First dive in Florida

[sportxlh]

I lived in SE for almost 10 years until mid 2016 when i moved to Atlanta. December's can be gorgeous for diving or absolutely terrible: you just never know...... winter wind and marine conditions can vary year to year (and day to day) but are usually more unpredictable than summer and fall.


I love Jupiter drift diving, most of my dives are Jupiter and WPB drifts, so I don't disagree with Sheeper. However, now that I live in Georgia, when I think of a dive vacation, I head to the Keys if I'm heading to south Florida. There's no place quite like it..... I've made 7 dive trips to south Florida since I moved to ATL and all of them have been to the Keys since I enjoy the topside environment and atmosphere so much. I even have numerous dives left on a trip card at a Jupiter operator (so would be diving for no current out-of-pocket cost), yet I choose the Keys time after time. It's a great place to hang out, for me at least

 

[PSUSciDiver]

Florida winters = rough seas, bring your sea legs.

If your driving down the coast I'd stop and dive the blue heron bridge for sure.

 

[whiteoakcanyon]

I very highly recommend Quiescence Dive Shop out of Key Largo. I have been diving with them during the Memorial Day weekend and they are outstanding. They have a maximum of six divers on the boat. You move to the back of the boat and they bring your tank and BC to you. This prevents people from trying to walk in the boat with their tank and BC potential falling and injuring themselves or someone else in the boat. All of their Boat Captains are also instructors so they are very knowledgeable. They fill up quick so if you want to use them call soon to book.

Happy Diving

 

[Johnoly]

... anybody care to comment on what kind of weather....

For Jupiter Fl, My December (only) history

Year.............Num of Dives

2016..............18
2015...............9
2014...............9
2013..............zero

Just me, but December's big animals and excellent harvest is an outstanding month. It's January that I have a problem with.......

 

[CryHavoc]

Oh yeah, if you are driving and don't want to go so far, Panama City Beach diving is decent. Not as good as southeast Florida or the Keys but still fun. The wrecks and bridge spans have lots of Goliath grouper. I like Panama City Divers and Divers Den. I'll be diving with Scubatech out of Destin in a couple of weeks: I've heard good things about them

I dove with Scuba Tech for 4 days over Memorial Day weekend. While the conditions were less than optimal, they provided a very good dive experience. Triplets was one of my favorite dives of the trip. The bridge rubble were good dives too.

 

[Imbodie]

Howdy from Katy, Texas. Wife and I are hooking up the 5th wheel for a trip to Florida in December. Since I have never had a dive in Florida, I was looking for some recommendations. We will have a week in Florida.

Thanks

Sadly Florida is a VERY LARGE STATE (sorta like Texas) so you will spend a good amount of time driving... no matter HOW you do it. Couple of things...

1. Do you HAVE to dive salt??

2. Do you HAVE to dive the keys??

The first thing you have to do is decide if either of the two things on the list are a MUST DO... Then you can lay out a pretty good plan... I would say not to worry about heading down into the KEYS... first off in December it wont be cheap to park a TT anywhere in FL.. so I would do something like first 2 days dive the springs of N Florida(blue grotto/devils den/Manatee Springs/Fanning Springs) ... 2 days diving at Lauderdale by the Sea and Blue Heron Bridge and a last day diving at Ginnie Springs (easy way to clean all that salt off your gear).

Blue Grotto and Manatee Springs both have RV parking (might want to get it scheduled sooner rather than later) Blue Grotto is a commercial affair, Manatee Springs is a state park. I don't know what you would do for RV parking down south, but would do a bit of research and find an RV park between the two (lauderdale by the sea and BHB) rather than camping within minutes of either (less than an hour apart, so if in middle.. 30 minutes either way)

You could literally spend the entire week in N Florida and never hit the salt water... on that note if you are also trying to be real tourists... you HAVE to stop in at Ellie Schiller Wildlife park in Hommosassa Springs and see a mermaid show at Weeki Wachee... you could do both in a day if you were camped near them... LOTS of RV parks in Homossasa and Weeki Wachee is only 30 miles south (maybe less). Crystal River is only 10 miles north of Homossassa and several dive shops would be very happy to take you to Rainbow River for a fairly long drift dive (shallow and long).

If you want to have a more detailed discussion about this... send me a PM...

 

[Imbodie]

PenneKamp in Islamorada is probably the best overall in my opinion BUT, you will be paying for being in the Keys. My go-to places however are anywhere from Stuart south. Blue Heron Bridge (there's a thread on the board here) is renowned. Jupiter/Riviera/ West Palm Beach all offer some really good diving.

a VERY OFTEN overlooked dive is off the swim beach at PenneKamp, there is a 30' trench there that costs nothing to dive except admission to the park. The viz isn't the greatest, but was better than the lakes in Arkansas

Have you tried Lauderdale by the Sea?? next time I go I'm renting a scooter from one of the local shops... the swim out to the first reef is a killer if you are not use to ocean diving... I LOVED the fact that it was not tide based like BHB and you can dive any time you want to get in the water.

 

[Imbodie]

Oh, one more thing...you're talking December, winter. I don't go that time of year; anybody care to comment on what kind of weather & water temp.s/conditions are typical at the places we've been talking about that time of year? It won't be so much fun if you get 'blown out' 3 or 4 days.

Richard.

Don't know that much about weather... BUT water temps when I have gone have been 73 to 78... and I ONLY dive SE Florida in the winter... 85 degree water is TOO hot for me...

 

[EYGarth Huett]

Sorry for late reply to all. Several great ideas and advice. Thank you all

 

[Rred]

Richard, in the winter it can drop to a frigid 72F instead of the usual 80F.
To Southern divers, that can be incredibly cold. To Northern divers? I mean, really, it still beats 55F.(G)
A knit cap or hood to wear when on the surface is advisable (like the red watch cap Cousteau used to wear) because the surface temps and wind can be quite chilling though.