Diving in the Miami Florida

[rob.mwpropane]

There's only 2 shore dives in SE Florida that might be worth a tank fill and that's Lauderdale by the Sea (LBS) ust off Fort Lauderdale and Blue Heron Bridge in West Palm.

Having dived both I can tell you that LBS is hardly worth the long swimout which can take a 1/2 hr or more, sometimes battling current that can sweep a diver far along the coat requiring a long walk back the beach with gear, plus waves, lots of boat traffic, and requiring a diver to tow a flag. It's completely unnecessary to do all that when that reef is regularly visited by local dive boats. The reef itself is lackluster, but probably beats a great day at work.

Blue Heron Bridge can be more interesting, the entry is off the beach and is usually done only at high slack due to low visibility and current other times, but locals have told me they sometimes get a good dive in at times other than high slack.

I've never dove LBS, but I can't imagine 100yds to be a 1/2hr swim?

I think whenever I talk to Floridians about viz I have to keep things in perspective. A day of bad viz in FL is an amazing day of viz compared to home. I heard a guy going on and on about bad viz @ BHB..... only to find out his idea of bad is 15'

I'm sure some days are a wash at BHB, and I'm sure the current gets rough at LBS.

 

[Norrm]

I've never dove LBS, but I can't imagine 100yds to be a 1/2hr swim?.

I'm sorry, it's probably closer to 200 yards or more to the outer reef which is a better dive than the reefs close to shore.

 

[iamrushman]

it takes about 45' to 1 hr back kick to get to the ledge in LBTS....but the reef starts closer...

Lauderdale-by-the-Sea Scuba Dive Map - By The Sea Realty

 

[rob.mwpropane]

Inside Reef aka Lauderdale-by-the-Sea - Lauderdale by the Sea FL | DiveBuddy.com

Again, having not been there I can't really comment....but it's SB so I will. Are you sure your using the same size tape measure as the rest of us?

 

[Norrm]

Ok 300-450 yards swim out to the furthest reef. Final answer!

I'll admit I've never done it- I've only dived the reefs and wreck from boats, never saw any reason to go to the effort of getting there from shore, the information I got was from the same or similar sources quoted above, and I've seen divers swimming out and thought "no freaking way for me". Honestly I forgot the distance along with anything else in recent history including what I had for dinner last night.

 

[iamrushman]

just for the record...shore diving is for us poor divers ..it's cost effective.

 

[Norrm]

That makes cents.

 

[rob.mwpropane]

just for the record...shore diving is for us poor divers ..it's cost effective.

YES! I have the wife convinced that shore dives are better because they're easier and we can take our time... truth be told I'm a poor diver and most dives I go on are double (because she's my buddy), lol.

 

[jadairiii]

Shore diving is possible from Miami north to Boca. In Ft Lauderdale area you can shore dive just north of Port Everglades past LBTS. It is all good and, interestingly enough, pretty different. Different ledges, different corals, different drop offs. Dont get stuck in just one area. Hollywood is nice also off the beach. Plus, south of LBTS you have Oakland Twin ledges that are nice, about a 5 min swim from the end of the first reef. When I see "only two areas worth beach diving" that tells me that someone has virtually no experience shore diving in this area. Often I'll just grab my fins/mask (and torpedo float) and spend an hour or two free diving up and down the coast.

Tech is amazing, wreck from 300' to 120'. If you have a scooter, you can actually scooter to different wrecks or scooter from the deep wrecks onto the reef and other shallow wrecks. Check out the Hydro Atlantic, RBJ and the Lowrance. then you have the 100's of wrecks from 120 up to 70' range and 2nd reef, 3rd reef and the deeper areas of the 3rd reef in 115 down to 135

And if that aint enough, you have the Keys or north WPB/Jupiter area. Drift dive the Hole in the Wall. Or just drive 5 hrs into Cave Country.

And we have not even touched the West Coast!

 

[rob.mwpropane]

Shore diving is possible from Miami north to Boca. In Ft Lauderdale area you can shore dive just north of Port Everglades past LBTS. It is all good and, interestingly enough, pretty different. Different ledges, different corals, different drop offs. Dont get stuck in just one area. Hollywood is nice also off the beach. Plus, south of LBTS you have Oakland Twin ledges that are nice, about a 5 min swim from the end of the first reef. When I see "only two areas worth beach diving" that tells me that someone has virtually no experience shore diving in this area. Often I'll just grab my fins/mask (and torpedo float) and spend an hour or two free diving up and down the coast.

Tech is amazing, wreck from 300' to 120'. If you have a scooter, you can actually scooter to different wrecks or scooter from the deep wrecks onto the reef and other shallow wrecks. Check out the Hydro Atlantic, RBJ and the Lowrance. then you have the 100's of wrecks from 120 up to 70' range and 2nd reef, 3rd reef and the deeper areas of the 3rd reef in 115 down to 135

And if that aint enough, you have the Keys or north WPB/Jupiter area. Drift dive the Hole in the Wall. Or just drive 5 hrs into Cave Country.

And we have not even touched the West Coast!

That sounds like my kind of diving!...except for maybe the 300' part, lol.

Do you have a link that gives a good breakdown of each site. Dive Buddy lists the 2 close to shore. There's the link posted earlier in this thread, but always looking for more in depth descriptions / directions.

Thanks for the insight.