Cocoa Beach, FL?

[Boogiechillin]

Hello,

I just found this site, and it looks like a really great board! I was wondering if anyone around here would know if there's any decent snorkeling in Cocoa Beach, FL. (It's about halfway down the eastern coast, about an hour from Orlando if that helps). I know it's a little far north for tropical fish, but would it be worth looking into it? I don't have scuba certification yet... I had hoped to do it this semester, but my local scuba club chapter refused to do the "final" dive at the end of the course in this area, and the out of state dive trip pushed the cost out of my budget Back to staring at the aquarium, I guess...

Anyway, any insights re: Cocoa Beach would be very much appreciated! TIA!

BC

 

[The Chairman]

Both Cocoa and it's northern neighbor (Greater Daytona Beach) are known for miles and miles of sand close to shore. Ponce inlet can be fun if you like to hunt, but you really need to go out deeper to see the fish you so desire. A little bit further south and you will find Ft Lauderdale, West Palm, Boyton and TONS of snorkeling closer to shore. I would still rather dive that area, until you get all the way down to the keys, where easy snorkeling abounds.

BTW, what school, and what cert agency???

 

[Wendy]

Wst palm has a good place for you to snorkel in the inter coastal water way under Blue Heron Blvd Bridge.

What cert agency was your scuba class with? You could always get a referral to another instructor to do your check out dives.

 

[DennisW]

Unfortunately, Cocoa does not have any snorkling that is very good. Wendy's suggestion of the Blue Heron bridge is a good one, but it's about 3 hours south of Cocoa. The Blue Heron Bridge is one of my favorite dive sites. You dive just before high tide because of the currents. Lots of juvinile fish, many, many Bristle Worms (be careful), lots of Sea Stars, etc, etc. Sometimes the viz is poor, but usually around 20 to 30 ft viz. The bridge wall near the waterway is really nice.

 

[Boogiechillin]

Virginia Tech...I don't know the agency; the certification was PADI through our Scuba Club. I'm moving up to Akron, OH this summer to start grad school, so maybe I can get certified up there at some point.

Sounds like I'm pretty much out of luck on Cocoa Beach, though...I really don't have the option of going out of the area while I'm there, which is frustrating...I would LOVE to get down to the keys! I've heard so much great stuff about the area. I've kept marine reef aquariums for several years, and I really enjoy Caribbean biotopes, which makes it doubly frustrating to be so close and not be able to see much