Southeast Florida can be tough, particularly late fall, winter, and early spring. The Keys have always seemed more benign, but not without their own rough seas. This is one reason Southeast Florida has not become a real diving destination, especially, outside of the summer season. This is particularly hard on visitors, who may be locked into a single location and/or operator and do not know the area well.
Over the years, I have developed a strategy that works quite well and allows me to get out whenever it is possible. The inlets are not all the same. The Boynton inlet is very narrow and relatively shallow, making it very sensitive to big seas. The Jupiter inlet is intermediate and the West Palm inlet is big, wide, and deep. I mainly use 5 operators, 3 in Boynton, 1 in Jupiter, and 1 in West Palm. If I can't get out in Boynton, I can sometimes get out in Jupiter. If I can't get out in Jupiter I can get out in West Palm if the conditions are doable. If I can't get out in West Palm, sometimes I can still do the Blue Heron Bridge. If none of those are available, well, I ride my bike to the Boynton Inlet and watch the breaking waves and big swells. Sometimes brave, or something else, boaters, make for exciting entertainment.
This season has been particularly hard, all the operators I use can't remember a tougher year. So far this year, I've dived 21 of 26 days in 4 visits and have gotten in 43 dives. I've not yet dived the BHB this year. Of course, there are some caveats. Many of the trips have been in relatively rough seas, I have seen many seasick divers. I've spent a lot of energy trying to not fall down and have been exhausted on some days. It has also been cool and windy, a good boat coat has been a necessity. Of course, I have also escaped frigid temperatures and snow at home in Philadelphia, there's always a bright side
Good diving, Craig
Yeah...but. You have a home in Boynton. Easy for you.
My point is that it's almost not worth planning an actual vacation DIVE trip to SF. I've done that too many times and ended up spending yet another morning staring at helmets at the History of Scuba Diving Museum. A pity because despite the immense size of the continental USA,, there's nowhere else that offers warm water tropical diving. (Although in about 50 years, we could all be diving Collins Ave in Miami).
