Need info for novice divers first trip to FL with 15 year old

My husband & I are planning a trip to FL with our 15 year old nephew for some winter diving. I would like to stay in either Jacksonville or the Tampa area….maybe Ft Lauderdale. Would probably be the end of February or April.

We need a great dive operation for my nephew to do his open water check off dives with and a place with some nice dives for Novice divers. We prefer to have a DM with us as we are fairly novice as well and have never been diving in FL. We like to dive from a boat, but shore diving would be OK too.

I’m sorry this is so vague, but we are just in the initial stages of gathering info and planning….

Well the best viz and prettiest fish will be in Ft. Lauderdale. The dives are all pretty deep though. There are a lot of good dive operators on that coast. I recommend the boat Sandy's Sunday for anyone going over there. I had a great time on that boat and you couldn't ask for a better crew.
Now if you want to come to the Tampa area I can help you out. There are a couple of boats just south of us in Bradenton that go out every day of the week. I work with Scuba Quest out of Brandon ( just east of Tampa) and they run with those boats down in Bradenton. The crew is good and they always have a DM on board. There are a couple of shore dives down in Bradenton and Venice you could hit as well. There are also have some good charters out of St. Pete. You will have plenty to chose from in this area. The viz over here is not as good but the depths are much shallower for beginners. So its a judgement call on your part. I can't give you any info on Jacksonville but if you have any more questions about the Tampa area just give me a shout. I will be more than happy to help if possible. If you decide to come down to the Tampa area let me know and we will get you hooked up.

Masq:

My husband & I are planning a trip to FL with our 15 year old nephew for some winter diving. I would like to stay in either Jacksonville or the Tampa area….maybe Ft Lauderdale. Would probably be the end of February or April.

We need a great dive operation for my nephew to do his open water check off dives with and a place with some nice dives for Novice divers. We prefer to have a DM with us as we are fairly novice as well and have never been diving in FL. We like to dive from a boat, but shore diving would be OK too.

I’m sorry this is so vague, but we are just in the initial stages of gathering info and planning….

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Fort Lauderdale is definitely where you want to go for your checkout dives. Jax and Tampa are not really diving destinations even though they may have diving available.

I think an excellent choice for you would be Boynton Beach (about 30 minutes north of Fort Lauderdale). There's an excellent operation there called UWExplorer where the DM/instructor (Kevin) goes on every dive with you so that makes doing the checkout dives very easy for you. Plus, there is fantastic diving there with some of the best reefs in the state.

Here is another HUGE thumbs up for Kevin, as mentioned by Deepstops, plus an additional recommendation for my personal Fort Lauderdale favorite boat, Capt. Bill Cole's Sea Experience. He knows where the best of the beautiful local reefs are, and his boat and staff are very family oriented. I have been out with him on countless occasions where an instructor had students and I have nothing but good to say about their operation.

Don't want to piss off the Jax or FL west coast folks, but gotta agree 100% with my friends Debby and Brian - uh, Deepstops. Kevin at UW Explorers is fantastic and Boynton has IMO the best reefs in FL.

Plus, if Feb is your time table, the water is cold in Jax; plus you will likely not have a dive boat available to you - maybe the same on the west coast. There is zero shore diving in Jax, and little in Tampa - great cities; but candidly the diving is better in other areas of FL. And warmer, even if you come down in April, which is perhaps a better choice weather wise.

The SE coast is just a better option.

Are you planning to drive? If so I could see the attraction from that standpoint to be farther north, however my comments stand re the diving; however if you are flying, it should not matter if you fly into FTL or Miami.

Given all the experience you mention, the Keys are the best choice for you - post back if you want some operator's

Feb can be rough down here if you encounter a cold front - windy; rough seas.

I love Boynton; however, for a novice, you cannot go wrong with Key Largo -

Thank you all for your recommendations! It gives me places to start checking out. We will be flying in...so Ft Lauderdale or Miami would be fine. I may check out the Keys too.

I do want to check out JAX only because we may be stationed there for the Navy.... but if the diving up there would be too cold, we'll make a trip up there another time. :cool2:

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Masq:

Thank you all for your recommendations! It gives me places to start checking out. We will be flying in...so Ft Lauderdale or Miami would be fine. I may check out the Keys too.

I do want to check out JAX only because we may be stationed there for the Navy.... but if the diving up there would be too cold, we'll make a trip up there another time. :cool2:

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If you want to check out Jax just rent a car and drive up for the day. That time of year they are correct about the water. It will be warmer on the east coast. Key Largo is only about an hour south of Miami so you can easily plan a day excursion down there for some diving too.
While I'm partial to Tampa because I live here south Florida is a diving paradise if you plan a good trip.

6hr drive to jax from Ft.L, I would go somewhere from jupiter south, and kevin at Underwater Explorers is recommended by alot of people. the diving off west palm typically runs the 60-90ft range but there are a few 30ft'ers you can hit. depending on who you do checkouts through you might be able to tag along and get a few extra dives in yourself while doing that. I would recommend finding an area you would like to stay closer to depending on how long you will be here and getting a car to make a few day trips here and there. From ft lauderdale you have awsome diving about an hour and a half north (Jupiter) to keywest which is probably 3 1/2 hrs south. Lauderdale seems to have the better shore diving options though and boat dives tend to run 50-80 a head around here so you can do some math and figure out what else you want to enjoy on your vaca then figure out where to dive and how many boat dives you may want. Around feb our seas get a little rougher though but with a DM and your nephew doing checkout dives if you evesdrop and tag along you should have a good understanding of whats going on with current since its mostly drift dives down here

I can understand the Navy being in Jacksonville with the NavSta at Mayport, but what kind of squid billets are there in Omaha?

I'm on board with the Fort Lauderdale recommendation! And, I also recommend Kevin at UW Explorer. If you go much further north than UW Explorer though, count on some serious currents, particularly West Palm.

As far as diving being deep in Ft Laud, I have no idea what that's about. We have tons of shore diving that is less than 20', plenty of boat dives to the 30' range and of course you can go deeper on some wrecks and reefs if you want to.

As a matter of fact, when you get your schedule set, shoot me a pm or set up another post, and chances are we can get a group to meet you and take you for a shore dive somewhere. There's a group dive nearly every weekend and we always welcome new folks. Sometimes there's a picnic involved too. Just another excuse to get together.