which location has better diving, Hawaii or Florida, and why?

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dlee123

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Which location has better diving, Hawaii or Florida, and why? Do I have to go all the way to the Keys to see colorful coral, or is there coral reefs around Miami? Are their lots of coral reefs in Hawaii (Oahu area)? Which is easier in regards to access and convenience? Thanks for your input.
 
When you ask "which is easier in regards to access and convenience" you really need to at least tell us where you are currently.

Hawaii vs Florida:
- Not sure that one is "better than the other" they are different

Coral in Hawaii
- Hawaii is volcanic... very little coral
- Oahu is probably offers the least attractive dive options in Hawaii

Coral reefs in Florida, esp Miami
- Miami diving sucks
- Lots of coral reefs off West Palm beach area (Jupiter to Pompano) great drift diving

Hawaii will likely be more expensive to get to... and certainly far more expensive once you get there.

I love Hawaii and have been there six times. Would go back tomorrow. However if I wanted to choose between the two for diving alone... I'd probably go to Florida.
 
Florida has almost every type of diving imaginable, and the infrastructure to easily support it.

Hawaii primarily has decent reef diving, and the infrastructure to easily support dropping boat loads of warm water vacation divers on top of it.
 
Since you provided no information for us to based an response on I will simply say that if you are a new diver the Key Largo area will be hard to beat.
 
Florida is far better.
1) because I live there
2) it is less expensive than Hawaii
3) more accessible kinds of diving within driving distance

Diving on the boats out of Jupiter gives you some great wrecks and reefs with BIG sealife. Sharks, turtles, whale sharks, manta rays and more. Jupiter diving is a little deeper with most in the 70-90 foot range. Favorite operator Jupiter, FL Scuba Diving Charter

Then there is Palm Beach. The Blue Heron Bridge (BHB) is a shore dive. I could say a lot about this AWESOME (max depth 20 feet!) and easy dive but just Google it (or PM me). And it's free....
Palm Beach Diving from boats offers some great reefs and wrecks that can be a little shallower. depths 60-80 feet. The reefs are a bit more active than Jupiter. Favorite operator Scuba diving in south Florida - Florida Scuba Charters Inc.

Then the Keys. Great tropical diving with deep or shallow options. Favorite dive op Captain Slate's Scuba Adventures Dive Center - Florida Keys

so lots of options. I didn't even talk about diving caves, caverns and springs....
 
I haven't dived the Keys, just the Palm Beach area, but here's my take: Except for the BHB, you're going to be on boats for good diving in that part of Florida, which adds significantly to the cost. On Maui, where I've done my Hawaiian diving, there are a lot of easily accessible shore diving sites, which makes your schedule easier and more flexible, and cuts the costs. Fancy lodging in either place will cost you; I don't know about Florida, but I would imagine there are cheaper motels there, and you can definitely find inexpensive condos to rent on Maui (I've had good luck with VRBO).

Hawaii is mostly hard corals, and they are not strikingly colorful. They do support a good amount of reef life, especially if you like to move slowly. We've seen several species of moray, a bunch of nudibranchs, lots of reef fish, frogfish, porcelain crabs, sea stars, and sharks, dolphins, a manta, and even a. whale. A lot of the species are endemic, so if having a "life list" of marine species interests you, you will be checking a lot of boxes in Hawaii! The boat dives will take you places you can't get to from shore, and some of them are very interesting (the Cathedrals off Lanai, or the Mala Pier at night) but unless the swell is really up, you won't have to boat dive every day.

The reefs off West Palm were beautiful. I was surprised and delighted at the amount of color - the sponges and tunicates and other photogenic critters. Goliath groupers are amazing, and we saw lemon sharks as well. You have more options for wrecks (and they have a lot of life on them). But all the diving we did was in mild to strong current, and all of it was deep enough that, had we been on single tanks, our dive times would have been a bit on the short side for me. (Anything under an hour, unless I'm getting cold, is pretty short to me.)

So, big stuff and wrecks, West Palm has it. Low current and shore diving, Maui wins. I don't think the diving is bad either place, and if you haven't been to either, it will be even more fun because everything is new.
 
Thanks for your input. I did a reef dive in the keys and only snorkeled in Hawaii. The snorkeling was great, so I was curious about diving. The keys were remarkable but driving from Fort Lauderdale Or Miami to the Keys can be a pain.

---------- Post added January 27th, 2015 at 10:36 PM ----------

Great response! Thanks for being helpful. You gave me just the info I was searching for. I am making a trip to the Miami area and plan on going to West Palm Beach. I'll check out the operator you mentioned. Thanks!

---------- Post added January 27th, 2015 at 10:43 PM ----------

Great response! Thanks for being helpful. You gave me just the info I was searching for. I am making a trip to the Miami area and plan on going to West Palm Beach. I'll check out the operator you mentioned. Thanks!
 
In Florida you dive on someone else's schedule, someone else's choice of sites, and according to someone else's dive plan. The options for anything else are few from what I can tell - not that the diving isn't great even so. In Hawaii you pay 50%-100% more for a boat trip if you want to do the same thing. In the Keys, at least, you pay a little more for lodging, and to my taste the ambiance is inferior. And then, there're the biting insects... There's also little to no attractive shoreside snorkeling, in sharp contrast to Hawaii where the options for good to great shore diving and snorkeling are numerous.

The Florida reefs and wildlife are amazing to me. There is abundant fish life and some great concentrations of coral in Hawaii, but it's ... austere ... by comparison, all hard coral, and most sites are fairly sparse of coral.
 
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