Snorkeling and free diving around the Cape Canaveral area

Hey everyone, my fiancee and I are going down to Florida to watch the shuttle launch scheduled for May. It's a dream trip for her and she's been gracious enough to agree to do some snorkeling/diving with me. Are there any good places to take here within an hour drive of the Cape? She's a relative rookie when it comes to this sort of thing and it doesn't need to be particularly adventurous nor should it be too rigorous as we are both recovering from our winter inactivity. She is a camera junkie (seriously....our living room looks like a camera museum) so if there are any good places to take pictures would be appreciated. She simply says she- and I qoute- "wants to see swimmy things". Fresh or saltwater is fine...doesn't matter to us.

Also are there any good dive shops in the area to rent wetsuits and weights from?

Wow....I think this is the longest I've ever gone without a response to a thread I've posted on here.

The closest good snorkeling would be Blue Spring

There is a dive shop in Merritt Island (one bridge west or inwards from Cape Canaveral)

American Divers International (321) 453-0600

You will be able to snorkel on the beach but you won't be able to see anything

Hope this helps!

DropkickMurphy:

Wow....I think this is the longest I've ever gone without a response to a thread I've posted on here.

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Maybe that should tell you something.......

The area is not exactly the snorkeling spot of Florida - you need to think in terms of the springs, or much further south - in other words, you wanna see a space launch, or you want great diving and snorkeling?

in other words, you wanna see a space launch, or you want great diving and snorkeling?

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She wants to see the launch (which I could give a **** about honestly....she has been having a freakout about how she doesn't want to miss seeing a shuttle launch before they retire it...) and I want to do something fun.

You will be able to snorkel on the beach but you won't be able to see anything

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Meaning there is just not a lot to look at whatsoever or just not a lot to see in comparison to say, the Keys.

The area is not exactly the snorkeling spot of Florida

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Well, anything is better than the blackwater we have up here.

you need to think in terms of the springs

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That is completely OK. It doesn't have to be saltwater.

Hey, I'm hoping to go to that shuttle launch as well! I've never been, but I hear that watching it by kayak is a lot of fun. I'm taking mine up there and I've been told that kayak companies will be there to rent them.

So far as diving in that area, you'll need to drive 2-1/2 hours further south to Jupiter or 2-3/4 hours to Boynton Beach. Or 3-1/4 hours to Fort Lauderdale. And so forth. Hope this helps!

You could dive/snorkel the Boiler Wreck in Vero Beach. It's only about an hour south of canaveral. Right at the end of Highway 60, about 100 yards south of the parking lot and a short swim out. Part of the wreck shows above the surface at low tide, usually a dive club has a flag attached to make it easy to find.
Don't forget a dive flag, even if only snorkeling.

If the water is dirty at Vero drive on a little south to Pepper Park in Ft Pierce...it has a better chance of being clear, lots of reef structure. Water has been clear

For dive shops...forget the one in Merritt Island. A really good shop in Cape Canaveral is the Fishing & Diving Center....6300 N Atlantic Ave (AIA) zip 32920

I wouldn't miss that launch. the closer you can get the better.... 99.9% of America could care less about the space program, I bet that would change if more people saw and felt the power of those boosters first hand. I have seen just about every launch and make it a point to watch them. Standing on base at the 3 mile limit fence you really get to feel the rumble and the rockets blasting. It is pretty awe inspiring and will be a sad day in America for many people to see NASA take the hit that it has in its final days of that program.

On a second note, you should be able to find some decent near shore stuff to have fun on if the seas and winds have been down for a couple weeks. Starting around Sebastian/Wobasso area there are 3 reef lines that run parallel to the shoreline pretty much all the way into South Florida. The first is around 8-15 ft deep and around 50-100 yards from the shore. The second line is slightly deeper and usually not much farther out. The third is usually too far to swim to. If you pull up to a beach and can visibly see the reef lines and structures at high tide you will more than likely have a good time with decent visibility. Pepper park is a good place to go, and a little farther south on Hutchinson Island is Bathtub Beach and Blowing Rocks are more of my favorites. Those listed above are within an hour or two of Cape Canaveral.

http://www.evsmartin.com/bathtub/ (Webcam)

Blue Springs for sure. This time of the year I can speak for Vero to Martin county is going to be a wash out of 1 to 2 inches of visibility..