Islamorada Dive Center

I convinced a girlfriend to get OW certified here with Islamorada Dive Center, whilst I dove The Eagle wreck and then joined her for her 4 certifying dives :)
I had done 28 dives prior to this trip in PDC, Cozumel and Turks & Caicos so I think I was less impressed with the visibility and coral/​fish life here in the Florida mid-​Keys. However, Islamorada Dive Center is EXCELLENT and I will tell you why: They’re highly professional and totally attentive to safety despite being a smaller operation, with well-​maintained and like-​new rental gear. My rental BCD has integrated weight pockets so you don’t have to wear those awful weight belts. The only thing I didn’t really like was that they didn’t seem to have women’s rental wetsuit sizes — I had to wear a 5 mm men’s small, which was still too big on me, but I guess that’s what happens when you have to rent a wetsuit instead of having your own :’(.
When you’re on the boat diving with them, it’s full-​service… they’ll help you with your gear checks and do a diving brief and make sure you have everything ready for a safe dive. Their storefront is clean, well-​lit, and full of dive accessories you may have missed (waterproof iphone case? dive logbook and binder? O-​ring silicone grease? neoprene booties?) and scary spearfishing gear!!! Jack’s adorable English bulldog Loki was the resident canine when my friend and I dove with Islamorada for 2 days (6 tanks), and boy was he friendly and so happy to see us girls come back that he waddle-​ran up to us for a belly rub :)
Captain Scott and my friend’s instructor/​our divemaster Tony were just the best… Friendly, unassuming, and focused on our safety. Tony is just the chillest, cutest thing (and nice body too hahahah, am I allowed to say that on here?!) but too bad he already has a girlfriend or else I would have totally gotten my flirt on! No but seriously, Tony was a great divemaster — very patient and attentive to my friend during her OW certification, and overall very attuned to his divers being safe but also having a good time exploring the sea life. He pointed out a multitude of little sea creatures for me to take macro shots of, and is just an absolute dear when he makes all these underwater gestures to try to get us to understand what we’re seeing (He made a rock-​a-​bye-​baby cradling motion when he wanted to tell us that these patches of little purple dots on the sandy floor were fish roe… adorable!!!).
The boat was also in good condition (comes with marine toilet… whew!), and it was just a plus that we went during off-​season so there really weren’t too many people on each dive (less than 5 for all the trips that I went on). There was potable water on the boat but it would have been nice to have some kind of snacks between dives too, as even little girls like us get hungry. The dive shop was being manned by the Englishman Jack (another cutie… swoon!) and the transaction to pay at the end was very smooth and honest — he reminded me that my nitrox tanks were free because I did the minimum of 3 trips with them. All in all fantastic, chill people that I absolutely recommend for a safe, reliable, and fun diving experience!

I went snorkeling with this company and had a less than stellar experience. We went snorkeling with a bunch of divers and were the only snorkelers on the boat and were paid basically no attention to. Our snorkeling guide Grace said basically nothing to us the whole time except to say which general direction to go. She asked if I had been snorkeling before and I said no, and was met with an awkward silence. Also the reefs we went to were not good for snorkelers at all. And there were continuous walls of jellyfish at both sites. At the second site we got out of the water 5 mins after going in because of how many jellyfish there were. I know it’s jellyfish season so I can’t blame the company for that, but still they didn’t comment at all when we got out of the water and I had been stung all over my body multiple times. The other passengers were the only ones who talked to us about our experience.
I will say the divers enjoyed themselves and so if you are going diving maybe this is the company for you, but if you are going snorkeling just know that they will take your money and then basically ignore you the entire time. There were 2 nice workers I met the whole trip, one was the (I think) Australian cashier and the other was a long haired dive master. Other than that everyone was just eh.

If you’re looking for a one-​stop dive shop, this is the best spot in the middle keys. This was our 5^th annual trip to Lower Matecumbe for lobster mini-​season. We have a dive shop just a couple miles north of our house, but after 2 consecutive days of it being closed before 6 (during mini-​season???), we voyaged a few miles north until we found a dive-​shop that was open. Islamorada Dive Center is what we found… They are fantastic! We ended up renting a couple tanks and buying a new tank. We SCUBA, freedive and are also avid spear fishermen. Not only did they have everything we needed and more, but the staff (Grace, Jack and Matt) were eager to help and extremely knowledgeable. Thank you for the A+ customer service!!!

