South FL diving between Christmas and New Year's?

[stuartv]

My g/f and I may take off from Christmas to New Year's and drive down to south FL to go diving. In which case, we could go basically anywhere.

Any suggestions on a location and dive operator? Or, if the suggestion is for shore diving, suggestions on a location and either a guide or a shop that could advise us on the local conditions?

She likes diving in the Keys. I have not dived in the Keys, so that is sort of where I'm leaning. But, I looked at the website for Rainbow Reef, whom she has been out with before, and I don't really like that they sort of expect you to just follow their guide and they seem to be pretty firm on 1 hour from end of dive brief to finished with the dive. I would prefer to dive with someone that will let us do our own dive, if we want, and stay down as long as our air permits. My g/f said when she went with them before, she was almost always having to get out with a lot of air left.

 

[Randy g]

Get ahold of Jim Wyatt. Great guy, a capt in the Keys and crewed on the Speigle Grove. Look him up on the florida section. You wont regret it.

And Merry Christmas and a wet new year.

 

[Superlyte27]

Agree with above. I actually thought about doing a trip with him right around Christmas. If you have some time/money or inclination an advanced wreck course with Jim would show you parts of the Spiegel most never get to see. He lived on that ship before it sank.

 

[sheeper]

make a stop on the Treasure Coast. The Keys are real nice BUT up here we are known for BIG sea life. Sharks, Manata Rays, turtles and more.
Check out the Vero Beach Scuba Club on Facebook or Vero Beach Scuba Club - Home and join us on a trip.

The dive op i go with the most is Stuart Scuba (Stuart Scuba - Explore the Beauty of the Underwater World). They have multiple boats, outstanding crews and the most knowledgeable staff and guides on the coast.

PM me with any questions

 

[Kairoos]

What kind of diving are you looking to do? Lot of nice wreck dives here in Palm Beach, and shark dives too. As long as you carry your own dive flag, I don't see a problem finding an operator here that will let you stay down more than an hour as long as you don't go in the opposite direction as the main group!

 

[stuartv]

What kind of diving are you looking to do? Lot of nice wreck dives here in Palm Beach, and shark dives too. As long as you carry your own dive flag, I don't see a problem finding an operator here that will let you stay down more than an hour as long as you don't go in the opposite direction as the main group!

I'm game for pretty much anything. I think my g/f would prefer pretty reefs and fish. Though she did go on quite a bit about how awesome it was after she dove the Speigel Grove in September.

 

[uncfnp]

Hey Stuart. If you have ever read any of my Florida posts you probably know that I am partial to the WPB area diving.

You are driving down so you options along the east coast of SoFl from Jupiter to the Keys are wide open. Obviously the Keys would be a longer drive. If you do decide the Keys is your target I would still recomemd stopping along the way in WPB and do at least a day of boat dive and the Blue Heron Bridge. The water will be slightly cooler then in the Keys but I dont think the diference will be dramatic.

As for dives...

Jupiter - dives in the 80 to 100+ range. Nice reefs but best known for the oppotunity to see sharks. Wrecks too. Several good dive ops to choose from. Drift dives.

WPB - dives to 100 or so from the inlet north and around 50 to 60 south. Nice reefs, schools of tropicals, sharks as well. Wrecks. Saw several Bull sharks on the Princess Anne wreck this past trip. Will almost always see Nurse and reef sharks on many of the sites. Turtles and eels common. Love those drift dives!

My go to dive op there is Narcosis. Good boat, Captain and Crew. Not a concierge type boat, they expect you to know what you are doing but they will give any assistance needed if asked. They do have a 60 minute max dive time from when you drop. Typical 500 psi and no deco rules too. You can follow the guide or go your own way. Its lobster season there as well. Easy to get a license and you may bring home dinner. Boat is large but rarely too crowded. Has a large group of regulars and hunters but the hunters drop separate from the reef group. Two daily trips weekends, one weekdays and they take Mondays off. The boat is fast so from WPB they can do trips north to the Jupiter area and as far south as Horseshoe reef. Lots of variety. The boat and crew can handle "sporty seas" that may keep other boats at the dock.

And BHB is in WPB. Highly recommend and if the tide and times match and a night dive is offered there during your trip, absolutely add that to your plans.

Futher south in Boynton Beach I have heard very good things about Underwater Explorers. In Jupiter and WPB the boats drop a guide to pull the flag but here you will have to take your own flag but they advertise your air is your dive limit.

No other dive experience to add except for Islamorada and I doubt you will want to go that far south.

 

[Kairoos]

I'm game for pretty much anything. I think my g/f would prefer pretty reefs and fish. Though she did go on quite a bit about how awesome it was after she dove the Speigel Grove in September.

Governor's Riverwalk is a fun dive to do here Governor's River Walk Reef I've dove this site with Paradise Below, but there's so many charters in the area; Wetter the Better, Narcosis, Scuba Adventures, Little Deeper, and there's a lot more that go out of the Port of Palm Beach, and you can't go wrong with any of them. I would call them up tell them the dates you want to dive, the kind of dive you want, and the equipment you need and see the prices they can do for you. Business slows down a bit around this time of year, so it really depends on the demand the charters gets as to how deep they dive, and most of the wrecks here are down around 80-90.

Up in Jupiter is Emerald Charters, they do some nice shark diving. I haven't dove with them but if you look up some videos on YouTube they seem great, I plan on going out without them sometime next year.

 

[uncfnp]

Get ahold of Jim Wyatt. Great guy, a capt in the Keys and crewed on the Speigle Grove. Look him up on the florida section. You wont regret it.

And Merry Christmas and a wet new year.

Diving the Speigle with Jim Wyatt would be an incredible oppotunity. I have tried to talk Eric into taking a wreck course from Jim since they seemed to click during Cavern and Eric has expressed some interest in wrecks but no luck yet.

 

[Randy g]

I plan on doing a advanced wreck course with Jim in the future. I enjoyed doing my cavern training with him. No one I would rather do it with, for sure. Maybe we can all hit it togather in the future Lisa.