blawler1
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As mentioned earlier, fly into Ft Lauderdale or Miami and drive down to the Marathon area. The middle Keys tend to have the cheapest lodging options during peak times.
California vs Florida
- Thread starter Locke
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Reel Crazy14
Contributor
If youre stayin in islamorada, The Islander is a good hotel right on the ocean with a fishin pier(also within walking distance of the World Wide Sportsman). I stayed up all night fishin and watchin the rays and nurse sharks swim by. Islamorada diving isnt as good as Key Largo but some operators drive to sights like the bibb, duane or spiegal. All in all, Islamorada would be my pick if wanted some topside scenery too. And dont forget to stop by Hobo's restaurant in KL, they have the best food in the keys
If you haven't already made plans -- anywhere in FLORIDA.
I live in SoCal and teach here as well. The Channel Islands are the only thing out here worth that kind of expense, but during the winter, things get a bit dicey sometimes. Even at best (following a strong Santa Ana), beach diving here is only done by hard core divers that go into withdrawals after a week out of the ocean.
Typical beach diving conditions around Christmas:
viz: 10-15ft
temp: 55df
surf: 2-4ft
surge: moderate to heavy
Channel Islands:
viz: 20-40ft
temp: 53-55df
surge: light to moderate
Hope this helps.
Squidward
I live in SoCal and teach here as well. The Channel Islands are the only thing out here worth that kind of expense, but during the winter, things get a bit dicey sometimes. Even at best (following a strong Santa Ana), beach diving here is only done by hard core divers that go into withdrawals after a week out of the ocean.
Typical beach diving conditions around Christmas:
viz: 10-15ft
temp: 55df
surf: 2-4ft
surge: moderate to heavy
Channel Islands:
viz: 20-40ft
temp: 53-55df
surge: light to moderate
Hope this helps.
Squidward
DIVERTOM
Registered
When I go to the Keys to dive I stay in Florida City at the
Comfort Inn. I tell them I'am here to do some diving and they
give me a decent room for $42 a night. The rooms are nice
and half the price of down in the Keys. It is in easy driving
distance to Key Largo where the diving is good and not to
far to Tavenier. Also it is close to the Biscayne National Park
which has some good diving, especially the Wall dive they
do on Sundays. I have some photos from my dives on my
web-site.http://divertom.net/
Diver Tom
Comfort Inn. I tell them I'am here to do some diving and they
give me a decent room for $42 a night. The rooms are nice
and half the price of down in the Keys. It is in easy driving
distance to Key Largo where the diving is good and not to
far to Tavenier. Also it is close to the Biscayne National Park
which has some good diving, especially the Wall dive they
do on Sundays. I have some photos from my dives on my
web-site.http://divertom.net/
Diver Tom
I've had 40 feet vis along the coast during the Winter. After 2-3 days of Santanas the vis improves greatly. We also have some interesting wrecks and oil rigs to dive. There are also submarine canyons to explore. There is a LOT more to diving in SoCal besides the islands.squidward:
Guys, maybe I'm biased, but to me South Florida, and more specifically, Miami is paradise. There is great diving all the way from Jupiter (West Palm Beach area) in the North, to the Keys in the South. (that's not even mentioning the fresh water springs/cave diving in Central Fla, and the diving on the Gulf side!) Though I've never dove in California, I did go to Santa Monica in AUGUST and I couldn't even put one foot in the water it was so cold...not for me. I have a couple a friends that live and dive in Cali and they don't seem to be to impressed...but who am I to say?
As far a Florida goes:
Jupiter has some good drift diving and great spearfishing.
Ft Lauderdale has good beach dives and wrecks.
There are quite a few wrecks in Miami, they have this thing called the "Wreck Trek" which is a mapped out series of wrecks all along the Miami Beach coastline.
Then, of course, you have the keys. Key Largo alone boasts enough diving to keep anyone occupied for years. Fantastic reefs, and marine life, great spearfishing, and also some really great wrecks.
There are the Coast Guard sister ships the Duane and the Bibb. Both are wonderful dives (the Bibb in on her side) and then there is the grandmama of them all: The Spiegel Grove, a 510ft Navy Ship that was sunk a couple of years ago and is the largest ship to be sunk as an artificial reef/dive site (until they sink the aircraft carrier in Northern Florida next year!!)
I dive the Spiegel 2 or 3 times a month when the weather permits. It is so massive that it's impossible to see the whole thing in one dive. There is great penetration available, some are already roped out for your convenience and safety. She lies on her side and starts out at around 55ft at the middle of the ship, and descends all the way down to 134ft. We never get tired of it.
The water temp is mid 80's in the Spring/Summer/Fall, and Mid 70's in the winter, so you don't even need a wetsuit in the summer (though I still use a 3mm to be comfortable on deep and repetitive dives) and can get away with a 3mm in the winter...in Cali I believe you need a 5-7mm in the summer and a dry suit in the winter!!!
I've been to Turks and Caicos, and Cozumel so I think I can comfortably say that the Florida Keys are a wonderful dive destination, not just in the US, and an awesome place to live.
Since I live here, I've used quite a few dive ops in town. My favorite dive op is in Key Largo and is called Amoray Dive Resort. They have nice sized boats, great crews, and nice lodging right on location. They reguarly dive the Spiegel and the Duane if you are interested in wreck dives, followed by a nice reef dive.
As far a Florida goes:
Jupiter has some good drift diving and great spearfishing.
Ft Lauderdale has good beach dives and wrecks.
There are quite a few wrecks in Miami, they have this thing called the "Wreck Trek" which is a mapped out series of wrecks all along the Miami Beach coastline.
Then, of course, you have the keys. Key Largo alone boasts enough diving to keep anyone occupied for years. Fantastic reefs, and marine life, great spearfishing, and also some really great wrecks.
There are the Coast Guard sister ships the Duane and the Bibb. Both are wonderful dives (the Bibb in on her side) and then there is the grandmama of them all: The Spiegel Grove, a 510ft Navy Ship that was sunk a couple of years ago and is the largest ship to be sunk as an artificial reef/dive site (until they sink the aircraft carrier in Northern Florida next year!!)
I dive the Spiegel 2 or 3 times a month when the weather permits. It is so massive that it's impossible to see the whole thing in one dive. There is great penetration available, some are already roped out for your convenience and safety. She lies on her side and starts out at around 55ft at the middle of the ship, and descends all the way down to 134ft. We never get tired of it.
The water temp is mid 80's in the Spring/Summer/Fall, and Mid 70's in the winter, so you don't even need a wetsuit in the summer (though I still use a 3mm to be comfortable on deep and repetitive dives) and can get away with a 3mm in the winter...in Cali I believe you need a 5-7mm in the summer and a dry suit in the winter!!!
I've been to Turks and Caicos, and Cozumel so I think I can comfortably say that the Florida Keys are a wonderful dive destination, not just in the US, and an awesome place to live.
Since I live here, I've used quite a few dive ops in town. My favorite dive op is in Key Largo and is called Amoray Dive Resort. They have nice sized boats, great crews, and nice lodging right on location. They reguarly dive the Spiegel and the Duane if you are interested in wreck dives, followed by a nice reef dive.
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