A friend told me that there's an artificial reef just off the beach that's a good snorkel spot. Of course he was pretty vague about the location. Another captain told me the spot my friend was referring to is just off of Atlantic Ave. I also have the numbers for Cable Crossing from Divespots, which is in somewhat the same area, but quite a few blocks south. The numbers are about 1/4 mile off shore, which is a pretty good swim, so...
Is there a site just off of Atlantic Ave?
Is it good for diving or just snorkeling?
Is Cable Crossing doable as a shore dive...or is it too far out...or doable with a scooter?
And yes, of course I know all about diving the bridge.
If he is talking about Atlantic Avenue, I think he may be talking about the Delray Wreck, at the extreme south end of the public beach in Del Ray.
If you drive to the Island of Palm Beach, and park at the north end of the public beach parking spaces, you can try to follow the cable crossing straight out from the cable on the beach...and at around 12 to 15 feet deep, there is a nice reef area....there is a much large series of patch reefs, directly in front of the BreAKERS rESORT....but you need to walk north down the beach until you get to the concrete foundation of the resort building, and then swim out from there....first you go over an old coral covered pier, about 7 feet deep and maybe 50 yards long or more....and then if you head out about 60 yards more, and sight on the mooring buoy, you will find one of many of the large patch reefs ---big round blowouts that are undercut ledges..they are around 50 by 100 feet, and there are probably at least 6 more of these you can find easily....
Personally, I think the Jetty and pumphouse dive on Singer Island is much more fun.....i will include a video....
And the artificial snorkeling reef on singer island, begins at the very north side of the public beach, and runs north almost to the Hilton....You can use google Earth, see Singer Island, and you will see these in the water....
Here is the pumphouse dive
[video=youtube_share;nsJNxGEhCV0]http://youtu.be/nsJNxGEhCV0[/video]
This is a high tide dive like the BHB, and much more so than the BHB, do NOT stay in the inlet past slack high tide, unless you use freedive fins and are fast....the outgoing rush can take an unwary diver 200 yards out, in the blink of an eye.....with that said, kids and families have snorkeled this area for decades....but the ones that did this in past decades were adventure types and athletic....and today there are huge numbers of divers that could never handle what these local kids could do easily....sad, but true....You should figure out where you fit in to this continuum
The hardest thing about the Pumphouse dive, is that it is fairly necessary to have someone else drop you by the end of the perimeter road, where it intersects the jetty near the timeshare resort at the south end of Singer island....The local cops wont let you park, or "stand" for more than a few moments. The closest parking lot is the Ocean Mall parking lot, and that is too far to walk with tanks....and obnoxious to walk, even with just snorkel gear.
I have my own special place to park....close to this jetty...from knowing locals for years.....and if a bunch of Sb divers want to try the Pumphouse dive some time, I'd be happy to go with them, and run the group over with my Raptor, park in my area, and then do the dive also....a weekend after noon when the tide is right, is best for me, for this. Morning is also possible, but that competes with cycling and boat dives
---------- Post added November 19th, 2014 at 04:31 PM ----------
[video=youtube_share;0r3O-8lr8w8]http://youtu.be/0r3O-8lr8w8?list=UUsM5Za9Kc3DbP7Qo3-Zmz9w[/video]
This shows some of the diving/snorkeling just off of the Island of Palm beach....and it also shows a great view of the jetty and pumphouse dive area at the inlet mouth...during the time of the Mullet Spawning in the fall.
