Looe Key Reef Dive Center — Local services in Ramrod Key

My wife, father in law and myself stayed at the "resort" in the middle of July in 2023. Being dive professionals, we were excited to explore somewhere other than the typical dive spots in the upper and middle keys. The staff was friendly, but the appearance is much more of a motel than a hotel or a nicer resort.

When we first got there, a gentlemen named Andrew checked us into the rooms and checked us in for our dives. Andrew was incredibly helpful and friendly.

We went on a dive trip, James and Josh were on the boat and just like Andrew, they were incredibly friendly. We had the opportunity to chat with Josh (mate on the boat) quite a bit and enjoyed sharing and trading stories with him.

As we said, the room was very minimal. There was no kitchen, just a small fridge. The bathroom was also very small and minimal. The room was always hot with the window AC system not really cooling the room down much. One positive was that our room was only a few feet from the dive boat. Josh and James showed us where we could clean and store our dive gear during our stay. They had outside lockers where you could hang your BCD and gear to dry.

One the second day (July 19th) it rained quite a bit so they canceled our dive trip. Our total cost for each dive trip was 94.99/per person plus 21.36 in taxes, totaling 306.33. When our dive trip was canceled, we talked with the front desk who said our refund would be added back to our card. Needless to say it has been a month and I’ve yet to have the refund in its entirety issued. We've been going back and forth with management whose system has been incorrect this entire time, though they're telling us that we're the ones who are incorrect....

Back to our stay, the scuba diving was great and the staff on the boat was awesome. We did eat at the Tiki Restaurant, though the service was rather poor and the food was not great. The servers seemed annoyed that they had to work and not just sit around socializing and smoking cigarettes. The dive boat gave our drink vouchers after each dive so that you could go to the tiki bar and get a drink. When we tried using our drink voucher, the server was annoyed and said that we should have mentioned the drink voucher prior to ordering drinks... We ate at the Tiki restaurant twice, both times the servers were rude and unprofessional and both times the food was awful. The mahi was bland, the shrimp was rubbery, french fries were actually pretty good.

On our third day, we got back from our afternoon dive trip and we were getting ready in order to go out to dinner with some friends. My wife and I were in the shower, around 5PM when the water stopped working. I got out of the shower and called the front desk, the front desk associate said that they had to shut the water off for a moment and that it would be back on shortly. 15 minutes goes by, I call the front desk and now I am told it is 45 minutes before they turn the water on. My wife was angry, covered in soap. I go to the front desk and tell them that they absolutely need to turn the water on, which finally they did...

Ultimately, this is a poorly ran location... Andrew, James and Josh are absolute stars for staying employed here... Management seems clueless, the tiki bar is horrible and the rooms are incredibly old and outdated. There are plenty of places to stay in the lower keys, we do not recommend staying here... It has so much potential, but to pay your hard earned money, it...

• HIGH RATING IS FOR DIVING NOT THE HOTEL*

Thought I’d give a forewarning for anyone looking into staying here due to the high ratings. The ratings are for the diving center, if you read closely of how it’s like staying there, it’s a drastic difference.

Apparently I didn’t take my own advice of reading all the reviews for what it’s like staying there.

The Room: First we were greeted by a small cockroach that should have been a sign. Since we are close to some brush I just ignored it. Bed was clean thankfully. I didn’t realize how loose the toilet was and felt it come off the wall (I’m only 120 pounds) so that was shocking. I’m guessing there is a lot of chlorine in the water because when I took a shower all the steamed built up burned my eyes and I had to open the door which was an easy fix. Towels were clean so we appreciated that too. The little porch area was cute but it isn’t the staple of the whole place. I think it was more or less the little seating picnic table in front of the hotel doors. We were right next to the cleaning service room and their washer broke and they just threw towels in front of our hotel room door with all this water. It got fixed two days later, but with the rain it didn’t make much of a difference. Stepping on the hotel towels in front of the door for the two days was just kinda tacky. Hope they do some updates with the hotel rooms. I believe it has a lot of potential.

