Favorite Ocean/Reef/Wreck Dive in Florida

[KKing]

Planning a surprise Anniversary weekend trip in early November. Looking for some favorite spots in Florida - not Springs as we have been to many of them already and we are itching to go diving in the ocean again.
I'm wanting to stay within a few hours of the Tarpon Springs area.

I have an open water cert and my husband is Advanced with Nitrox and then some. I want to be able to dive together but if he also has an option to go on an additional dive to deeper waters that would be awesome.

I've searched a bit online and the panhandle sounds great as well as West Palm but there are so many places to choose from.

 

[Trigger-F]

Go to Pompano Beach / Lauderdale by the Sea for some shore diving(least expensive option and the reefs are in good shape). You can also dive the deeper reefs..see link.

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[scubadada]

I would recommend the reefs in Boynton Beach, consider diving with Underwater Explorers

 

[guyharrisonphoto]

If you are staying near Tarpon Springs, you are pretty far away from Florida's best ocean diving (with all due respect to my gulf coast friends!). You are way too far from the panhandle to make a day trip, and you are way too far from West Palm or the Keys as well. Ditch Tarpon Springs if diving is your priority. Also, any decent Gulf diving in the Tampa area is very far offshore (20 miles or more), and the weather in November can be very unpredictable and trash any trip you have planned.

Really, I would suggest you base yourself in either West Palm Beach or Key Largo. West Palm/Jupiter/Boynton (all the same area) have beautiful reefs between 60-90 feet and great wrecks 60 to 110 feet. Currents tend to be brisk, so the diving there is drift diving, even for the wrecks (drift on, dive, drift off and do safety stop drifting). Very easy. Overall, and this is a generality, West Palm/Jupiter have more "big animals" like turtles, sharks, and goliath grouper. The downside is that the diving is deeper, nitrox is preferred (but not required), and some people are not as comfortable drift diving, although personally it is my favorite. Also, West Palm has a unique super-easy shore dive at Blue Heron Bridge, which is very shallow and offers macro and weird critters like octopi, frogfish, scorpionfish, oddball crustaceans of all types, nudibranchs, the kinds of things I saw even in Indonesia.

The Keys reefs are even better than West Palm, and shallower for longer bottom times. Full of bright color, much more beautiful hard corals, and all kinds of tropical fish. If reefs are your thing, Key Largo is really hard to beat. Notrox not needed, at all, for the best reefs. Also, Key Largo has great wrecks with the Spiegel Grove and Bibb (these are deeper and more advanced if your husband wants to do it with nitrox). Keys diving is not drift diving, you moor at the site and go up and down a line (there are a few exceptions).

Although I do our local Ft. Lauderdale shore dives often, I would not suggest them for a "special" trip, as the reefs are nice but just not as nice as what you will see in the other spots.

The choice is yours, hope this helps.

 

[sportxlh]

For drift diving and the opportunity to see sharks, turtles, goliath grouper, big green morays, etc. check out the Jupiter area. It'd be more enjoyable if both of you were nitrox certified (maybe that is something you can get done over the summer) since the reefs can be a bit deep. However, open water air divers do the dives, but the dive time is fairly short (25 minutes vs 45-50 minutes for nitrox divers). For many non-Florida people, this is a bucket list type of dive. The only negative about Jupiter or WPB in November is that afternoon boats are not run during the week, they are only run on the weekends. The weekdays are morning runs only, for most the dive operators at least.

I like the upper Keys too: just got back from a weekend of diving in Key Largo and Islamorada. You'll get 60 minute dives on the shallow reefs and most are filled with tropical fish and are quite beautiful. Like Guy said, there are plenty of deep dives too on the wrecks and a handful of reefs, so your husband can get his deep water fix (then again, it you get your nitrox cert, you'll enjoy those dives as well). The Keys also have a funky vacation feel to it, so there are lots of restaurants, bars, etc. etc. It's fun to sit at an outside bar or restaurant on the bayside and watch the sun set over the water: especially after an enjoyable day of diving. You could also take a run down to Key West for a day or two to see the top side sights and maybe get a dive in on the Vandy wreck.

Hope you have a nice time!

 

[robandliza]

I assume you LIVE in the Tarpon Springs/Ocala area and will be travelling a few hours to base yourself elsewhere in the State rather than driving daily to dive to and from Tarpon Springs ,right?

Being a Florida Vacation Diver I concur with everything the locals above have said. During my dive vacation I now always base myself in West Palm Beach and dive from Jupiter down to Boynton ( and Kevin at Underwater Explorers in Boynton is my favourite op) BUT take heed of what they have said.
As you are going for a long weekend you are not going to get more than 3 days of diving in( and most probably just 2) and in the Jupiter to Boynton corridor you will get very little "together" dive time as you will be on air and hubby will be on nitrox. As Sportxlh said, you will be coming up after 25 mins due to the depth and also the sites may be limited as you are OW( which is max 60 ft I think?)
For this particular trip, taking into account that it is your anniversary and assuming you want to spend the time together, I would suggest the extra couple of hours drive to Key Largo. As previously stated, the reefs are much shallower so you will likely get more "together" dive time with the added likelihood of boats going out in the afternoon as well, which they probably won't in WPB
Whilst KL is ,imo, nowhere near as plush an area as WPB it is certainly "chilled" and will give a very relaxed feel to the non dive time

Another suggestion would be to stop off in WPB and dive Blue Heron Bridge on the way to or from KL. It really is a "must-do" dive but you will definitely need a guide. It is also tide dependent so if you are going to stop check out your dates at Tide Location Selection for Florida Atlantic You will need to check Port of Palm Beach in Lake Worth section

Have a nice time whatever you decide

 

[danvolker]

Planning a surprise Anniversary weekend trip in early November. Looking for some favorite spots in Florida - not Springs as we have been to many of them already and we are itching to go diving in the ocean again.
I'm wanting to stay within a few hours of the Tarpon Springs area.

I have an open water cert and my husband is Advanced with Nitrox and then some. I want to be able to dive together but if he also has an option to go on an additional dive to deeper waters that would be awesome.

I've searched a bit online and the panhandle sounds great as well as West Palm but there are so many places to choose from.

I think each of the dive ops in the Boynton Marina are going to be a great choice...you can't go wrong with any of them.
I tend to like Splashdown, because I like the regulars that we socialize with every weekend on that boat

For your interest, in finding a cool dive site....here is a video and a story, on one you might just not want to miss...
[video=youtube;ZtibrFkseJI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtibrFkseJI&[/video]

 

[guyharrisonphoto]

Dan, that's some of the best video you have posted yet!!!

Man, last year was insane. Season is almost here . . . .

 

[seadweller]

What a great video ! Thanks for sharing .

Cheers

 

[sportxlh]

Dan, that's some of the best video you have posted yet!!!. . . .

Wow, that was a very nice video!!!! I tried to do a night dive on the Castor with Guy a couple of years ago, but the current was simply too stiff so Splashdown took us to a nice reef for a drift dive. I'll have to make my way south again, this season, and give it another try.