Finz Dive Center and Tackle Shop — Local services in Stock Island

I rarely, if ever, post reviews. When I read reviews, I usually discard the highest and lowest as they are sometimes inflated. This review, however, is only 5 stars because they do not go any higher. Here goes...it is a little long. We were looking for a "bucket list" dive trip to celebrate a family occasion, but we were constrained to a certain timeframe. We started looking at the Caribbean resorts, Mexico, but when we searched "best dive trips", the Dry Tortugas popped up...and that led us to Finz Dive Center. When we booked this trip, the Center was very helpful, stayed in communication with us, made sure all paperwork was squared away, lunch was set up, everything. When we arrived, we met Captain Amy and Divemaster Nick. Nick got us fitted out while Captain Amy prepped the boat. To be honest, I felt bad that they were working so hard to make this trip happen, while we watched...and they refused every offer to help. When we arrived at the boat, Nick had everything setup, and Captain Amy made final underway preparations. Their actions were efficient, professional, and Captain Amy had a never ending supply of Dad jokes to keep us paying attention and engaged to safety briefs and boat operations. We were going 70 miles away to a place with zero support, so safety was paramount and Captain Amy and Divemaster Nick took that very seriously. We took a 2 hour uneventful trip (a very good thing) to Fort Jefferson, where Divemaster Nick transformed into Tour Guide Nick. I think Tour Guide Nick knows more about Fort Jefferson than the Park Rangers...all of us really enjoyed the "private" tour ahead of the ferry arrival of 200+ people...we were a group of 5 (including Nick) out of maybe 20 total people on island (overnight campers). Unbelievable views and an amazing time, and we did not even start our dives! After the tour, we took a short trip to the Windjammer wreck. Divemaster Nick conducted the perfect "Plan your Dive, Dive your Plan" brief, and then we proceeded to gear up. Captain Amy made sure we were set up and good to go, then we started the dive. And what started as a fantastic trip became even better....the Windjammer wreck is a shallow dive and was incredible to see so much wildlife. Having dove hundreds of times off S Florida, this was such an incredible difference! Divemaster Nick made sure we we all safe, together, and kept his situational awareness high. After the Windjammer, we had lunch on Loggerhead Key. What a surreal experience...not another person on the Key, just us, enjoying a great lunch from Sandy's (get the Cuban!) while relaxing on the beach. After lunch we headed on another short trip to Davis Reef (about 45 feet deep). This is where we learned that Captain Amy has a Taylor Swift collection on her download music list. It was a a blast to have Taylor Swift blasting and watching my teenage kids and Captain Amy (and maybe my wife and I?) singing and doing a little dancing while transiting to our dive site. Captain Amy and Divemaster Nick prepped us for the next dive with the same level of efficiency and professionalism as the first dive, and down we went. INCREDIBLE! Even more wildlife than the Windjammer...at one point we looked up and saw huge schools of fish forming a "ceiling" above us....it was so mesmerizing we took a few minutes to just watch....truly amazing. After our dive, packed up and headed back, we definitely did not want to leave. Well, good reader if you have made it this far, let me tell you scuba diving is inherently dangerous, and if you do dive, safety is by far and away the #1 priority. That was obvious with Captain Amy and Divemaster Nick. They are so good at what they do, you just inherently know that safety is #1, and you have an incredible time with them. If you have an opportunity to dive With Captain Amy, Divemaster Nick and the Finz Dive Center, do not hesitate. Do it. Just don't bring bananas on...

Finz Dive Center is amazing! Their vessels and the trips/tours they conduct are phenomenal. However, make no mistake, that is not why they are as remarkable as they are. It’s the two members of Finz Dive Center we were blessed to have led my wife and I on our private charter/dive trip to the Dry Tortugas today, 7/27/25; Captain Amy and Captain Lauren!!

My wife and I are in Key West celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary. We started taking dive charters years before we were married. We live in Florida, and we have dove all over Florida, the Caribbean, Hawaii, etc. We have experienced tremendous service from captains, dive masters, and crew over the last three decades, but the service today left us speechless.

In fact, this high level of service started more than two months ago when I called the dive shop to inquire about a private dive trip to the Dry Tortugas. We had already booked a seaplane trip to Fort Jefferson, but that would not have included any diving. I researched our options, and then called a number of dive shops in Key West. First, few dive shops even offer dive trips to the Dry Tortugas, but most importantly for our decision was who I first spoke with at Finz Dive Center, you may have guessed it. It was Captain Amy!

She was so informative and knowledgeable, but even more importantly, she was so enthusiastic about the trip and the company she works for, we were hooked. We had no idea at the time she would end up being our boat captain, how serendipitous! Her exceedingly friendly personality was only surpassed by her professionalism and dedication to our safety and experience in the Dry Tortugas.

Not only were we fortunate enough to have Captain Amy in charge of the vessel, but we also had Captain Lauren as first mate and dive master. I have been a dive master for many years and in my past, I worked for nearly a decade as a professional diver at a first responder agency. I have been diving for nearly 40 years. Captain Lauren led our dives, went above and beyond assisting us with an unexpected equipment issue on the fly, and even guided our tour of Fort Jefferson.

I know this review is long, my apologies, but this dive shop and these two employees deserve even longer. My wife and I are professionals, and we work with professionals daily. These two women are consummate professionals in their industry. Were it not for our schedule, and mini lobster season, we would be scheduling more dives on this trip with Finz Dive Center, though with the simple request - we would be able to go diving with Captain Amy and Captain Lauren again.

If you want one of the best dive charts available, you owe it to yourself to book with Finz Dive Center. I do not know their policy on requesting your captain and dive master, but we highly recommend asking for Captain Amy and Captain Lauren, we sure will on our...

Truly could not have asked for a better experience! We were desperately looking for a way for our family of 4 to get to the Dry Tortugas last minute as the ferry and seaplane were booked up. We called around and Captain Andrew from Hillbilly Hookers actually referred us to Finz and we are so thankful that he did! (check him out as well for fishing charters) We called and immediately Finz was ready to try to make our dreams come true letting us know they were working on getting a crew together so we could take the trip and they did! Find is located at Hurricane Hole Marina and has parking. On the day of the trip they provided sandwiches, chips, water, ice, and granola bars for the day long charter. We were blessed with Captain Mike and dive master/1st mate Sydney who both we would highly recommend! Sydney was excellent as a host, tour guide, and snorkel guide. She has so much experience and knowledge of the ocean and she made our Fort Jefferson tour extremely entertaining as well as Loggerhead Key. She was great to snorkel with because she pointed out a lot of different wildlife at the shipwreck. Captain Mike did an excellent job controlling our boat the Freedom as the waves and wind were rough the day we went out, but he made sure to get us to Dry Tortugas and docked safely, then helped us get to the Windjammer shipwreck to snorkel, and got us safely onto Loggerhead Key for a nice beach stop, and lastly was able to get us back into the boat off the island and safely back to the marina by sunset. It was cool how they had us all in the back of the boat sitting on bean bags so we weren’t being thrown all around the boat or soaked by water. This was by far the best day of our week long vacation. I don’t know that we could’ve found a more accommodating charter and it was truly one of the most unique ways to get to Dry Tortugas and getting to go to Loggerhead Key was such a cool experience you won’t get on the Ferry or seaplane. They also made sure to get us to Dry Tortugas before the ferry got there so we truly had a great experience without the crowds. Finz and their staff highlighted our trip to the Keys and we will definitely be referring them to friends and family and making sure to use them in our future trips back to the keys. Sydney has us all inspired to work towards our dive certifications so we can come back and enjoy a different view of the...