First dive trip to Florida, where to go for 10 days?

[danvolker]

n the above post, DanV you state that "palm beach reefs have far heathier corals than keys reefs and far more marine life" and in a earlier post, palm beach has "the best diving in this hemisphere" from carysfort reef (actually you could include the reefs from BNP as well) south for 200 NM to the the dry tortugas. thats a bold and inaccurate statement, ludicrous(with the exception of big animal encounters) and if you wish i'll provide the scientific facts to challenge your comment on the health of south fl corals(that staghorn colony off pompano beach is impressive!).

Actually it is the typical reaction of divers who have been to the Keys for years, and then suddenly try Palm Beach diving....typically they are amazed at how much more marine life exists on the Palm Beach reefs, and on how if feels more like the oceans "used to be" all over the world many decades ago...
Big animals and general reef inhabitants, there is just huge biomass on the Palm Beach reef system...

As to ludicrous, I consider it ludicrous for divers driving into florida to put an extra 6 hours of driving in --- to reach the Keys, when virtually every diver I talk to on dive boats here, that has done both the Keys and Palm Beach, likes Palm Beach more....So yes, you guys do well with "Ludicrous"


As to seeing large fish, Palm beach has big fish available to see on virtually every dive site.....While they keys may technically have 200 miles of reef line, it has a couple of dozen sites that tourists know of or get taken to regularly, which are the comparison to the reefs that Palm Beach divers get taken to regularly....if you want wild, but not for the average diver, Palm Beach has tech stuff that you really don't want to try to compare with Keys sites.....
Today I was diving huge 200 yard long bait balls so thick with mullet that they would block out all sign of the 15 foot deep bottom or the surface...this was being hit constanly by dozens of big tarpon, and the occaisiional mahi mahi ( dolphin fish).. I will post a Youtube video of it in a few hours after a rough edit and the upload to Youtube completes...This is right off the beach in 15 feet of water, a few hundred yards south of the Hilton on singer Island ( ideal Dive Resort)....Yes, we have diving off of our beaches, and stuff like this is awesome!!!...We have bait balls all over our costline in Palm Beach now, and dive tourists can jump in and Have a National Geographic level adventure any day they are here this month and probably the next two...In a few months, there will be sailfish running the same areas, and I will be shooting video of this, and the boats will be dropping tourist divers in this as well. Sailfish, manta rays...big marine life..... We have had goliath Groupers aggregating for 2 months now, and now they are spawning at the full moon....a dive tourist can come to Palm Beach and be on a dive with 60 to 100 goliaths that can run from 200 pounds to over 500. They can get so close that they may need to move out of the way of the big fish....
We get Whalesharks through here all the time, but unless Jimmy Abernethy is up in the air with his flying boat to spot them, or we get a radio call from the para sail operation, we don't really have a plan on getting people encounters with them.

 

[idive2]

We typically dive with Aldora in Cozumel if that is helpful as a comparison to those in Florida who are aware of Aldora. We aren't interested in being led around by our noses and especially not with a quack happy DM. We can shoot up a SMB on a line without a problem.

I like groups of three or four when drift diving. If you stay with the person with the flag you may not have to deploy a smb but it
is something you should have and be ready to use. With a boat of twelve the captain would rather watch four flags with three divers
per flag than say six flags with two divers per flag. Most will let you go with two in the group but if you are comfortable with a couple
of other divers four is a manageable group. I dont like more than four on a flag, to many divers doing there own thing. If you're in a group try
to stay with diver with the flag. This might mean going this way instead of that way at times but in the long run it works out best if ya
stay together. And remember the person with the flag is NOT the one lost. A considerate diver with the flag will make efforts to stay with
the group sometimes maybe changing his direction to maintain the group but he does not have to do this. If you have problems with the way the diver with the flag conducted the dive you can discuss it with the diver and maybe offer to carry the flag then he will be lost when he runs off ! It's great diving in that area and drift diving can be one of the most relaxing dives you may do.

 

[Splitlip]

Dan, I'm just a dumb old rec diver.Couldn't tell you how often I have heard vacation divers opine about the Keys V. WPB. My Cousin in Law, Larry.. KW hunter, is overwhelmed in PB. He puts me in charge

 

[sotgecho]

Going to have to agree with Dan and Tim on this.

