Dive Review of Dive Key West/Southern Cross Hotel in
The Continental USA/Key West, Florida

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Dive Key West/Southern Cross Hotel, Sep, 2007, by Jerry Hobart, N.Y., USA ( Contributor 18 reports with 7 Helpful votes). Report 3616.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Dive Key West has a very nice dive boat capable of easily handling 16 divers. Since the week after Labor Day is the slow season, only 5 divers were on board. Dive Key West has an excellent dive shop located on Route #1 in Key West. Thus, all gear is transported from the dive shop to the nearby marina by the dive shop staff. Also, after the morning dives, the gear was returned to the dive shop and allowed to dry over night at the dive shop. This was very helpful since we were staying in downtown Key West and planning to catch a plane in Ft. Lauderdale the next day. Initially we had hoped to dive the Cayman Salvage Master, but Wednesday was not the scheduled day for Dive Key West to dive that site. Our second choice( Sambo Reef) was an excellent alternative with plenty of fish, interesting coral formations and one large southern Sting Ray. The crew was very helpful and efficient, gave excellent dive briefings, and followed all the required safety procedures. We spent the night in downtown Key West on Duval St. at the Southern Cross Hotel. The room was small, but clean and inexpensive for Key West. Since this was our last night after diving seven days between Ft. Lauderdale and Key West, we planned to visit the bars along Duval St. and the Southern Cross has the perfect location making driving unnecessary. Over the course of eight days we made 14 dives in Ft. Lauderdale, Key Largo, Marathon, Looe Key and Key West. The plan was to concentrate on wrecks and artificial reefs and to particularly dive the Spiegel Grove, the Benwood, The Thunderbolt, the A. Busch Sr., and the Cayman Salvage Master. Except for the Cayman Salvage Master, all was accomplished. We did not use a single dive shop that I would not recommend to my best friends, and the restaurants recommended by the dive shops were excellent( local and relatively inexpensive). The only negative was the constant moving from one motel and dive shop to another as we worked our way south along the keys. To anybody contemplating this type of dive trip, I heartily recommend Pro Dive International in Ft. Lauderdale, Quiescence in Key Largo, Tilden's in Marathon, Innerspace in Big Pine Key and Dive Key West in Key West.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Tahiti, Australia( Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea), Dominica, Bahamas( San Salvador, Walker's Key, Nassau, Exumas), Cayman Islands, Bonaire, Curacao, Cozumel, Turks and Caicos, Grenada.
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, cloudy	Seas	calm, noCurrents
Water Temp	85-86°F / 29-30°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	40-50 Ft/ 12-15 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Dove only shallow reefs( Sambo Reef). Only restriction was to be back on the boat after 60 min. with at least 500 psi.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	[None]

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Dive Review of Dive Key West/Southern Cross Hotel in The Continental USA/Key West, Florida

Dive Key West/Southern Cross Hotel, Sep, 2007,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Dive Key West/Southern Cross Hotel in
The Continental USA/Key West, Florida