Dove on august 2 2015. Dove can’t remember the first site rocky something and the maze for the second dive. The depths of 30 to 40 ft was comfortable for me. The crew was great with briefing and equipment. This dive center is one of the few that send a dive master on the dives in the FL Keys

I love everything about the ocean. If I had the choice I would never get out of the water. I love the whole experience of spearfishing. It doesn’t matter to me where I am where I am diving or what I am hunting. I have always loved all the interesting, intriguing and exciting things while I am in the ocean. I am just deeply in love with the relaxation and escape that spearfishing gives me. I just go into hunting mode and pretty much forget everything else that is going on in my life.
I do the majority of my divings along coast lines and offshore reefs but this summer I’m getting more serious about blue water hunting. All the highlights moments in my life have been near the ocean. Even in the scariest of situations I have found peace and tranquility in it. One time I was coming up on a rescue dive, where one of the divers couldn’t equalize, after getting her on the boat by the time I went down my asshole instructor didn’t wait for me and took off with the group. I continued my dive and I’m glad I did. I was entirely alone in the vast ocean, so much quiet, the fish didn’t seem to be scared of me and at that time I felt as one with all the elements around me. After my dive I had the captain scoop me up, it was the best dive of my life.
These guys make sure you have a nice trip wether is snorkeling, scuba or spearfishing. You will feel safe and you will get a nice catch. Captain cares about his crew, always friendly.
Whatever you do learn two things 1 there is plenty of fish in the sea 2 just keep swimming

Had a great set of dives with them, rental equipment was in decent shape and affordable. I decided to check out the spear fishing class for both PADI certification and the experience, it was totally worth it.

I spent a week in the Keys in early November diving with these guys as part of a DC-​based Meetup group. The weather was a bit windy and the water a bit choppy the first several days, but other than that, I have no complaints. I had a fabulous vacation at a reasonable cost.
Our trips were all open water, and most days we were offered both a morning trip and an afternoon trip, two tanks each trip. For most of them Eric was the captain, and Scott and Jack were the dive masters. Those guys were polite, professional, and efficient. They took care of setting up all the equipment for us, gave us timely briefings before each dive with good tips and information, and did a great job guiding us through each dive. I was one of the more inexperienced divers in our group, with only a PADI Open Water card and 7 logged dives going in. They were patient with me and helped me through.
I did 13 dives total that week, including my first wreck dive («The Eagle») and first night dive. This was also my first time doing 4, and then 5, dives in one day. It was a great opportunity to push my boundaries, and in addition to being great fun, it was enormously fulfilling. The visibility was pretty good on most of our trips, and I saw some really cool stuff underwater: all kinds of colorful fish, including lion fish (which I got to see speared by the DMs several times), sea turtles, rays (including one hidden in the sand), huge lobsters, eels, and best of all. .. nurse sharks! Had never seen a shark before that wasn’t behind glass. (On my very last dive of the trip, as I was making my ascent I looked down and saw Jack grab one by its tail. Cool stuff.) The best, though, was the wreck. What an awesome, if slightly scary, experience! Again, Jack did a great job briefing us beforehand and making sure we executed the dive safely. The night dive was also a bit scary but a lot of fun. Rather than dumping us in pitch black water after sundown, Scott took us out just before sunset so that we had good visibility when we were making our descent, and the water got darker and darker as we made our way along the ocean floor. This was the one dive I can remember where Eric dove with us as a dive master. Seeing him put his hand on the back of a big sea turtle and coast gently along was one of the highlights of the evening.
I didn’t have much interaction with Grace and Stacey other than when I was settling up my account in the front office, but they were certainly professional and pleasant to deal with. We had two new divers in our group who worked mostly with Stacey for their dive training, and by the end of the week they were fully certified and ready for more. On the subject of accounts, I should also mention this dive center is scrupulously honest. One of our trips, the weather changed suddenly as we were getting into the water and the current was too strong for an enjoyable dive; we were frantically pumping our legs just to stay in one place, with some divers grabbing hold of rocks on the ocean floor. The dive center didn’t charge us for that one.
I exceeded my own expectations on this trip, and I give a lot of the credit to both the great group of people I was with and the excellent staff at Islamorada. I would dive with these guys again in a heartbeat.

