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Dive Review of Scuba-Do/Marina Del Mar in
The Continental USA/Key Largo

Scuba-Do/Marina Del Mar, Jul, 2006,

by Melissa Good, FL, USA . Report 2649.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 3 stars Food 4 stars
Service and Attitude 2 stars Environmental Sensitivity N/A
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving 1 stars
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ N/A
Beginners 5 stars
Advanced 3 stars
Comments This was my first time diving in Pennekamp Marine Park - pretty sad since I live in Miami. We made arrangements for two afternoons of boat diving with Scuba-Do. Laurie does the arrangments via email, was very friendly and helpful, and remained very friendly and helpful throughout the dive.
We stayed at the Marina Del Mar, right at the Marina that Scuba-Do ties up in along with a number of other scuba and snorkle operations. The marina also has the boat African Queen moored there (from the movie) which is an interesting five minutes study. They have glass bottom boats, which was a good pick for our non-diving friend to see what she was missing. The hotel had decent service, and the rooms were well laid out and good for families with a kitchen and pull down Murphy beds. We picked it because it was dog friendly - my Labrador liked the room as well.
Diving in Pennekamp was wonderful. The first day we were the only two divers on the boat but they took us anyway. Weather was windy, and the seas were choppy but the viz was fine and we saw a number of turtles as well as the usual tropical suspects. The coral was mostly benches and undercuts, but it was full of life and the fish let you get very close to take pictures.
Second day of diving was flat calm and wonderful. Excellent viz, large swim through coral formations. I was the first one in the water and as the bubbles cleared I was about face to face with a black tip reef shark, who had a buddy, and a couple of nurse friends swimming around below. Nice fish life, nice viz, nice weather.
Scuba-Do is a small operation, but I liked them a lot. The dive briefings were excellent, the captain/divemaster Tony was as helpful as you needed him to be, the fills were all over 3000. They had water on the boat and a cooler - you bring everything else. You sit on the back deck and they bring your tank and BC over to you, get in, fall over. They help you out, and change your tanks over. Nice dual ladders to get out with, take your fins off first. My friend had a brand new mask - Laurie spent our hour surface interval working it over to kill the fogging and it worked. Good team, nice boat, great experience.

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 101-250 dives
Where else diving Fort Lauderdale, Hawaii, Catalina Island, Belize, St.Thomas, Tortola, New Zealand
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, rainy Seas calm, choppy
Water Temp 80-84°F / 27-29°C Wetsuit Thickness 0
Water Visibility 70-100 Ft/ 21-30 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions One Hour, 500 psi
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? N/A

What I Saw

Sharks 1 or 2 Mantas 1 or 2
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 5 stars Tropical Fish 2 stars
Small Critters 1 stars Large Fish 3 stars
Large Pelagics 4 stars

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

Subject Matter N/A Boat Facilities 3 stars
Overall rating for UWP's N/A Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments Dedicated bucket on the boat. No real dry space to open or use cameras.
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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