Advice for diving in florida for a West Coaster?

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thebrain

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Hi everyone.
I am looking for advice for diving in Florida. I have the opportunity to be in Florida for a 1-3 weeks. I can stay free/cheap in Sarasota, but what I am gathering is there is not so much diving there. Any day trips nearby? Otherwise I am thinking about driving to the keys.
So I am asking for advice for locations worth going to in Florida. I am thinking about a drive to Key West for fun.

Seems like Rainbow Reef charters in Key Largo would be a good option.

My needs/wants: I am a proficient recreational diver. I am certified sidemount and AOW, nitrox, etc, etc. Basically most certifications below technical. I value good, cheap diving. So cheap hotel recommendations or package deals are great. I am thinking/looking for dive charters because it sounds like not so much shore diving in Florida, and in the past I have had difficult finding diving buddies.

Thanks everyone
 
Hi Brain -

Florida offers pretty much something for everyone. Whether you're into deep wrecks, shallow wrecks, pretty reefs, ugly reefs, sharks, turtles, macro photography, wide-angle photography, cave diving, tech diving, fossil hunting ... we've got it. It might be helpful to narrow down a little what type of diving interests you in order to better steer you in the right direction.

jet
 
Narrowing it down would help. Travel-wise you're right - there's not much on the Gulf side unless you're up for fossil hunting or taking a long boat ride. Price-wise, I don't think there's too much variation. A two-tank boat trip will set you back about $55-$65 not including any tank or gear rentals. So it's really about what kind of diving you want to do. Pretty, shallow reefs and wrecks - Keys. Deeper drift dives with big critters (February through April being sharky season, with turtles as well) - Jupiter area.
 
fair enough. I think my priority would be pretty reefs and drift dives. I would love to see some big critters. I just don't want monotonous grey.
I've done Ginnie springs, and while nice, its not at the top of my list (so I guess strike out lakes/caves,etc)


Lastly, is there any *decent* snorkeling in the Keys. I my fantasy land, I could pull off the overland highway and jump in the water to much around a bit.
 
There isn't much reef close to shore. And access is limited due to mangroves & private property. The most common question in the Keys is "where's the beach"...up in Miami, Ft Lauderdale & Palm Beach.

There are plenty of dive &/or snorkeling boats to our reefs just a few miles off shore.

To answer your best choices that have reefs, drift diving, & shore accessible snorkeling & diving, check out WPB/FLL.
Lots of great dive ops in that area as well as a ton of friendly ScubaBoarders to give you great advise.
I love Boynton Beach reefs & the Castor. And Governor's Walk in WPB, 4 wrecks in a row on one drift dive. :)
And of course the Blue Heron Bridge. There is a thread called Blue Heron Bridge Trolls where you can find a local buddy to show you around (its tidal dependent ).
Have fun...so much to see, never enough days.
 
We had a wonderful time diving the reefs off West Palm. We saw beautiful reefs, wrecks, Goliath groupers, lemon sharks, big schools of a variety of fish -- just all kinds of stuff. I'd love to go back.
 
Broward County is the warm water shore diving capital of America.
There are great dive shops and great boats everywhere from Key Weird to Jupiter.
Dive buds are usually not hard to find.
But....
WHEN are you coming to Florida?

That has a lot of bearing as to what you might do when you are here.

Chug
Saw a sea cow in the intracoastal today.
 
There is a lot of great diving from Jupiter, down south. Jupiter tends to have current and reef drift, with more sharks, turtles, goliath groupers. It's shark migration season now. The keys are great to relax topside. There is a beautiful shallow reef and fun deeper wrecks.
 
Well, 1st piece of advice is probably drive to the east coast (of Florida)...

There are a range of places to hit on the east coast. From north to south, some popular highlights include:

1.) Jupiter - here's my trip report from Sept. 2014. When you come is a big deal, because Jupiter has 2 separate big events; the lemon shark migration (late winter?) and goliath grouper aggregation (fall). Jupiter diving tends to be deep & I recommend nitrox. If by chance you really want to see sharks up close, check out Emerald Dive Charters with Randy Jordon. They do shark feeding dives, so your odds of getting close are probably pretty good. The issue of shark feeding dives has been debated intensely in other threads & I'm not looking to derail this one. I'm just telling you it's there. What you do about that is up to you.

2.) West Palm Beach - close to Jupiter, not quite as deep, less apt to see pelagics. WPB is so close to Jupiter that if you were going stay in the area, you could hit both without much trouble. Mselaneous mentioned Blue Heron Bridge, which is in this area.

3.) Boynton Beach - not familiar with it but judging from other threads, I believe forum member Scubadada enjoys the diving.

4.) Ft. Lauderdale/Pompano - there's also a shore dive, Lauderdale By The Sea, that's spoken of on other threads.

5.) Miami - known for wreck diving I believe.

6.) Key Largo - my trip report from Sept. 2013 with Rainbow Reef Dive Center. I've heard from different people that the Keys diving is best in the upper Keys (e.g.: Largo and Islamorada), and I've heard none dispute that. With RRDC, you can get in 2 2-tank dive trips/day. In the morning, if you've got AOW, you've got the option to do a deep wreck trip. I got to do the Spiegel Grove (3 times) & the Duane (once). Afternoon trip will be shallow reefs. I was quite pleased with my trip.

I make no claim to have covered it all, but if you're browsing destinations, perhaps that brief guide will help.

Richard.
 
From Sarasota: yes it's better to boat dive here. / what you didn't mention is when. The gulf is cooler this time of year. That's why the springs and keys are the best. (Key largo or isle morada can't be beat) are popular. Don't rule out pompano on the east coast. A bit less current the wpb. IMO almost as pretty on a easier dive. (And there's shallow reef) depending we have OK diving off Anna Maria and you can hit some (a little bigger) wrecks a little south. (Ft Myers) while shore diving here is not the best. Don't forget to have a snorkle with the manatees about 2 hours north around crystal river. - most divers would appreciate this - and tell me it's not awesome. I dare you!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk
 
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