The Bar Area: Our room was the closest to the bar and grill. There was loud music but they were very prompt on shutting it down at the time they advised. When I went to the bar area it wasn’t very busy at all. The bartender seemed overwhelmed because she was the only one working. Which I understand and wanted to make my order quick out of respect. But she had enough time to take my I.D. and flip it upside, right side, left side, and down while taking it to her register pulling out a whole flash light and flipping my I.D. again looking at it. I know I’m almost 30 and I look like I’m in my super early 20s but I don’t believe if I was under age that would be my go to bar to try and sneak a drink. I would hope that they get enough Texans to their bar to know what their I.D.s look like. It just wasn’t very girl power feeling either because I walked up to the bar first before these two younger guys came up and she took their order first. But she was kind enough to check on me after I finished my drink. They will not give you a menu or even ask if you want a menu for food so just fish one out near the napkins and straws just like your regular dive bar. Food was good though 👍 just took awhile which is fine since you know it’s gonna be fresh.

Location: The area was perfect to be close to go to Boondocks, which if you want service for drinks and food, they absolutely got you on that! It was the perfect middle for seeing family in Big Pine but also being close for Key West.

We do appreciate front desk saying they will try and give us credit for us leaving for a family emergency. Which I was gonna give two stars but an extra star for that for...

My daughter and I spent an amazing week in June of 2023 and another amazing week in July of 2024 diving with Looe Key Reef Dive Center. We hope to return in 2025 for another week.

Looe Key Reef is under stress like other reefs, but is still a wonderful place to see many different species - we saw (not exhaustive) grouper, lobsters, parrot fish, sergeant majors, sea turtles, stingray, reef sharks, and most memorably an 8-10 ft hammerhead. The captains did a great job taking us to different sites each dive and pointing out turtles and dolphins.

Our most memorable dives were the four night dives. Two dives at the same location, one at dusk provides site familiarization and the second in darkness introduces different behaviors and nocturnal species. The dive boat is lit up well (above and below water) and easy to find. Consider carrying your bright light as a backup and using a 100-300 lumen (white or red) light as your primary to enjoy the bioluminescent plankton and shrimp that squirt blue luminescent fluid. If you do not have a low-power flash light, consider the dimmable Wurkkos DL08 (white, red, and UV). (Yes, my Kraken at three times the price is my backup light, and the DL08 seems close in fit and finish with absolutely far superior functionality.)

The captain and crew are experienced, knowledgeable, accommodating, and genuinely caring. Both Captain Katie and Captain James know the reef well and take safety seriously while adding their own warmth and charm. All the mates (Billy, Josh, Rob, and Yvonne) on the boat were helpful and outgoing. Rob made a very tasty rum punch for the 4th of July fireworks boat ride. As one of the seasoned instructors, Josh did a great job teaching my daughter to dive with Nitrox. There is a lot of experience and talent that might not be immediately apparent from the laid back atmosphere.

The Kokomo Cat provides a large, comfortable, and stable platform. Even coming up in gusty weather with chop, the catamaran hull and side ladders makes getting back on board much easier than a stern ladder on a monohull. For young and/or novice divers, it makes a huge difference in comfort, confidence, and safety.

Staying at the hotel makes logistics a breeze. The rooms overlook the dive boat. The entrance to the dive shop and boat is a short walk. Built in the 1960’s, the hotel is admittedly dated, but was functional, comfortable, and clean. The dive shop provides outdoor gear lockers or you can haul gear back to your room. Either way, being on site with food and drink (lunch and dinner) available at the Tiki Bar made the whole experience extremely low stress and relaxing. The Galley Grill (3 min drive) and Morning Joint (7 min) were both good, but stocking up a few breakfast items from the Winn Dixie Grocery Store (6 min) was a highlight of both trips and broadened the nature experience with free ranging chickens and Key Deer in the...