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1. The best dive spots are generally xBiscayne NP, xPennekamp SP, and xDry Tortugas NP. The first two are quite close to each other.

2. Define "budget," in numbers.

4. Drive.

6. You may have swells, it may turn and strike head on, or you may never notice it's there. Your guess is as good as mine.

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@ bzookaj
Hi, thanks for the locations; for the "budget" accommodation, i had either regular dorms ($15-$25 per night) or small hotels on the lower side of $75 per night in mind.

I understand "driving " is the way to go but being last minute and all, i do not have my international driving license and hence can't drive myself in the States; what i was hoping to know was of any regular bus/shuttle/ferry schedule that runs between the Keys.

Any word on dive operators??

Really appreciate your help, i do hope that hurricane dies down soon!

Cheers!

Mukund

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The only hostels in the area are in Key West and Homestead. Both are more than your $25 / night for a dorm bed ($44 and $28, respectively, plus taxes).
(And this shows why I ask for budgets in numbers. Your hostel budget range is unreasonable).

If your home license uses Roman characters, you should be fine without (unless the rental company requires it, which, from anecdotal evidence, is not too often).

Greyhound, but you may have to walk fair distances.

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I agree with what Bzookaj. Maybe I can offer a bit more explanation:

1. Is there a better dive location in Florida than the Keys where great diving can be done for a week (with minimal traveling)?

I am not sure what you mean by "traveling." It is a little over a hundred miles between Key Largo and Key West on the only road, the Overseas Highway. All of the towns along the Keys are ten miles long and fifty yards wide. That is why you need a car. Access to Pennekamp State Park and Biscayne Bay National Park is on Key Largo. The nearest access to Dry Tortugas National Park that you can reach by car is in Key West. You have to take a float plane or the ferry the rest of the way. There are dive shops and charter dive boats all along the keys. Find a dive shop and he can put you in touch with a dive boat operator. There are "good” dive sites all along the Keys.

By "good dive sites" we are presuming you mean a living coral reef. There are also wrecks. If you want to cave dive, that is elsewhere in Florida. You need a PADI (or equivalent) certification for any of these activities if you intend to SCUBA dive. If all you want to do is snorkel, you need no certification. By the way, the living reef is several miles off shore. You need a boat as much as you need a car.
The dive shops will rent SCUBA equipment only if you have your PADI card.

2. Good budget accommodation availed by earlier travelers in the Keys??

The words "budget" and "Keys" should never be used in the same paragraph. The Keys are expensive. Charter boats are expensive. Equipment rentals are expensive. Food is expensive. Deal with it.

3. Good dive operators people have done diving with earlier??

The dive masters on the charter boats need a PADI card too. If they can't show you one, Try the next one.

4. Best way to travel between the different Keys??

There are only two. One is by car. The other is by boat.

5. Favorite dives in the Keys?? :D

How good any particular dive site is changes from day to day. This is another reason for chartering a dive boat. Trust the dive master to go to the best one given the conditions when you want to dive.

6. Finally, how bad is the Hurricane Ernesto situation going to affect the Keys area??

No one knows. By the 12th of August, Ernesto will be gone and the next storm will be brewing. I ignore the storms until the warnings go up. Then I leave. I have changed my plans based on a storm once in 50 years. Then it changed course making my change unnecessary.

A word on Dry Tortugas National Park; Look up all of the places you are contemplating visiting on Google, especially Dry Tortugas. You can camp there and you don't need scuba gear. Snorkeling is fine.