41 footer several years ago
and dove in the bahamas and visted the keys. It was nice and
fun and we could do what we wanted to at our own pace and didn't
have to follow anyone's schedule. Not cheap, but worth it. Of
course you have to find enough other people to go on the trip
to make it worthwhile.

Hope that helps.

mike