Thinking of a diving road trip later this year

[willo]

I have a killer camping setup but the wife has committed to too much stuff again.
So, I'm planning a sort of mostly solo trip with my 5th wheel camper. I'll have a full bath, kitchen, etc so I can generally avoid people.
I also get to work remotely, which means that I can take my time. I can avoid crazy long driving days.
I am setup for off grid camping when I can get it - I'm adding a ton of solar and have a nice battery bank. I probably have enough tankage for a week with just myself, will figure that out as I use my camper more.

I live in Colorado, but am thinking of heading out east and working my way down the coast.
I'm liking the idea of the outer banks for a week then working my way down toward the Keys. I'm thinking it would be amazing to experience and compare the differences along the coast line.
After that I suppose I can work up along the gulf coast and circle back through Texas and then head back up to Colorado.

I'm very interested in good operations all along the coast. Other than some general goals, I'm not too set on anything in particular.

 

[txgoose]

My limited experience:
-Jupiter FL,
Jupiter Dive Center was very well run. Organized. Primarily drift dives along reef ledges. Larger boats. One nice trip with them. No complaints.
-Key Largo FL,
Quiescence is nearly valet type service. Primarily Reef dives but will also do the Spiegel Grove and some smaller wrecks. Small Six packs. Multiple visits back with them. No complaints.
-Venice FL, Meg Tooth/Fossil Diving:
Aristakat Charters, Capt Jamie is a great guy. Has a well run operation. Two tank trips. Six pack size cat. We have done one trip with Jamie. No complaints.
Aquanutz, Capt Mike, also a great guy. Also nearly valet level service. Three tank trips. Same money as Aristakats but they subsidize their earnings looking for Meg teeth themselves. Captain and two deck hands rotate their dives, but there could be a brief time when the boat is unmanned. So you trade an extra hour+ underwater and knowledge that they are putting you where they can earn extra money by finding teeth, for a small time window when the boat may not have staff on board. You just have to decide where your comfort level is. Six pack sized cat. We have done one trip with Mike. No complaints.
-Panama City Beach FL,
Panama City Dive Center. Primarily wreck/artificial reef dives. Multiple visits back with them. Larger boats although rarely packed. Always had good service. The one night dive we did with them was a bit of a letdown. They took us to a somewhat small feature that didn't seem to attract much. But got to see my only squid on that dive, and they served burgers during the SI. If we do another night dive in PCB, we'll ask for a bridge span or other comparable sized wreck. That said, we have have some really great experiences with PCDC. I don't see any need to change operations due to a great track record.

 

[myshadeofred]

Beaufort NC...I liked diving with Discovery Diving, but prefer to call way in advance to get on the Captain's Lady...only max 6 divers.

 

[Marie13]

Great Lakes if you can handle the cold!

 

[willo]

Heh, the lakes aren't quite on the list. I was supposed to go to nassau in a week, but I need to reschedule that. As it is, the loop I'm thinking of is a good 5500 miles.

 

[Trailboss123]

If you are going to dive out of Jupiter, as suggested previously, and you should; then in the same neighborhood heading south from there you have West Palm Beach drift diving (recommend Narcosis and Best Scuba Diving in Florida - Palm Beach - Walker’s Dive Charters ).
Then down to Boynton Beach and I can recommend Loggerhead. Also, while in West Palm, you have outstanding shore dive at Blue Heron Bridge. In Key Largo, another good operator is Horizon Divers.