Diving a Florida Pier?

[certainmisuse]

Are there any where diving or snorkeling is actually allowed? It's unequivocally: STAY 300' AWAY! These are a hotbed for marine life as is indicated by the live transmission below, or the article a few months back in the SCUBA magazine regarding diving Ft. Lauderdale's pier, for example. Furthermore, Is it restricted purely for safety reasons? Minor rant off.


Thanks.

--
David

 

[RyanT]

It's not a pier, but Blue Heron Bridge is great, and legal.

Given the amount of fishing I see from piers, I'd give it a second thought even if it were legal. I understand where you are coming from though, there would likely be some fun, easy diving available if they were accessible.

 

[certainmisuse]

It's not a pier, but Blue Heron Bridge is great, and legal.

Given the amount of fishing I see from piers, I'd give it a second thought even if it were legal. I understand where you are coming from though, there would likely be some fun, easy diving available if they were accessible.

Yeah, I agree regarding the fishing aspect. I'm headed to Blue Heron in a few weeks!

 

[The Chairman]

It's all about timing. We wanted to dive a pier near St Augustine (?) back in the 70s. The owner said no, then he was reminded by an employee of a major rod lost the day before. We even got to do a giant stride (not recommended), found several rods and had a blast. So couch it as a clean up or the like and they may let you meander among the pilings.

 

[CuzzA]

Are you sure you're not confusing diving and spearfishing.

 

[iamrushman]

sometime it's allowed when the pier is closed or as they said above when is time to clean it up.

 

[certainmisuse]

Are you sure you're not confusing diving and spearfishing.

I'm a scuba diver and a freediver, so I would be fine with either one really.

 

[Nathan Doty]

Most piers I've seen in my limited experience are closed for safety reasons because of the fisherman above. They'll close the pier to fishing for a day for underwater cleanup from time to time though.

I've done blue heron 2 or 3 times, none of them were good dives. Single digit viz every time. But the videos looked REALLY good for a shore dive.

 

[DeepSeaExplorer]

Dania Beach pier used to have an annual cleanup dive. They would close the pier and allow divers to go in and pluck the fishing hardware.