Suggestion for op Lauderdale area

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adurso

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My wife and daughter will be visiting the West Palm area the first week of March and are looking for diving opportunities. They are both AOW about 100 dives. They want to do drift dives. Any suggestions are appreciated
 
You can't go wrong with American Dream II. They run a great operation. Large boat that doesn't get filled up. Great crew. And great drift dives.
 
I just got back last week. I went with South Florida Diving Headquarters. They're in Pompano Beach, not too far from West Palm.

South Florida Diving Headquarters

They have all types of dives, including drift reef dives (I went on 3 drift reef dives and one wreck dive while I was there).

I have a few photos uploaded from those dives. I'm still working on the others that I took, and will probably upload some more.

But, you should definitely check them out! Super nice people, lots of different options for diving!
 
If you'll be in Palm Beach county, don'y forget to look up Scubaboard's own ScubaKevDm. at http://www.diveboyntonbeach.com/.

Ditto.
I'm not sure why you'd want to drive to Broward County (Fort Lauderdale / Pompano) when the drift diving and reefs are better in Palm Beach County.
 
Ditto.
I'm not sure why you'd want to drive to Broward County (Fort Lauderdale / Pompano) when the drift diving and reefs are better in Palm Beach County.

The drift reef diving available with South Florida Dive Headquarters, in Pompano, is very good. Plus, from what I was able to make out, after checking out all three sites (including the one I suggested) was that South Florida Dive Headquarters (the one I suggested) had the most options of dives. The others seemed to only have one or two dives scheduled per day. Not much choice, if you ask me.
 
Plus, Pompano is straight down I95 from West Palm. Only a 40 minute drive. Yeah, 40 minutes may seem like a lot. But honestly, it's really not much, when you think about it. Turn on the tunes, open the windows and just enjoy thinking about the dive ahead, or the one you're just returning from!
 
Adruso,

I gave one suggestion, from my own personal experience with that one suggested operation. Others gave their's. Look into them all. Then make the decision you want. I hope your wife and daughter enjoy their trip to Florida. And I'd love to hear what their thoughts were on the dive operation they decided to go with.
 
Well, perhaps we locals are only yocals, but I know what I like, and I LOVE the Boynton reefs. Having been out with all the ops mentioned, some have fantastic boats (American Dream), some aren't so fancy. And yes, while I'm paying for a boat ride, I would much prefer that boat to drop me on the best reefs possible. I find those in Boynton Beach. I've been diving those reefs (20 miles north of home), for over 20 years now, and whenever I decide to give the local reefs (only minutes from the house) a try, I usually end up disappointed. They tend to be over dove, with more damage to the reefs, and much less relief and fish life. Boynton never disappoints me. What can I say? I know what I like, and won't settle for second best.
 
Brian,

So, quick question ... have you tried out all three dive operations that were mentioned so far? If not, then maybe you do know jack**** about the one I recommended.

Yes, I've dove with **most** of the operators in SFL and definitely the three mentioned so far. In fact, Captain Dicky Beard (and owner Jeff Torode) of SFDH, Captain Todd Rogers of ADII, and Kevin of at Dive Boynton Beach are all on speed dial on my cell phone.

Palm Beach reef diving is almost exclusively done as drift diving whereas Broward County has better wreck diving. For the record, I was born and raised here in Broward County and if they'd asked about wreck diving, my answer would be different.

Now, since the OP asked about drift diving, I gave what I feel is the most appropriate answer to his question and hopefully saved them some driving time on I-95 (since driving on I-95 is a heckofalot more dangerous than the diving will be).
 
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https://xf2.scubaboard.com/community/forums/cave-diving.45/

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