My birthday is Thursday the 12th, so we're celebrating it properly the weekend after, Nov 14–15, in Miami. Come for that weekend, stay a few days, or join the dive crew for the whole run.
The plan in one breath: a birthday weekend on South Beach, a few days working remotely from Miami, a drive down to Key Largo to dive the Spiegel Grove and get Meryll and me our Advanced Open Water, a day off to let the nitrogen out, then a week in the Riviera Maya diving caves, reefs and bull sharks, with Thanksgiving in the middle. You pick how much of it you want.
A "deco stop" is the pause a diver takes on the way up so the body can catch up. This trip has a few of those built in.
The trip as a dive profile
Seventeen days, surface to depth
Each day sits at its planned max depth. Surface days are for the party, the laptop, the beach and the flights.
Nov 13 – 18 · Miami
The birthday weekend
Neon on Ocean Drive, a day on the water, a long dinner and a late night. This is the part everyone should come to.
Everyone lands
Fly into MIA and check in on Miami Beach. Welcome drinks and a first round of stone crabs or ceviche, then an easy night to save energy.
Birthday day
Beach and pool in South Beach, or a boat out to the Haulover sandbar. Sunset on the water, then birthday dinner and a big night out.
Recovery, Miami style
Late brunch in Wynwood, the murals at the Wynwood Walls, cafecito and a Cuban sandwich on Calle Ocho in Little Havana. Weekend-only guests fly home tonight or Monday.
Work from Miami
Laptops out from a coworking space or the hotel. Evenings stay open: sunset at South Pointe, dinner in Brickell, maybe one more night out. Wednesday after work we drive down the Overseas Highway to Key Largo (about 1h15).
Can only do the weekend? That's the main event, and it's what I care about most. Come Friday, leave Sunday night.
Nov 18 – 21 · Key Largo, Florida Keys
Wrecks & the Advanced ticket
Key Largo sits on the only living coral barrier reef in the continental US, and it has some of the best wreck diving in the Atlantic. Meryll and I do our PADI Advanced Open Water here. Anyone certified fun-dives the same boat.
Drive down after work
Overseas Highway to Key Largo, check in near the dive shop, early night. Anyone doing the Open Water course does the pool session this afternoon.
Spiegel Grove & the deep dive
Morning boat to the Spiegel Grove, a 155 m navy landing ship sunk in 2002. Its top deck starts around 20 m. This is our AOW Deep dive, followed by a Navigation dive on the reef.
Wreck, reef & maybe a night dive
The Duane (a Coast Guard cutter sunk in 1987) or the Benwood, then the Christ of the Abyss statue at Key Largo Dry Rocks. Optional night dive for the last AOW dive. Everyone else: reef dives in John Pennekamp.
Surface interval
A no-dive day so we're clear to fly. Kayak the mangroves, snorkel, lunch in Islamorada. It's also our backup day if a cold front blows out a boat.
Certified
Fun-dive with us
Open Water or higher? Join the same boats for the wrecks and reefs. Bring your C-card and logbook.
Never dived
Get your Open Water here
Do the PADI eLearning at home in October, the pool session Wednesday afternoon, then 4 ocean dives Thu–Fri. You'd leave certified. Dates to confirm with the shop.
Just curious
Discover Scuba or snorkel
A one-day try dive with an instructor, no certification needed. Or snorkel the reef in John Pennekamp while we're below.
If Key Largo can't take us on the 19th–20th, the AOW moves to the following week in Mexico. The rest of the plan stays the same.
Nov 22 – 29 · Playa del Carmen, Cozumel, Tulum
Into the Riviera Maya
Freshwater caves lit by shafts of sunlight, bull sharks just off Playa del Carmen, the drift reefs of Cozumel, and Maya ruins above the beach. Thanksgiving falls in the middle.
Fly to Cancún
MIA to CUN is about 1h45. Transfer to Playa del Carmen, our base for the week. Tacos and mezcal on Quinta Avenida.
Cenotes
Cavern dives at Dos Ojos, where the light pours in through the openings, and The Pit, with its halocline and hydrogen-sulfide cloud (AOW divers).
Bull shark dive
Pregnant female bull sharks come to Playa del Carmen from November to March. We kneel on the sand and watch 2–3 m sharks circle.
Cozumel drift
Ferry across (about 45 min) and drift along Palancar and Columbia: coral towers, swim-throughs, turtles, eagle rays.
Thanksgiving
An easy morning dive or a beach club, then a proper Thanksgiving dinner together.
Tulum
Ruins on the cliff in the morning, a last cenote dive in the afternoon, and dinner in Tulum.
Dry day, last night out
No diving before the flight. Beach club, then one last night out in Playa.
Home
Fly out of Cancún.
This week is a draft. The dive crew locks it in once we've booked shops. Not a diver? Playa, Tulum and the cenotes (which you can swim and snorkel) make it a great beach week anyway.
Good to know
Logistics
Getting there
- Miami (MIA): arrive Fri Nov 13. Fort Lauderdale (FLL) works too.
- Key Largo: about 1h15 by car from Miami. We'll split rentals.
- Cancún (CUN): about 1h45 from MIA on Sun Nov 22, then about 45 min to Playa.
- Weekend-only: fly out Sun 15 evening or Mon 16.
Weather in mid-November
- Miami: highs around 27 °C, dry season is starting
- Keys water: around 25 °C, 3–5 mm wetsuit
- Mexico water: around 27 °C on the reefs, 24–25 °C in the cenotes
- Cold fronts can cancel a boat day, which is why Nov 21 is a buffer
Divers, bring
- C-card and logbook (shops check them)
- Dive computer, mask, and an SMB if you have one
- Signed medical questionnaire if any answer is "yes"
- DAN or other dive insurance
- Doing a course? Start the PADI eLearning in October
Ballpark diving costs (per person, to confirm)
| PADI Advanced Open Water, Key Largo / Miami | $489 – 599 |
| PADI Open Water course, Keys | ~$600 – 800 |
| 2-tank boat dive, Key Largo | ~$100 – 150 |
| Cenote, bull shark or Cozumel 2-tank, Mexico | ~$120 – 180 |