We flew to Miami and spent a week on NCL’s cruise ship the EPIC. We went to St Maarten, St Thomas, and Nassau. Our boat was beautiful, the entertainment is fantastic, and there is always something to do. Cruising is not for everyone, but my wife is a non-diver so this makes for a great vacation for both us. I dive in most of the ports, and she shops with her girlfriends.
Our next week was more about diving. My father in-law lives on the gulf side of Florida. After I spent a couple of days with the family I drove down to Key Largo for some great diving. I dive with Ocean Divers. This is my third trip with them, they are really top notch. I book all my dives and lodging with them, so it is really simple. My room is about 100 feet from the boat and it has a really nice view of the marina. The location makes it really relaxed and convenient.
There are 2 types of diving in Key Largo. There are the wrecks and very shallow reefs. We did multiple dives on both the Spiegel Grove and the Duane. Each year there is more coral on the wrecks. The wrecks are fun to poke around on; you never know what you may see. The reefs are spur and groove channels with short little walls that a covered with life. There are massive schools of fish in Key Largo; it gives you the feel of an aquarium dive. From a safety point of view the reef dives are one long safety stop, the reefs are about 20-25 the entire dive.
Was the cruise kid friendly?