Is Southeast Florida diving affected by the VIRUS?

[Divin'Papaw]

With more and more charters ceasing operations for a period of time, my guess is that it will become more and more likely that the remainder will (1) not want to take the legal risk of continued operation and (2) not want to risk the optics of appearing to be insensitive or worse. There are a few boats still running but by this weekend my guess is that all commercial scuba charters will cease operations in south Florida for awhile. That is purely my guess, that is all. Not my wish nor a prediction, just my hunch based upon how this is playing out.

 

[OceanEyes]

Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez issues statement concerning further restrictions, announcing shutdown of boat ramps and marinas
MIAMI ( March 21, 2020 ) —
Effective immediately, all boat ramps at Miami-Dade County parks will be closed until further notice. All marinas will be closed to all boating activities, with the exception of commercial fishermen who provide food for restaurants and markets. In addition, I am ordering the closure of all boat ramps and marinas countywide. And, the Miami-Dade Police Department will be out on the waters, ramping up enforcement of my "no rafting up" order to keep large group parties from taking place.

I am disappointed to see photos and videos on social media of boats close together and large groups of people congregating. And, to see this "sandbar party" flier circulating all over South Florida is truly disheartening, but mostly worrisome. We are in a state of emergency, and I cannot stress enough the need for personal responsibility. Current guidelines call for gatherings to be limited to groups of 10 or fewer. These sacrifices in our social lives are critical NOW in order to defeat COVID-19. Those of you not following these guidelines are putting others at risk, perhaps your own family and friends. And, you could be contributing to a much longer scenario and further shutdowns in our community.

 

[bilsant]

I believe that al the counties in SE FL are now either closed to tourists, or have closed all non-essential businesses.

Commercial boats are allowed to use the marinas to permit seafood to come in to supply restaurants and food stores - so I doubt that would include dive operators.

 

[Catito]

Hello, perhaps this thread can be useful not only for me but others who may have plans to travel to Florida from out of state in the next few months.

We're booked for diving in Southeast Florida at the end of April and we're wondering how our plans may be affected. We rented a VRBO vacation home and have not yet contacted the host to see if she's going to allow us to cancel and get back our $2200 paid in full. The stated policy for this property is no cancelations outside of 60 day and VRBO is being no help whatsoever to travelers except they have posted that they "encourage property owners to refund travelers upon request".

That much being said not only do we not want to lose our money, but we'd still like to dive, but who knows if dive operations will still be running and if there will be business closures as there are in other parts of the country and outside the country?

So if anyone in Florida or anyone planning a trip to Florida has any news or updates regarding the situation there, please post here.

Thank you.

Live here. Went out Sunday (lovely). Most dive ops now shut down for 15 days. Very sad situation.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

I live here too. We have a place on both the west coast (Bonita Springs) and the east coast (Boca Raton). I work in Boca but we split time between both coasts. The weather has been just drop dead gorgeous for a few weeks and that looks to continue. Spring is just beautiful down here! I choose to focus on the positives. No diving for the near future but lots of other things to enjoy while anally observing social distancing and hygiene.

 

[tekkydiver]

Live here. Went out Sunday (lovely). Most dive ops now shut down for 15 days. Very sad situation.

You were right about Sunday. Started out a little bumpy but it layed down by mid morning and jt was stellar out there. Saw the Diversity and one other six pack boat but that was it. Plenty of boats out fishing. Looking forward to going out again this weekend.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

All dive charters are now officially shut down in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties per county executive orders. This applies to fishing charters as well. Palm Beach County is the only notice I read thoroughly. Diversity shared it on their facebook page. The only exception is commercial fishing boats. All recreational charters are shut down.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Copied from the Diveboat Diversity public facebook page:

 

[tekkydiver]

Travelers from coronavirus hot spots in the New York Tri-state area will NOT be screened at Palm Beach International Airport. Someone 'splain that one to me.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Travelers from coronavirus hot spots in the New York Tri-state area will NOT be screened at Palm Beach International Airport. Someone 'splain that one to me.

Turf war and we are the ones that will suffer for it.