Diving in Florida???

[suzi]

I am a new diver from San Antonio, TX. I am going to Florida in 2 weeks. We are thinking of diving in Destin, Jacksonville and West Palm Beach. Do you know of good dive tours in these areas or do you know of better places in Florida to dive? I don't have any information about diving in Florda. If you have any information that would help, please let me know. THANK YOU!

 

[pdoege]

Check out the Conch Divers sections for lots of trip reports in FL.

I've posted a lot of W. Palm reports and many others have as well.

In general, the more south, the better.

Peter Doege

 

[Padipro]

I've lived in Ft. Lauderdale for about 5 years so I can tell you about this area. It's one of the best diving spots in South FLA. We have numerous wrecks that range from 30 feet and very easy to over 130 feet and very advanced as well as miles of reef with abundant marine life. There seems to be a dive shop on nearly every corner that run trips every day of the week, some several every day. I've dove all over the world and many places around the US, including Ft. Lauderdale before I moved here, and when I had the chance to move down here I jumped at it because of the diving.

This is a list of some of the dive operations in the local area. If you want more info you might call several of them and talk to the captian about the trips they do as well as prices. My personal favorite is Pro Dive. I dive with them all the time and their crew IMO is one of the most professional I've ever met. Dive Boat List.

Florida SCUBA News

Hope this helps.

Scott

 

[Stone]

suzi once bubbled...
We are thinking of diving in Destin, Jacksonville and West Palm Beach.

If the weather is looking good, I would head straight for Ft Lauderdale/Pompano Beach (skipping Jax, West Palm, and Destin). Many good operators, and a reef system that allows new divers some good 60 ft and less reef time (and "creature encounters").

Even though we live near Destin, we do our "local" vacations between Pompano and the upper keys.

However, Destin can be perfect if there is a hurricane in south Florida.

 

[MantaRey]

I dive at the scuba club in west palm. great place, boat is on premises, all rental gear, the people are nice, and very close to the inlet. it's just convenient. great drift diving in palm beach. the only downside is that they do one tank dives.

here's their site:
www.thescubaclub.com

 

[seadog]

Almost anywhere from Jupiter south and you can find good to great diving. I'm partial to the WPB area. Lots of good OPs.

 

[metaldector]

Check out Florida fresh water springs. Vortex in the panhandle, Ginnie at Lake City, and Blue Spring, in Central Flordia. You could also buy Ned Delouches Book on Diving Florida sold at most Flordia Dive shops. It list by area all the local diving, and many dive operators. Anyway, stay wet!

 

[Wendy]

metaldector once bubbled...
Check out Florida fresh water springs. Vortex in the panhandle, Ginnie at Lake City, and Blue Spring, in Central Flordia. You could also buy Ned Delouches Book on Diving Florida sold at most Flordia Dive shops. It list by area all the local diving, and many dive operators. Anyway, stay wet!

Ginnie Springs is located in High Springs, FL, just outside of Alachua.


If you are driving on this trip I would suggest going anywhere between Jupiter and Ft. Lauderdale and then hit one of the springs on your drive home. That way you can do a fresh water gear rinse on your gear.

 

[underwaterFL]

For info on the Florida Springs visit:

www.underwaterflorida.homestead.com/springs.html

For a DVD of popular Florida Springs visit:

www.underwaterflorida.homestead.com/dvd.html

 

[Alltemp1]

I live and dive in Florida. Someone has already told you to check out Conch republic in the Keys. They are just South of Key Largo in a town called Tavenier. Good group of people. Very skillful, professional and still let you have fun. I love West Palm. I use an operation called Dive Solutions. Downside to them is cash only at dock side. Generally $50 for two dives. Very professional. If you get a girl named Mary as one of the dive Masters try to get in her group. She is a human underwater GPS. Good luck. Al