Looking for Florida Dive Info

A couple of Canucks considering driving down to Florida in March with our son's to do some diving. We are both certified and planning on getting our sons through the class and pool seesions and then doing their open water in Florida. We are looking for suggestions as to where to go. Looking for reasonable accomodations with good diving nearby. Obviously some of the diving will be with our newby sons but would also do some diving without them to see the highlights.

Would love to hear your suggestions as well as any links you can provide.

Thanks for your help!

Eric

Broward County. Best of the best. Shore diving, boat, deep, reefs, wrecks, oh, and less expensive than driving down to the keys.
Tourist season till Easter, when the rates for motels go down. Watch out for Spring Break the weekend before Easter, tough to find a room.
Good luck, and keep us informed.

As well as Broward county as mentioned above, I would also consider the West Palm Beach area. The reefs are close to shore and the variety of marine life is spectacular from macro to big animal diving. The diving is also pretty effortless drift diving where most operations have a divemaster in the water (good for the new divers) and at the end of the dive, the boat picks you up (no need for good navigation skills). Key Largo is also always a favorite and most of the reefs are shallow, though you can hit deep wrecks like the Duane and the Spiegel Grove if you so desire.

In March you may still have to watch for cold fronts as these can really make the seas rough and there is no protected leeward side for diving. In this case you could always hit the springs -- Ginnie, Devil's Den, Blue Grotto, etc. Personally, I'm more of a "warm water, pretty fish" diver, but I like the springs more than I like being seasick!!!

Good luck and enjoy your Florida vacation!

EricDive:

A couple of Canucks considering driving down to Florida in March with our son's to do some diving. We are both certified and planning on getting our sons through the class and pool seesions and then doing their open water in Florida. We are looking for suggestions as to where to go. Looking for reasonable accomodations with good diving nearby. Obviously some of the diving will be with our newby sons but would also do some diving without them to see the highlights.

Would love to hear your suggestions as well as any links you can provide.

Thanks for your help!

Eric

Click to expand...

We know lots of budget-conscious divers who save on accommodations by staying up in Florida City or Homestead, and making the half-hour drive to Key Largo to dive. Biscayne National Park is also within easy reach. I haven't tried it yet, but I hear that the diving up there is pretty darn good!