Gulf Coast VS East Coast Diving

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CAPTAIN SINBAD

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Location
Woodbridge VA
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Hello folks -

Just wanted to ask Florida locals how does Gulf coast diving compare to the Atlantic coast? I have been diving Jupiter, Fort Lauderdale and the Keys and was wondering whether why no one ever talks about diving the other end of Florida? Oriskany gets mentioned occasinally but what about other places? Not like East coast? :idk:
 
The problem in the panhandle is conditions aren't as good as in south Florida. The sites most charters go to have visibility in the 15-25' range. It can get better out farther, like the Oriskany, but there's no guarantee. There are also fewer charter operators and pricing isn't as good as down south. I wish it was better up here. Also wish charters were up for more variety. There's a group of divers that would probably head out more often if things were a little different.
 
I made a good living in the Gulf for many years. The Gulf of Mexico is a large toilet bowl with lots of swirling action. I don't mean that it's polluted, but with the largest outflow of fresh water in North America draining into a relatively large space with small openings in and out, the Gulf tends to not be as pristine-clean as the Caribbean, for instance. West of the Mississippi, the water is brown on the bottom 20-60 feet. Brown means no vis. East of the Mississippi is much clearer, but still not like the Gulf Stream. Because the weather can be so bad, divers tend to find alternate places to dive, like Cozumel or the Springs, depending on where you live. That makes it tough for a charter captain to find a steady source of passengers. That makes it tough for passengers to find a steady source of charters. Most diving on the Gulf Coast is on ledges, on artificial and natural wrecks, and on rubble piles from construction debris. Tech diving availabilities are awesome, with just as many U-boat sinkings as anyone could want. Problem is visibility. Reefs are excellent for spearfishing, but don't tend to be the beautiful reefs found in the keys. The exception is the Texas Flower Gardens, the healthiest reef in the world.

I dove out of Jupiter inlet for the first time last week. It was nice, but nothing like the Keys. I thought that Gulf diving tends to be the same kind of Ledge diving as Jupiter.
 
I made a good living in the Gulf for many years. The Gulf of Mexico is a large toilet bowl with lots of swirling action. I don't mean that it's polluted, but with the largest outflow of fresh water in North America draining into a relatively large space with small openings in and out, the Gulf tends to not be as pristine-clean as the Caribbean, for instance. West of the Mississippi, the water is brown on the bottom 20-60 feet. Brown means no vis. East of the Mississippi is much clearer, but still not like the Gulf Stream. Because the weather can be so bad, divers tend to find alternate places to dive, like Cozumel or the Springs, depending on where you live. That makes it tough for a charter captain to find a steady source of passengers. That makes it tough for passengers to find a steady source of charters. Most diving on the Gulf Coast is on ledges, on artificial and natural wrecks, and on rubble piles from construction debris. Tech diving availabilities are awesome, with just as many U-boat sinkings as anyone could want. Problem is visibility. Reefs are excellent for spearfishing, but don't tend to be the beautiful reefs found in the keys. The exception is the Texas Flower Gardens, the healthiest reef in the world.

I dove out of Jupiter inlet for the first time last week. It was nice, but nothing like the Keys. I thought that Gulf diving tends to be the same kind of Ledge diving as Jupiter.

Yes I remember your boat used to be somewhere in Texas? I wanted to dive Texas Flower Garden but then you moved to Florida.

If the diving in the gulf is anywhere similar to Jupiter then I would consider at par if not superior to the Keys. Keys seem to have more colorful underwater topography but everytime I have dived Jupiter I have seen huge turtles, sharks and Mantra rays. That sort of large marine life makes Jupiter a more thrilling dive destination for me than Keys.
 
I think it depends on your preferences:

If you're into:
spearfishing/shell-collecting/crustacean-catching. I'm talking about lobsters you don't have to measure, you just need a really big bag to bring them up. Groupers, snappers and cobias almost guaranteed on every dive if you know what you're doing. Flounder and sholvelnose ready to commit suicide so often you almost feel like skipping them (almost). Enough octopus to have a couple a year and still enjoy their efforts cleaning gorgeous huge shells.

and don't mind:
a. cold water 7 months a year.
b. diving in booger-like-mater suspended in the water column about 50% of your dives
c. very long trips to the dive site
d. most of the dive site look alike... sand, chunk of discarded metal or concrete, more sand... most prevalent color? gray.

Then, the northern gulf around the panhandle is your place. I understand that diving jetties at different locations may be different but I'm into open water.

If in the other hand you like:

Breathtaking colors with great diversity of marine life. Opportunity to see all the phases of most species (juvenile-mature-decrepit).
Great visibility the majority of your dives with decent range even on the worst days.
Fair amount of lobsters, mostly small to medium size.
Sweet tasting hog fish, even if just once in a while.
Pleasant water temperature 10 months a year.
A plethora of dive sites with very different characteristics, from very shallow to endless true blue waters.

and you don't mind:
a. Intense boat traffic
b. Other divers deciding they can't find their own spot and crowding you.
c. Less available fish to spear

then the Atlantic is your place, specifically the part of the Atlantic right off S. Florida.
 
Yes I remember your boat used to be somewhere in Texas? I wanted to dive Texas Flower Garden but then you moved to Florida.

We still go back for a month or so each year. The Fling still serves the Flower Gardens.
 
East Coast from Canaveral south is distinct from further north,vis tends to be better and reefs closer but there are more and bigger fish/critters to the north.

The Gulf has the coolest variety with deep springs,natural and artificial wrecks,ledges and coral to the southern end but vis is variable and it gets cold in the winter.

For spearfishing/lobstering nothing compares with the Gulf or NE Florida until you get to the Carolinas and the weather there is iffy at any given moment.


For shore diving there many areas from Canaveral south to Ft.Pierce that don't get the traffic the more southern reefs get.
 
Wow,
Some folks have had some bad experiences in the Gulf. All of the dives are not on rubble and in grey color conditions.

In Pensacola, we have tugs, barges, crew boats, retired oil rigs, landing craft, navy dive boats, a WW1 Battleship and an aircraft carrier. We have some fascinating natural bottom sites. We do have some rubble, the largest artificial reef in combined area in the world.

This past year we averaged 40-50 ft of vis, sometimes 80-100+. We saw sharks, dolphin and/or turtles on most of the dives. Sometimes we saw them all. We have multiple whale shark and manta ray sightings every year.

No, we're not the Keys, but what is. It is different here, but it's an experience like no other. Try it for yourself. We have fun, we have variety and we have big fish. Y'all come see us.
 
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