New to St. Augustine but not the board

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Hello all you Florida divers and the divers that I miss who live in the Pacific Northwest!

After a 5 week delay in getting here, I have finally arrived in St. Augustine Florida to live for the next 6 months at least.

I am an experienced cold water diver who has drug all of his gear cross country and would like to avail myself of diving opportunities while I am here. I do realize that the reality is that the viz here in the winter months can be less than fantastic but then again, I just did a dive in Oregon a few weeks ago where the viz was less than 3 feet (and the water temp was 46 degrees!) so low viz diving is not an unusual aspect in my experience. Just always wonder what I have missed

Anyhow, I am now situated in housing, have questionable transportation and need to get a wetsuit that will be appropriate for the area.

And really want to dive whenever possible.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and look forward to putting faces to names of the many Florida divers that I have read of in the Florida forums.

Jeff

PS: I posted this here also as one of the greeters wasn't real thrilled that I posted it in introductions (albeit I had never posted before in the Intro's thread...sheesh!)

Hey buddy! Welcome to the Conch Divers forum! Keep an eye open for threads about diving in here, there always seems to be a group going out somewhere!

Hey, maybe you can run into the same great white that some guy diving 20 miles off St. Augustine last winter on a wreck rain into. Man - that would some serious pucker factor.

I look forward to reading about the diving in Saint Augustine. If you like beer... the A1A Brewery is a must... especially at happy hour!

KeyLargoBrent:

I look forward to reading about the diving in Saint Augustine. If you like beer... the A1A Brewery is a must... especially at happy hour!

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Well, I like beer, it just doesn't like me :icon10:

I am beginning to think that there isn't any diving here... Haven't heard a lot of postives so far. But then again I just drove 3200 miles to get here so I guess that I am not afraid to drive to dive!

Thanks for the welcome (and nope, I think I will pass on the great white...)

Colin, what did you wanna know about the drysuit?

Jeff

St Auggie is north of where shore dives start being a viable thing. There are some boats out of St Augie, but thats about it. There are some other SB divers up there who should help give some more insight

Drysuit.. I'm sorta banned from wetsuits because they don't play well with my shoulder.. was given the hint to think about a drysuit as they are considerably more plyable..

CBulla:

St Auggie is north of where shore dives start being a viable thing. There are some boats out of St Augie, but thats about it. There are some other SB divers up there who should help give some more insight

Drysuit.. I'm sorta banned from wetsuits because they don't play well with my shoulder.. was given the hint to think about a drysuit as they are considerably more plyable..

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So.. I knew that there isn't much (if any) shore diving here in the general area. Where does the shore diving start here on the east coast?

As far as the drysuit goes, you are going to want a shell if you are trying to keep your shoulder free. I have also had extensive work done on my right shoulder and have some lingering impingement. But then again, I have had 5 operations on my right knee (it is now titanium) so I know what you are going through.

But my drysuit is compressed neoprene (which I personally like better than a shell) and I am going to hang onto it for now. Who knows, maybe I'll head up north where the water is a bit chillier and dive some wrecks like us :<)

Jeff

After the 3 hurricanes, NE FL is still stirred up from the hurricanes. Last weekend the water was a dark brown with no vis. Ive never seen it like this, but then again, Ive never seen 3 hurricanes go by. No tellin how long it will take until it settles down again.

NE FL diving can be good most of the year. Wrecks and ledges are the norm, depending on how far out you go, vis is typically 20-40 feet but does get to 80' in the summer. Big fish, sharks, turtles, and lots of them. Spearfishing is top notch, no beach dives.

As of yesterday vis was 20'+in 100' to 140'with 100' vis until 20' from the bottom with a slight murky layer.At 135' yesterday looking up I could see the boat and distinguish the props etc..follow the anchor line down till it hit the murk.Wt was 78.Saw turtles,nurse sharks ,jewfish,numerous tropicals such as spanish hogs,porkfish etc.Saw a lionfish.
We shot red,mangove and mutton snapper.Gag and scamp grouper.Brought home several bugs to 6#.Getting a ride is often as simple as putting up a note at LDS,posting on forums here and elsewhere and joining local clubs lkie Jax Reefsounders or JRRT.

Not sure if you've found them yet, but on HWY 16 you'll find the local dive shop. Stop in and talk to Steve or Curtis. They'll get you the skinny on what's around. Most shore diving is a couple hours south of us, but then again, so are the springs. Pick up a copy of the DeLoach book and it'll cover alot of what's around for diving. The LDS here runs dives every two weeks or so, but most of them are WPB, Lantana, and Jupiter. There's a boat running outta St. A also, but I don't know if they're running during the Winter. There is a dive club here in St. A that meets at the Red Lobster, but you'll have to check with the dive shop to find out when. In Jax, there's several dive clubs, some dive more often than others.

I'm in St. A also, and if you're interested in making a dive offshore, PM me and we'll see what we can do.

Great to have another diver here. Be sure to add yourself to the "ROLL CALL" and check it out. It lists all the Florida divers, and is broken down geographically, so you can see who's around you. Quite a few here in North East Fla.

PS... I've made a habit of spreading the information about the horrible dive conditions up here, to keep as many people moving to the SouthEast as possible. Once you make a few dives here, you'll see why