First post-cert dive - where to go in Florida?

[Scully99]

I have two days for diving in mid-October and I'm able to fly to Florida from the midwest. I'll arrive Friday and fly out on Monday. Where should I go in Florida for the best experience? I just received my OWC and I'll be with my husband, who is an experienced diver, and our 15-year-old son, who has about 20 dives under his belt. I was thinking perhaps Pensacola, Jacksonville or Panama City Beach simply because they're the shortest flights with the best times from my hometown. But if another Florida town offers a better option, I'm game. I plan to book flights today or tomorrow. I'll also book with a diving company to take care of all the details.

 

[scubadada]

For very good diving, I would consider flying into PBI and diving in Jupiter and/or Palm Beach. Boynton Beach arguably has the best reef but none of the operators put a guide in the water.

Do all of you have nitrox cert, if not get it before your trip? Can be done online with a visit to your LDS. Many on SB could suggest operators.

You might want to take a look at the Florida forum and peruse some of the trip reports. Clicking on a trip report icon will bring up only trip reports. Probably would have been better to post this in the Florida forum, I will move it for you, better exposure for your questions than basic scuba.

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

I have done some decent diving off of Panama City Beach...

 

[Rob9876]

There is good diving in the Florida panhandle (Pensacola, Panama City, etc.), but most of the near-shore diving there which would work for less experienced divers: (1) generally don't put a divemaster in the water, you just descend down a mooring line and swim around a structure (usually an artificial wreck or big rubble pile like a bridge span, etc.), and (2) unless you get very lucky with weather conditions the water is usually greenish and somewhere between 5-40 feet of visibility. As someone once told me, and I agree: "it is good diving, if you can overlook the viz" -- that is to say, there are lots of creatures to see that make these artificial reefs their home.

However, if you want blue water and generally much better viz, you'd be better off going to SouthEast Florida, from Jupiter and south of that. Riviera Beach gives you the option to do both boat dives and nice shallow shore dives at the famous Blue Heron Bridge (need to dive with the high tide). The boat dives in this area are really well suited to Nitrox due to the depth and fairly square dive profiles, so I'd suggest getting that cert if you don't already have it.

I also believe Key Largo might be a good place for your group, as many of their reef dives are fairly shallow.

 

[scubadada]

...I also believe Key Largo might be a good place for your group, as many of their reef dives are fairly shallow.

But you have to drive down to Key Largo from Miami or Ft Lauderdale and then back up again to leave.

 

[Johnoly]

...., and our 15-year-old son, who has about 20 dives under his belt.

You are gonna want short quick boat rides to some shallow easy reefs.

 

[Lostdiver71]

For a new diver I recommend West Palm/ Riviera Beach or Boynton Beach in Florida! You can dive on relatively shallow reefs and if the seas are too bad you can always dive the Blue Heron Bridge. Pura Vida Divers would probably be a good fit for you or you can contact Force-E and they will be able to get you on a charter that is appropriate for your experience.

 

[Lostdiver71]

Also if you don’t mind a 2 hour drive you can usually get cheaper flights into Orlando and drive to West Palm Beach.

 

[TheScubaDirectory]

Here's some info on diving the keys if helpful:

Diving Florida Keys

 

[MrChen]

Your best bet is probably WPB. The charters put a guide in the water.