Dive options when limited to 40 feet

[Protist]

Beach dives are an awesome choice. If your in the miami/plantation/fort lauderdale/Pompano beach area, I could show you some great locations.

 

[Amphiprion]

I don't recall having a depth limitation on my junior c card when I was certified in 1988. I was a bit older (13) and was doing dives in the 80 foot range at that age.

Is this new?

 

[Kingpatzer]

Bonaire was where I took my kids for their first junior open water dives. It was a great experience.

 

[Prostar]

And for a slight change-up, try Sunrise Motel in Hoodsport, WA. You can see all kinds of interesting critters from 40 feet and up. You can wade in to waist deep and see lots of life just by putting your face in the water. (Mask suggested)

 

[gcs118]

Thanks all for the advice - I think Key Largo it will be

I did Key Largo/Tavernier earlier this year. Tavernier is just a few miles outside of official Key Largo and has some good operators working the same sites as well. My top recommendations after my first visit for shallow dives are Molasses Reef (35 ft.), Fire Coral Cave (27 ft.) and Pickles (28 ft.). Also good (but not quite as good) were Spanish Lady (21 ft.) and Pete's Reef (17 ft.).

Also as previously mentioned...deeper wrecks are good as well for those qualified

Enjoy your dive trip!

 

[bottomfeeder22]

Key Largo!

 

[SandyRobinson]

Key Largo - Molasses, French, Carysfort, City of Washington, Mikes Wreck, Dry Rocks, Christ of the Abyss are just a few dives in less than 40 feet - some as shallow as 8 to 10.

Normally I would recommend Silent World. They visit lot of shallow dive sites and some deeper sites. If you use them, make sure they know your depth limitations for each day of diving. Someone else can probably recommend some other operators or you can search the forum.

Hope a trip works out for you soon.

 

[KentFromPGH]

It has been a while but my wife and I dove for almost one week on sites at Looe Key, FL. Nothing below 40ft. there and the finger/groove formations were nice.

 

[Saint4429]

Another vote for Bonaire. Not only do you have the great diving at limited depths, but you don't have any additional pressure from the boat or other divers. This gives you and your daughter a lot of flexibility. It's a great place to build comfort and experience.

 

[DiveBen]

My 16 year old son and I dove Key Largo for the first time the last weekend of July. We dove the Spiegel Grove (twice), the Benwood, and French Reef (over a two day weekend). French Reef was no deeper than about 33 feet. We had a really nice time diving that reef, which had much to see in terms of sea life and "landscape". There are a number of other really popular reefs in Key Largo to choose from. If we had more time, we would have dove some others also, but we are from Orlando, and needed to get home after the weekend.
I did a lot of research concerning who to dive with. What I found is that there are a fair number of good choices, each with a loyal following and with good reviews. For me, since it seemed that most had reportedly very good crews, it came down to ammenities. My three final choices were Silent World, as mentioned above, Quiessance (not sure I spelled it correctly) and Keys Diver. Keys Diver won, since they have a larger boat (smoother over waves), which included a head. I drink a lot of water, and so the head mattered to me (insert the Pee in your wetsuit comment here. LOL). The others did not have a head on their smaller boat. Keys Diver was very friendly and welcoming, and I thought the crew was awesome (especially dive master Kim. She was awesome to talk to).

Have Fun, and dive safe. I hope having your child as a buddy is much of a blast for you, as it is for me.