Southpoint Divers, Key West, Florida
Southpoint Divers runs two trips daily, a morning trip to the Vandenberg, and an afternoon trip to shallow reefs. The Vandenberg wreck is in 100 feet of water at the deck, http://keywest.com/vandenberg/. Their shop is located on Front Street , which is a short walk from the dive boat. It is a well organized operation. Diving the Vandenberg requires experience, which limits the divers on the morning dive to Advanced Open Water or higher divers. They also restrict the number of divers to 25 or less which makes both morning and afternoon dives very comfortable. The Captain and the crew were all very helpful. The crew takes care of setting up equipment for both dives.
Dive equipment can be rented, which includes a wrist computer. I had to rent since Delta Airlines restricts luggage to one bag per person and my dive bag could not go on the plane to Key West. Check Airline baggage restrictions before going to the airport.
The dive boat offers guides for a fee, which may be worth it if you have not dove wrecks before. The Vandenberg is a large wreck and it takes several dives to take it all in, particularly since the dives are time restricted because of the depth. The Captain wanted all back on the boat with 1000 PSI still in the tanks.
The boat is very accessible. Due to the efficiency of the operations I dove eight times (four dive trips) on the Vandenberg and had ample time to take in the sites of Key West in the afternoon.