So you want to go diving in the keys? There’s a lot of options for sure, but if you’re in the Islamorada (Aye-​La-​Moe-​Rah-​Dah, who knew?) area then you don’t need to look further than IDC.
What you get: a knowledgeable boat captain that doesn’t take stupid risks. If the seas are too high, he’ll cancel the day. Experienced divemasters that will take you out to see the sites, or sit back and let you explore. Equipment set up before and between dives. Solid safety; briefings are paused if they don’t have everyone’s full attention. Equipment (BC/​Reg/​Bag/​Suit) pack up and storage at the end of the day if you’re doing multiple days. Good camaraderie, by the end of the trip, they were no longer the staff, just our diving buds. Two cute blondes! (sorry, this is an inside joke based on a story one of them told during our dive). Full knowledge of what you can expect to see down there. If you don’t have your own gear, they have rentals of just about everything you would need (BCs, Suits, heck even flashlights if you want to do a night dive.) A variety of dive options: small shallow reefs, deep ledges, drifts (love these!), wrecks and night dives. All this at an extremely reasonable price!
Only a couple of minor misses. No snacks between dives, so bring some granola with you and an energy drink if you’re the type that likes em’. We also had a few times where tanks were not strapped in as tight as they should’ve been. But with 7 – 15 divers on the deck, an occasional missed strapped wasn’t the end of the world.
Proshop was modest, but had just about anything you might need, and a shop dog, always a plus!
We did 7 days worth of dives (10 total, with 1 day cancelled due to inclement weather), with 2 – 5 tanks per day and only had one minor hiccup that didn’t ruin the trip.
As good as it gets.

I dove with Islamorada Dive Center on 7÷28÷14. At first I was worried because the boat held so many people, but then discovered there were many guides and they broke us into small groups. It was so awesome being able to basically have a private guide in a group of 4. We hardly saw other groups. The boat was super nice, the crew and guides super friendly– they even set up and switched my gear over. Totally impressed and will definitely dive with them again!

Islamorada Dive Center is top notch. Special thanks to Capt. Scott, and instructors Mark, Patrick, Grace, and Stacey. I took this much needed trip to decompress and thaw out. I went on six trips over three days with them. From the moment I checked in, they took care of all my gear and had my Nitrox tanks ready to analyze each morning. The guides know these reefs and wrecks like the back of their hand. They did a great job finding interesting animals for us. Well run shop, great boat, and the best crew of any boat I’ve been on — ever. If you’re diving the upper Keys, this is the place.

Took the shallow reef two tank dive yesterday, 12÷30÷13. Shop is well appointed and clean, shop dog loves belly rubs. The dive boat runs a morning and an afternoon trip so you have choices. The gear we rented was in good condition, but looked a bit tired, no dive computer, only depth and air pressure. The boat is basic, but well maintained. We had two dive class groups on board as well as several experienced divers. Getting off the boat was a a bit a awkward as we had to walk with gear in our fins past the beginners, stepping on their fins in the process. Boat staff helpful and competent.
My caveats on the trip was I felt rushed. At the dock our Gear was slow to be handed out and organized. To be fair, they got slammed with a group just prior to the trip. We were told to get our gear on while under way before we got to our first dive site. We were hustled off the boat for a 45min dive. Back on board with 1700lbs in the tank. Up anchor, off to the next site, drop anchor, repeat dive one. Back on board and back to the harbor. Thanks, see ya later, visit our shop and tip the deck hands.

We had such a great time with Stacey, Dan, Jeff & crew this morning we booked a second trip for tomorrow. Polite, informative, funny, safety conscious, very professional & we all enjoyed the Crocker Reef & Wall. Thanks all

While the Islamorada Dive Center is geared toward scuba divers, they do take along snorkelers to the dive sites. The staff is friendly and provides guidance on the best places to snorkel and trips to take.
Since its scuba oriented, you’ll really want to wait to make a reservation until the morning of the trips to find out where they are going to go that day. The captain decides that day where the boat will go to provide the best experience for the scuba divers based on weather and surf.

Well run place that puts customers first. They canceled our dive due to poor visibility… Called us early the next morning when the wind unexpectedly died down. We got to dive in excellent conditions…
Their boat holds maybe ten divers as opposed to the 30 divers you may find herded like cattle off the back of a truck if you go elsewhere. Kelly runs the place and will work with you to set up night dives, small a groups, lessons, etc. They take snorkelers too. Once they advised my son and daughter in law to skip a trip with us SCUBA folks … My point is that they would rather make certain you have a good time and come back, than to make a quick buck from you now…
We have gone out with them numbers of times and always had a great dive.

Went snorkeling today with the crew from this marina and they showed me a great time!
Unlike other Marina’s in the area (cough…cough…Robbie’s…cough) these guys were a total class act and very professional. There was not a single person on the boat that took us out to our snorkeling destination that lacked that nice or courteous quality which is paramount in customer service. Not to mention they did their best to answer every ridiculous question I had about my defensive strategy in case a shark came within close proximity.
If you look at my other reviews, you will see that I don’t do this often, but, I highly recommend you give this Marina a visit if you are in the area and interested in going on a snorkeling excursion. Top Notch!
p. s. karate chops to the sharks nose, followed by a 3 stooges eye poke is the best way to defend yourself from a highly unlikely shark atttack.