You could start with a pool refresher at home too.  Generally inexpensive
and will give you a bit of a headstart.

abalinson@yahoo.com (Andrea) pounded away at his keyboard resulting
in:

Rent the whole boat, you'll get all the attention you need.  If you
don't want to do that, hire your own guide and bring him on the boat
with you, at your expense of course.

Or go a bit further west and find someone who dives Looe Key.  Very
nice site and about as easy as it gets.

Dan Bracuk
Is it my imagination, or do Buffalo Wings taste like chicken?
The Best of rec.scuba http://www.pathcom.com/~bracuk/RecScuba/

You are.  The Keys are all about tourists and separating them from their
money.  Most of the operators down there run cattle boats.  Lots of divers,
taken to the closest sites that won't get a host of complaints and back to
the dock for the next load and their money.  This is not all bad as
evidenced by the fact that many of the cattle boat operators have been in
business for a very long time.  Sometimes we only care about the
transportation and shallow reefs tend to be colorful, delighting those that
have nothing similar at home and/or haven't seen the best the Keys have to
offer.  The smaller the boat, the more likely you are to get personal
service.  A 6 pack is as small a boat as you normally find in the Keys.
Anything less than 6 divers or so pushes the price to make a profit high
enough that few are willing to pay.

Lee

Capt Brian Berry at Island Ventures is your man!  Here is his site:
http://www.islandventure.com/
My family has dove with him for the past 3 years and no one is
better...NO STRESS!

Howdy Folks:

I think you can't do better than Pete Verbeek at Pennekamp.  Great guy
-- very thorough, but very cool about it!

So sez

"MC"