First Time Ocean Dive planned in West Palm

[tzierdt]

Hello,
I am new to the boards and have had my certification for a year. I have not logged an ocean dive, mostly lake dives. I am a college student marine science major, so I would really enjoy seeing a variety of wildlife, corals, megafauna, etc. I have been doing research and am looking for a company to dive with that will provide everything except wetsuit, mask, and fins for a good price. I was also wondering what sites are the best to go to and anything else I may need to know. I am going to Jupiter, FL in March and want to get a few dives logged and maybe get a few good pictures in as well. Any guidance to a new diver would be much appreciated.

 

[djtimmy77]

For your first ocean dives I'd recommend doing a reef/reef trip in West Palm prior to Jupiter, as it is shallower. You'll get a lot more time on your dives and you'll have some easier dives to introduce you to ocean diving.

 

[sportxlh]

Hello,
I am new to the boards and have had my certification for a year. I have not logged an ocean dive, mostly lake dives. I am a college student marine science major, so I would really enjoy seeing a variety of wildlife, corals, megafauna, etc. I have been doing research and am looking for a company to dive with that will provide everything except wetsuit, mask, and fins for a good price. I was also wondering what sites are the best to go to and anything else I may need to know. I am going to Jupiter, FL in March and want to get a few dives logged and maybe get a few good pictures in as well. Any guidance to a new diver would be much appreciated.

There are a lot of good operators in the WPB and Jupiter area. When I first got back into diving 2 years ago, I used the following op...

Welcome to The Scuba Club, America's Only Country Club For Scuba Divers in West Palm Beach, FL

They send several dive masters down with each dive and are very very safety oriented. They do a lot of single tank dives, hence I don't tend to go out with them much anymore, but if I get a Friday off of work, I still will join them on one of the their two tank dives. I also did my Advance Open Water cert with the shop.

I also agree with djtimmy about doing your initial ocean drift dives in WPB instead of Jupiter

 

[danvolker]

Hello,
I am new to the boards and have had my certification for a year. I have not logged an ocean dive, mostly lake dives. I am a college student marine science major, so I would really enjoy seeing a variety of wildlife, corals, megafauna, etc. I have been doing research and am looking for a company to dive with that will provide everything except wetsuit, mask, and fins for a good price. I was also wondering what sites are the best to go to and anything else I may need to know. I am going to Jupiter, FL in March and want to get a few dives logged and maybe get a few good pictures in as well. Any guidance to a new diver would be much appreciated.

I have broken down the types of dives and the different kinds of marine life you would find on each one ; go to www.sfdj.com and go through the Zone articles.
My personal favorites are in Jupiter and Juno, but as others have suggested, it can be more advanced than some of the almost aquarium style dives off of Palm Beach, such as Breakers Reef. If you go out with Jupter Dive Center, you can rest assurred you will be with a top notch operator with a great shop for all of your rental needs. If it will be Jupiter that you begin with, just make sure you let them know your experience level with several days or a week of advance notice, and they should be able to put you on some perfect dives for you.

 

[DiverDean59]

I would recommend checking out Bahamas & Palm Beach, Florida Scuba Diving :: Jim Abernethy's Scuba Adventures in the West Palm Beach Area. Great group of people. We went last year and had a blast. We had about 4 to 5 different guides that week and all of them were great. Have fun.

 

[wilz]

call me if you want to gab about your options 561-886-8925
Wil

 

[mwalsh787]

Welcome, tzierdt! Glad to see someone else from SC on the Board

I did a dive with Underwater Explorers in Boynton Beach and was really pleased with them and with thier approach. There is a really good book that details dive sites in Florida called "Underwater Florida". My local dive shop had it for about $20.00. I found it worth a persusal pre and post dive.

If you're just getting into the ocean for the first time, I might start off with Scuba Club. They are a very safety oriented op and have a great reputation. I may also start out with a shallow reef dive to get a feel for the kind of diving that exists in that area. In my experience, it is mostly drift diving and you'll want an operation that is very oriented towards safety and making the experience a fun and safe one for you.

You will absolutely love the marine life you'll see and as someone who is studying marine biology, you'll appreciate the diversity that area offers.

Good luck, have fun and stay safe!

Mike