Florida at Xmas (Ft Myers) need advice

Hi,

I'm coming to Floriday for xmas, arriving 18/12 approx and staying a couple of weeks with family. I'm hoping to get some diving (I'm AOW) in whilst there, most likely 2 days and 4 dives would be my preference, maybe more if I can get away with it I'll need to hire most of the kit and I'll be on my own. Most likely I wanna tag along on a guided diving trip and include hire in the trip etc

I'll be staying in Fort Myers and need some advice on my options? Should I take a trip down to the keys and stay a couple of days and dive down there, if so what keys. I heard Key Largo is good, what about Key West? Is there much diving in Ft Myers?

is there anyway to take a dive trip from Ft Myers i.e. is it possible to drive down to the keys in say a couple of hours?

If you got any recommendations including where to dive, who to dive with, where to stay etc then please let me know.


Thanks

John

the Keys are a long drive. as for Key Largo or Key West? for diving it's easy, Key Largo is your choice. Key West isn't worth the drive for diving. If you're wanting to do a little drinking and partying, then it's your place though.

you could always dive the keys out of Ft Myers on the Ultimate Getaway. Capt Rick does 3 night trips with 2 & 1/2 days of diving for $500 during December.

Do you want pretty reef dives, explorative dives on artificial reefs??? BTW, Lauderdale by the Sea (shore dives) and upwards to Jupiter areas are much better diving (IMNSHO) than the Keys.

Ft Myers diving has pretty murkey water - better for Spearfishing than sightseeing (and you usually have to go a long way out - a couple of hours on a boat). Key Largo, Ft Lauderdale, Pompano, Boynton are all about 2-3 hours drive - they have reefs/wrecks.

For Key West - a high speed ferry goes from Ft Myers beach each morning so you wouldn't have to drive (itz about $100, and you can either come back that night or stay a few days) [drive is about 6hrs, boat is 3]- but as previous posters mentioned - you really go there more for nightlife than diving (unless you do a day trip to the Dry Tortugas) - but if you get there and rent a car, Looe Key is only 21 miles from Key West and has a great reef.

oh forgot to say - here is a link to my LDS - Brent the owner often has trips out on Sunday's in the gulf but also does weekend ones to Pompano and Marathon sometimes (not sure if they have anything going on over Xmas)

http://www.deansdivecenter.com/

johnro:

Hi,

I'm coming to Floriday for xmas, arriving 18/12 approx and staying a couple of weeks with family. I'm hoping to get some diving (I'm AOW) in whilst there, most likely 2 days and 4 dives would be my preference, maybe more if I can get away with it I'll need to hire most of the kit and I'll be on my own. Most likely I wanna tag along on a guided diving trip and include hire in the trip etc

I'll be staying in Fort Myers and need some advice on my options? Should I take a trip down to the keys and stay a couple of days and dive down there, if so what keys. I heard Key Largo is good, what about Key West? Is there much diving in Ft Myers?

is there anyway to take a dive trip from Ft Myers i.e. is it possible to drive down to the keys in say a couple of hours?

If you got any recommendations including where to dive, who to dive with, where to stay etc then please let me know.


Thanks

John

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Your going to Fort X, then heading down to Key X? When is 18/12? X Key is good for diving but some say X is better than X. You might want to dive with Xzon, or Deep X, Blue X is good too. You will take X highway all teh way down to X?

So, my advice is dive with X and go to X to dive

We can be out to Arc Towers in 45 minutes. Thats a 60' dive with some fun structure and lots of fish. There are also the ledges off Sanibel at roughly 35' depth and about 5-8 miles off shore.

PM Novafury and he'll set something up. We only take folks diving around here

Can find charters from Marco Island just south of Ft. Myers, Id just drive on accross to Lauderdale for a quickie. I do it all the time when I go see my Parents in Ft. Myers. Another option is to go North to Crystal River and dive the caverns/snorkel with the Manatees!!!!

Jupiter is a GREAT dive (Drift) BUT I'd say don't dive it if you are not Nitrox certified just because the bottom time is limited vs. other Reefs. Jupiter Reefs are about 80fsw. If you do want to dive Jupiter, I'd suggest Jupiter Dive Charters with Capt. Paul, and the Temptation.

http://www.jupiterdivecharters.com/

WPB has fun dives (Drift). The reefs there are a bit shallower at about 50'. I'm not sure where Vicky (BaitedStorm) is DM'ing out of these days but if you want to do a WPB dive, maybe someone will respond with whom they like as a Charter.

LBTS is a really fun shore dive. Marvel lives RIGHT there, and if you can hook up with some of the Lauderdale SB members, they are a GREAT group of people to do a shore dive with. Plan on maximum BT with that group. I'd PM Marvel, Renee, or ScubaJenny, and see if any of them are up for a dive.

I've never dove Boynton Beach, but I hear really good things about Splashdown divers. I think ScubaKevDM is the DM for that outfit.

http://www.splashdowndivers.com/index.html

If you want maximum BT, nice reefs, lots of fish, and easy fun dives, the upper Keys are hard to beat. I'd recommend Blue Water Divers. Brent, and Capt. Marval are really layed back, and fun to dive with.

http://www.bluewaterdiver.net/

If you do dive to the Keys whatever you do, TAKE the Turnpike through Miami. Pay the $$$ cause going through Miami can take forever!

You will also want to keep an eye on the sea's before traveling. The only downside about diving this time of year is that you can get blown out, so contact the diveOps you plan on using before traveling.

Have Fun and Dive Safe.

mnj1233:

Can find charters from Marco Island just south of Ft. Myers, Id just drive on accross to Lauderdale for a quickie. I do it all the time when I go see my Parents in Ft. Myers. Another option is to go North to Crystal River and dive the caverns/snorkel with the Manatees!!!!

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This is where makin friends with locals with boats works out REAL nice