Need dive buddy for dives in Jacksonville Florida

[Tigerpaw]

Hi, I'm going to be in Jacksonville on Monday, December 17th and I'd like to get in some dives in the morning. Ideally I'd like to dive Spike Reef or anything at 100ft BUT any dives in clear water would do. Willing to travel up to 2hrs, willing to do a dive charter. Oh clear water is viz of at least 30ft. Thanks.

 

[Johnoly]

Hi, I'm going to be in Jacksonville on Monday, December 17th and I'd like to get in some dives in the morning. Ideally I'd like to dive Spike Reef or anything at 100ft BUT any dives in clear water would do. Willing to travel up to 2hrs, willing to do a dive charter. Oh clear water is viz of at least 30ft. Thanks.

It's been pretty rough for us in Florida. No boats are going out in 15-20ft seas on that day & the gulf side won't run in 5-7's.

 

[Rilelen]

If you're not set on ocean diving, the springs are only a couple hours' drive from Jacksonville (and won't be blown out)...

 

[Tigerpaw]

If you're not set on ocean diving, the springs are only a couple hours' drive from Jacksonville (and won't be blown out)...

I'm open for the springs, it's just that you can't dive solo. Is it possible to go and slip in or be paired up with a group of divers?

 

[Rilelen]

Not typically, no, most places make you show up & check in with a buddy. A number of shops (Florida Springs Scuba; Bird's; American Pro; Spring Run) run guided dives, but I'd check on the north/central Florida facebook groups too. There's lots of folks looking for buddies (since they're required to dive most places) - if you post your experience/dates/where you're interested in going, you've got a good chance of finding someone willing to meet up with you.

That said, as far as I know, Royal and Alexander don't have rules against solo diving, and don't check/enforce buddies. (They should also be fairly quiet on a winter weekday morning)

 

[Tigerpaw]

THANK YOU so much, I'll give those a try and will bookmark those sites for future use. I do all my local diving in a lake with low viz. Any chance I get to rec dive with high viz I'm taking it!

 

[Rilelen]

Awesome! Best of luck, and come back and let us know how it went!!

 

[Tigerpaw]

Awesome! Best of luck, and come back and let us know how it went!!

Will do. I managed to book dives with Peter of Spring Run Diving. Sunday morning we're diving Paradise Springs and Blue Grotto. I do my Cavern cert on Mon and Tues and Wed I doing some more rec dives!

 

[Rilelen]

Oh, wow, that DOES sound like a great few days!! Enjoy! I’m actually headed to Paradise this morning, great choice.

 

[Tigerpaw]

Awesome! Best of luck, and come back and let us know how it went!!

Everything went well, I was going to link my review but I noticed you had already read it and approved! LOL So I'm now officially a tech diver, looking forward to going back to Florida later this year. So my next venture is Ice diving in February and then I'll be practicing for GUE Fundies. Going to be a busy year diving wise but I'm looking forward to it. I'm currently trying to plan trips to the Gulf of Mexico and the Great Lakes!