Hello from Florida!

[Haegon]

Hey everyone. My name is Josh, a newbie scuba diver from the Central Florida area. I began scuba diving in August 2010 after watching my brother rant and rave about how much fun it was. All the banter piqued my curiosity, so I began the two-weekend certification to dive into the wild blue yonder. After finishing my certification course in Ft. Lauderdale and returning to reality in Central Florida, I haven't touched a BCD or regulator since. It has now been 2 years and I am incredibly eager to strap some scuba gear on my back and get acquainted with some fishies, friendly or otherwise.

I have found my way to these forums in effort to learn more about scuba and hopefully make some friends. With that being said, I don't bite, send me a message sometime; I like talking with personalities I have something in common with.

 

[DMDavid]

Josh, you have two unique dive locations in Central Florida.
The first one is my former employer Mickey Mouse, you can dive at EPCOT.
The second location is Blue Spring State Park just off I-4.

 

[Haegon]

Hey DMDavid, thanks for the pointers; I didn't know you could dive at EPCOT! One of my friends is a Dive Specialist there, but I thought it was more of a behind-the-scenes type gig. I am definitely going to check out Blue Spring State Park, as I have been looking for some land-locked dive spots.

Where do you recommend to go for diving out in the ocean that has decent vis around the CFL area?

 

[DMDavid]

Where do you recommend to go for diving out in the ocean that has decent vis around the CFL area?

When I was living in Orlando I would do most of my diving in the Central and North Florida Springs, mainly Ginnie Springs, Paradise Springs and Blue Springs.
As for ocean diving, I would travel as far south as time permitted. In most cases I would dive out of West Palm Beach for quick weekend dive trips and the Keys if I had the time and the money available.
Unfortunately there really isn't any good ocean diving close to the Orlando area but if you're willing to drive a few hours you have the world at your fins.

Diving at Disney is fairly expensive ($175ish) but it can be very entertaining to do at least once.
For more info you can either call Disney at (407) W-DISNEY or visit the Disney website.
The NAUI website offers a 10% discount that would bring the price down to $157.50.

[video=youtube;30eJsQ5eclw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30eJsQ5eclw[/video]

The Florida Scuba Diver Facebook page posts trips to the Blue Heron Bridge whenever possible.
If you're interested in joining one of these trips to the Blue Heron Bridge in Riviera Beach just keep an eye
on the postings.
The Blue Heron Bridge is not a deep dive but a very interesting dive that is totally FREE because it is a shore dive.

I hope this helps....0p

 

[Danielle's_Dives]

welcome my friend!
We are central Florida as well. Dive Vero beach, pepper Park and Lauderdale by the sea a lot. Check out my dive blog, it will let you know local conditions and also pertinent writeups on recent dives. We will also be sponsoring a few beach cleanups and some meetups. Diving is awesome!

 

[Haegon]

Sounds great guys, thanks for the pointers!

 

[floridanewbe]

welcome to the board. i beach dive ft lauderdale bts often if your heading down that way or diving vero beach area keep in touch we have meetup groups in both areas.
richard