Diving around here is amazing. The encounters you can have on a dive is unbelievable. Yesterday on Tunnels I had one of those "wow" moments. Dropped in on a school of snook then turned around only to have a nice sized goliath staring me in the face as I entered the swim through.

Keys is fun but does not have the "wow" factor as the Palm Beach area does.

PS - Tim, Heather and David thank you for the nice compliments from the other day.

 

[danvolker]

I got the same amount of years or more with 1500+ dives in the Keys,500+ in S.FL,3500+ in waters Daytona to Wilmington NC. and ~500 internationally when in the Navy or when young.I am an impartial visitor with no vested interest and giving my personal experience it's not up for debate.The diving there is good,there is viable shore diving and there are a few cool factoids but nothing like the 1000s of square miles to chose from once you hit the overseas highway.

Any comparison is as mentioned is not even close... there's more square miles of coral reef in the waters in the Keys than there are square miles of water from Carysfort to the N.That same commercial fishing takes place as does far more recreational due to the millions of people who live in S.FL.Take a look at a satelite pic for a little perspective.

S.FL gets pimped out here because there is a large population of divers from there.It does not get that same treatment from objective tour operators,magazines and writers who almost unanimously recommend the Keys over any other divesites in the US.I could post up all kind of cool stuff too but a simple test would be to GOOGLE Dive Resort Florida...see what happens,how many pages did you have to go thru of Keys stuff to get to anything about S. FL ?

The Keys...Thousands of miles, but with only a few dozen places the boat operators really think people will enjoy, and operate to.....The Keys...some nice marine life, but not up there with the "WOW" factor like Palm beach diving.....
As to your comment regarding " treatment from objective tour operators,magazines and writers who almost unanimously recommend the Keys over any other divesites in the US."....Monroe county has about 9 million dollars a year it dishes out to the "objective dive magazines" that don't recognize a dive area unless they are a major advertiser....that is how the dive magazines have always been. On Scubaboard, the actual divers that have done the diving in places like the Keys or Palm Beach get to weigh in, and without the pimping of monroe county, the Keys don't do quite so well

Most Dive shops around the US don't even know how they could bring their group to Palm Beach, so in the past, they have not...don't worry, Palm Beach has real Dive Resorts now, and this will all change....

 

[Splitlip]

Going to have to agree with Dan and Tim on this.

Diving around here is amazing. The encounters you can have on a dive is unbelievable. Yesterday on Tunnels I had one of those "wow" moments. Dropped in on a school of snook then turned around only to have a nice sized goliath staring me in the face as I entered the swim through.

Keys is fun but does not have the "wow" factor as the Palm Beach area does.

PS -

Tim Heather and David thank you for the nice compliments from the other day.

Well..they are highly regarded and I think of them as mentors. Their students were impresive. David had asked Roger and me to send pics from last Saturday. I sent them to Adam, but it seems they did not go. I saw Gerry at the shop yesterday. No Pics. I tried to send a few more times to Gerry. No go. Guess I'll burn a disc.

 

[Dan G]

We have been diving in south Florida a handful of times. We spend the majority of time in the Keys, but I fear that this has been a mistake. Boyton, I hear, is quite good and on word of mouth I highly recommend it. That being said, rent a car and spend some time in the keys. John Pennekamp Park has some great dives. You typically get tons of bottom time, b/c many of the dives are shallow. Molasses reef, conch wall, Fench reef are three highights. Two wrecks (or artificial reefs as the folks down there like to call them) that are well worth doing are the Spiegel Grove (worth a double dip) and City of Washington, which has tons of growth and life on it.

It is a fun atmosphere there and my wife and I will sometimes have key lime pie at every (and I mean every) meal. Eat at the locally type places and not the expensive restaurants. Two Ops we have used that we have been very happy with are: HMS Minnow (I hear that there is one further north by the same name, but they are different ops) and Silent World. In the keys, you must feel good about navigating, becuase the boat will be moored and to us Coloradans, all the moors look the same.

I do not pretend to know more than the locals there. We are the occasional tourists, but I think that perspective is worth sharing.

