Key West Diving

Scuba diving in Key West

Key West is one of the most attractive islands in the Florida Keys chain of islands. Diving in Key West's warm waters is what makes it a unique place. Key West meets all divers expectations by offering drift, shallow, deep and multiple wrecks diving. Enjoy diving the only living coral reef in the United States located only few miles away from Key West shores. Key West diving sites are the best in the Caribbean, they are home to abundant of underwater life including schools of grunts, jewfish, morays and all kinds of corals.

Always dive according to your level of training. Never enter the water without checking with Key West dive centres for safety, additional information, level required for each dive site and without being accompanied by a professional.
All the information provided is purely informative for our readers and shouldn't be used as is to plan your immersion.

Average annual temperature: From 23°C to 29°C( 75° F -85° F)
Average Water surface temperature: 24° C ( 76 ° F)
Visibility often averaging: Visibility is between 60-100 feet ( 18-30 meters )
Coldest time: January
Warmest time: August
Possible to dive all year round.

Key West dive sites vary from reef to wreck dives. This diversity of dive sites gives you the opportunity to enjoy all levels of diving. Key West's most popular dive spots like Sand Key, Joe's Tug and Cayman Salvager are home to variety of aqua life such as hogfish, angelfish, groupers, pork fish, sheep head and snappers. The clear waters and great visibility at Key West dive sites is quite astonishing, it allows you to easily observe underwater life at very deep locations.

Some of Key West dive sites.

Alexander's Wreck is located at depth range from 25 to 40 feet (8 to 12 meters). The wreck was the US Navy destroyer escort "USS Amesbury". It was sunk in the year 1927 to form an artificial reef. After a hurricane happened in the early 1960s it was broken in half. Now the wreck is covered with oysters and corals and makes a great home for many underwater life including hogfish, angelfish, groupers, pork fish, sheep head, snappers, and spadefish.

Sand Key is a great snorkeling location. It is at a depth of 35 - 75 feet (11 - 23 meters). It is located about seven miles southwest of Key West. Its calm water makes it a great dive site for beginners. Mooring buoys mark this beautiful dive site. This site gets its beauty from corals and small shells laying on its sands. The reef around the island has several rock fingers and gullies and is home to grouper, barracuda, and loggerhead turtles. Elkhorn and fire coral also grow in the area.

Cayman Salvager is a ship that sank unexpectedly in the year 1979 while sitting at the dock, then was raised and sunk again in 1985 to form an artificial reef. And now it is in 80 - 90 feet (24 - 27 meters) of water. Many kinds of sea life frequent the area, bar jacks, schools of silversides, jewfish and green moray eel are seen in this site.

Aquanaut located at about 1/2 mile ( 0.8 km)south of the Western Sambo, at a depth of 70 - 75 feet (21 - 23 meters). This wooden tug sank in the year 1967, and now it sits upright on the sand of the reef. Abundant sea life are seen in the area including spiny oysters, arrow crab and mahogany snappers.

At a depth of 45 - 65 feet (14 - 20 meters) sits the mysteriously sank tugboat named  Joe's Tug. It was torn in half by the Hurricane Georges in 1998. Now it forms a beautiful artificial reef. This site is easily entered and is usually filled with schooling fish. The tugboat is covered with both soft and hard corals. This area makes a great home for moray eels, inquisitive fish and jewfish. This site suits both beginner and experienced divers.

Marquesas Reef Line is a reef located six miles south of the Marquesas Keys which are ten mangrove islands in shallow waters. It is at 40 - 70 feet (12 - 21 meters) deep.  Large snapper and grouper are seen in this site.

Nine Foot Stake is at a depth of 15 - 30 feet (5 - 9 meters). You will enjoy discovering and photographing this beautiful shallow reef. It makes agreat home for many kinds of aqua life such as brain coral, Spanish hogfish, yellow goatfish, and blue tags as well as large barracudas. Due to its location this site is great for night diving.

Rock Key is located one mile east of Sand Key at a depth of 15 - 35 feet (5 - 11 meters). This shallow reef is best for snorkeling and it is easily accessible from Key West. This reef is formed by a Spanish ship wreck sank in the1800s. Long fingers of coral grow on this reef. The site suits all levels of expertise.

Ten-Fathom Bar is one of Florida Keys mini wall dive sites. The wall begins at 25 feet (8 meters) deep and drops to 130 feet (40 meters). Eagle rays, porcupine fish, spiny lobster as well as many other tropical fish frequent the area. The area is famous for human-sized barrel sponges and black coral growing in it .

Eastern Dry Rocks is at a depth of 15 - 35 feet (5 - 11 meters). This site is formed by an old galleon covered with large corals. Lobsters among many other kinds frequent the area.