Fort Lauderdale, West Palm, etc... am I missing out?

Hi Floridians!

I am pretty experienced in the Caribbean and elsewhere, and just got back from two trips in Turks & Caicos and then the Bahamas, ending in Bimini...

It occurred to me on the way back, shouldn't the east coast of FLA be damn near as good? I like big stuff, btw, so the Gulf Stream is a plus. I've only ever done 3 or 4 dives in the area, and they weren't that impressive (albeit they were definitely tourist dives).

What gives? Should I come down and check it out? Where? Which dive operators? What are the best sites? What can I expect to see? $135 RT on Jetblue sorta makes things easy...

rpodos:

Hi Floridians!

I am pretty experienced in the Caribbean and elsewhere, and just got back from two trips in Turks & Caicos and then the Bahamas, ending in Bimini...

It occurred to me on the way back, shouldn't the east coast of FLA be damn near as good? I like big stuff, btw, so the Gulf Stream is a plus. I've only ever done 3 or 4 dives in the area, and they weren't that impressive (albeit they were definitely tourist dives).

What gives? Should I come down and check it out? Where? Which dive operators? What are the best sites? What can I expect to see? $135 RT on Jetblue sorta makes things easy...

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.....and go elsewhere. Dove this area this past year. It was fair, to good at best.

Good luck and good diving.

Dave

rpodos:

Hi Floridians!

I am pretty experienced in the Caribbean and elsewhere, and just got back from two trips in Turks & Caicos and then the Bahamas, ending in Bimini...

It occurred to me on the way back, shouldn't the east coast of FLA be damn near as good? I like big stuff, btw, so the Gulf Stream is a plus. I've only ever done 3 or 4 dives in the area, and they weren't that impressive (albeit they were definitely tourist dives).

What gives? Should I come down and check it out? Where? Which dive operators? What are the best sites? What can I expect to see? $135 RT on Jetblue sorta makes things easy...

Click to expand...

IMO Jupiter is some of the Best diving one can do in FL. The Reefs are not as pretty as the Keys, however, they are great in their own way, and there is a LOT of big life on them. We saw Eagle Rays, Turtles, Nurse Sharks, and more Lobster than anywere else I dive in FL, which inclued WPB, LBTS, and the N. Keys.

If you live there, what the heck are you waiting for, DIVE!! Capt. Paul, and the Temptation is a boat I'd recommend.

Pompano Beach to Delray. Relaxed, quiet, the dive operations are mostly good.

Ten years exploring the area and I am not done.

SterlingDiver:

.....and go else where. Dove this area this past year. It was fair to good at best.

Good luck and good diving.

Dave

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C'mon Dave, fair compared to where? Did you have a bad experience in Florida? Granted, I have less than 50 logged dives, but I've heard from divers that have been all over the world, "Florida has awesome diving!" Hope you'll give it another try sometime. Let us know when you're coming, we'll conch it up! rpodos, If you're not diving everywhere/ anywhere at least once, well..........come see what you're missing! and.....Let us know when you're coming, we'll conch it up!

Lil38:

C'mon Dave, fair compared to where? Did you have a bad experience in Florida? Granted, I have less than 50 logged dives, but I've heard from divers that have been all over the world, "Florida has awesome diving!" Hope you'll give it another try sometime. Let us know when you're coming, we'll conch it up! rpodos, If you're not diving everywhere/ anywhere at least once, well..........come see what you're missing! and.....Let us know when you're coming, we'll conch it up!

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,,,,I Don't agree.

This is my experiance. Lots of brown algae and bleach out coral. Fish life average at best. 40'-50; viz, nothing too get excited about. Flat dive profiles.

Does this compare favorably to the Turks????? Seems that was the original question of the thread. Not in my humble opinion.

Good Diving,


Dave

Granted, our reefs are not so pristime but we've still got some pretty darn good diving here from a bunch of really nice wrecks to easy, fun beach diving. Certainly well worth the trip down here, especially with such cheap airfare, IMHO.

Locals love our reefs in spite of the algie and absence of great coral because we know where to look to find nurse shark, eels, reef squid, octopus, turtles and all the usual acquarium fish. Many of us find most of these on every single dive!

IME, new divers to our waters (even locals) are tempted to cover a lot of ground to "find" something interesting to look at. Unfortunately, this just leads to disappointment.

I was like that (as Jenny & Marvel will attest) until I went with a very experienced and enthusiastic local diver several times. I noticed a pattern - we never made it off the first reef, and sometimes we spent an hour BEFORE the first reef IN THE RUBBLE where most divers bypass without even dropping down.

We would spend the hour playing with the octopus, lobster and all kinds of interesting stuff very close to shore. To this day - after probably 300 dives here - he's still the master.

The fact is that within a 20-foot square there is enough to see or enough that will pass by you that you could be entretained for anywhere from 10 minutes to a half-hour. Worst case scenario, therefore, you could lose yourself in less than 200 feet of reef...

Of course, there are MUCH better reefs, but for shore diving lifestyle Broward locals are very, VERY satisfied.

I only did one dive at LBTS, but with such fine local gudes (Thanks Guys!) the only reason I did not go back was because I had scheduled a LOT of diving so as to experience many different areas.

I could easily spend a hundred dives at LBTS, and enjoy every minute. As it was we did an hour and fourty minute dive, and I enjoyed ever bit of it, I'm very positive it would never get old. If that type of diving is not good enough for most, then IMO maybe that diver is just not paying attention, and should evaluate what it is that makes diving enjoyable.

Where I live, we log hours in local mudholes where if we are lucky, we will see a few fish!! But even if my buddies and I have all dove wonderful sites, we still just enjoy getting wet, and working on skills.

I enjoy FL so much, we are plannig on moving there. Sure other places around the world have wonderful diving. But IMO you can not beat diving in FL if one lives in the USA, as the diving there is wonderful, and the price is thousands less than any other dive area with the exception of maybe Mexico if one wants Reefs.

I just spent a week diving in the Exuma's in July... Expect for the walls, JUPITER BLOWS it away! Heck, even WPB is better.

It just made me realize how funtunate we are to have such AWESOME diving close by. Anyone how hasn't seen beautiful reefs here, needs to pick a better boat