 

[reefman]

Actually it is the typical reaction of divers who have been to the Keys for years, and then suddenly try Palm Beach diving....typically they are amazed at how much more marine life exists on the Palm Beach reefs, and on how if feels more like the oceans "used to be" all over the world many decades ago...
Big animals and general reef inhabitants, there is just huge biomass on the Palm Beach reef system...

As to ludicrous, I consider it ludicrous for divers driving into florida to put an extra 6 hours of driving in --- to reach the Keys, when virtually every diver I talk to on dive boats here, that has done both the Keys and Palm Beach, likes Palm Beach more....So yes, you guys do well with "Ludicrous"


As to seeing large fish, Palm beach has big fish available to see on virtually every dive site.....While they keys may technically have 200 miles of reef line, it has a couple of dozen sites that tourists know of or get taken to regularly, which are the comparison to the reefs that Palm Beach divers get taken to regularly....if you want wild, but not for the average diver, Palm Beach has tech stuff that you really don't want to try to compare with Keys sites.....
Today I was diving huge 200 yard long bait balls so thick with mullet that they would block out all sign of the 15 foot deep bottom or the surface...this was being hit constanly by dozens of big tarpon, and the occaisiional mahi mahi ( dolphin fish).. I will post a Youtube video of it in a few hours after a rough edit and the upload to Youtube completes...This is right off the beach in 15 feet of water, a few hundred yards south of the Hilton on singer Island ( ideal Dive Resort)....Yes, we have diving off of our beaches, and stuff like this is awesome!!!...We have bait balls all over our costline in Palm Beach now, and dive tourists can jump in and Have a National Geographic level adventure any day they are here this month and probably the next two...In a few months, there will be sailfish running the same areas, and I will be shooting video of this, and the boats will be dropping tourist divers in this as well. Sailfish, manta rays...big marine life..... We have had goliath Groupers aggregating for 2 months now, and now they are spawning at the full moon....a dive tourist can come to Palm Beach and be on a dive with 60 to 100 goliaths that can run from 200 pounds to over 500. They can get so close that they may need to move out of the way of the big fish....
We get Whalesharks through here all the time, but unless Jimmy Abernethy is up in the air with his flying boat to spot them, or we get a radio call from the para sail operation, we don't really have a plan on getting people encounters with them.

wow! i'm impressed!! you just don't get it dan, diving is terrific in your area(palm beach and points north) of expertise, and that has never been questioned on this thread or any other under the fl conch forum, just don't make it @ the expense of coral ecosystems further south with misinformation and questionable facts. not all of us monroe county local divers, dive off commercial dive boats visiting the shallow reefs. we have our share of outstanding deeper and less visited sites, including numerous "tech dives". just google

reefman
key largo

 

[danvolker]

wow! i'm impressed!! you just don't get it dan, diving is terrific in your area(palm beach and points north) of expertise, and that has never been questioned on this thread or any other under the fl conch forum, just don't make it @ the expense of coral ecosystems further south with misinformation and questionable facts. not all of us monroe county local divers, dive off commercial dive boats visiting the shallow reefs. we have our share of outstanding deeper and less visited sites, including numerous "tech dives". just google

reefman
key largo

Actually, I think it would be pretty cool to see some videos of deep reefs or deep wrecks with massive life on them...if you have any Youtube videos, I would love to have a look.
We have some outrageous 250 to 270 foot deep reefs off of Jupiter, with DENSE and huge marine life on them..as well as some wrecks which are covered like the "Land Before Time Forgot" in the 225 to 280 foot range....
I have been planning on shooting some of these soon, so shortly I will offer some high end 1080P videos of these...for now, there are several decent quality videos I could point you to if interested.

 

[danvolker]

I mentioned I had shot some video of one of the bait balls off of the beach at Singer Island.....here is a clip....These are up and down all over the Palm beach coastline right now, and something any diver visiting Palm Beach really needs to get in on....You don't have top swim out off of the beach...most of the dive boats are excited about dropping divers into these...While they have been blowing through Palm Beach for over a thousand years, the dive community never realized how easy it was to have exciting dives on them

baitball-at-the beach.wmv - YouTube