Where to dive in July? West Palm Beach or the Keys?

[RedFishBlueFish]

Hello! I'm looking to go diving in Florida the last week in July '08 and was looking for suggestions on which has better diving conditions (visibility, water temp) and more to see under the surface- West Palm Beach or the Keys. I've never been diving in Florida. I don't want to drive more than an hour from the airport though if possible. I've heard of Lantana & Islamorada but know nothing of these areas. Please help as I have to make a decision soon. Any info or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[scuba70]

I can't give you any info about the Keys because I have never been there, but WPB is great. I was there last July for a week and enjoyed some great diving. Great reefs and a couple good wrecks too. Also there is always the Blue Heron Bridge, with an incredible amount of diverse fish life. I also just spent several there in April and had a great time again. I would recommend either Pura Vida, or Narcosis to dive with. They will both take great care of you. Pura Vida runs a little smaller boat, which is a plus for some folks. A 15 minute ride from the airport, and you're ready to get in the water.

You may want to have this thread moved to the Conch Diver forum. You might get more response from some locals there.

 

[Divingguy]

You did not say where you are flying into, but if you are putting the limit of no further than 1 hour from the airport, then you have by definition excluded the keys. If you fly into Fort Lauderdale, you can dive multiple sites up and down the east coast, all easily w/in 30 mins to 1 hr. You have not filled out your profile, and did not say anything about what kind of diving you can or want to do, but there are multiple dive ops in the WPB / FLL area. I suggest you check out the Florida Conch Divers subforum. Have a great time.

 

[tvictory]

All of the diving from West Palm is drift diving, if that matters. I'd consider flying to MIA and driving to Key Largo, where there many and varied diving options.

 

[RedFishBlueFish]

I'm a newly certified diver and have only been diving in Grand Cayman. I don't recall any of the dives I did there being drift dives. Is it hard for a newbie to do drift diving? I'm interested in seeing varied marine life and reefs. I did see one wreck in the Cayman but I think I enjoyed the fish more. How far of a drive is it from MIA to Key Largo? How many days do people normally spend in Southern Florida diving? Is a week too much? I'm not ruling anyplace out yet but I did see that if I fly into West Palm Beach, I won't be too far from Lantana, Jupiter, Boynton Beach. Any thoughts? I want to book airfare by tonight.

 

[hlsooner]

My impressions:

If you Fly into Fort Lauderdale, you will have an enormous amount of shopping and nightlife at your disposal in addition to thirty or more boats between there and Palm Beach to choose for diving. There are dozens of wrecks to dive, and a fabulous three tier reef system which is perfect for drift diving and riding the current.

Key Largo will probably cost you more for lodging, everything in the Keys is more expensive. You will have plenty of boats to choose from in Key Largo. And there are all the big name wrecks if you are comfortable with 100-130' deeper dives with lots of current. The reef dives are nice, but you will probably not drift, which means navigating and swimming into currents at times.

I live in Miami so it is a short drive to either. Most times I dive out of Fort Lauderdale-Palm Beach over Key Largo unless there is a specific wreck I feel like driving down to Largo for.

Drift diving at 50' on a nice reef ledge and covering over a mile while hardly kicking at all is a great way to dive.

 

[ONESPEED]

I'm a newly certified diver and have only been diving in Grand Cayman. I don't recall any of the dives I did there being drift dives. Is it hard for a newbie to do drift diving? I'm interested in seeing varied marine life and reefs. I did see one wreck in the Cayman but I think I enjoyed the fish more. How far of a drive is it from MIA to Key Largo? How many days do people normally spend in Southern Florida diving? Is a week too much? I'm not ruling anyplace out yet but I did see that if I fly into West Palm Beach, I won't be too far from Lantana, Jupiter, Boynton Beach. Any thoughts? I want to book airfare by tonight.

Drift diving is as easy as it gets I.M.H.O., no navigating back to the boat and no doubling back over something you've already seen. Since you seem very interested in fish life I'd recommend trying Boynton Beach, it's just a little south of Palm Beach and they have one of the best dive ops you'll find: Underwater Explorers - SCUBA Diving Boynton Beach, Delray, Palm Beach, Reefs and Wrecks

 

[SoggyPretzel]

Really, you can't go wrong with either place. The conditions as far as vis and water temp will be similar in both places. Key Largo is a diving mecca for a reason, and Looe Key reef in the lower keys is one of the best reef dives in Florida IMO. Having said that, I dive with Capt Craig on the Starfish Enterprise out of Lantana pretty regularly. The Delray ledges is an excellent reef dive and just last week I did the deep (eastern) side of tumble rocks. It was an awesome dive. There are a few wrecks to choose from as well.

 

[ONESPEED]

Really, you can't go wrong with either place. The conditions as far as vis and water temp will be similar in both places. Key Largo is a diving mecca for a reason, and Looe Key reef in the lower keys is one of the best reef dives in Florida IMO. Having said that, I dive with Capt Craig on the Starfish Enterprise out of Lantana pretty regularly. The Delray ledges is an excellent reef dive and just last week I did the deep (eastern) side of tumble rocks. It was an awesome dive. There are a few wrecks to choose from as well.

I would agree that you can't go wrong with either place, if you do decide on the keys and need a great dive op check out CONCH REPUBLIC DIVERS VOTED #1 DIVE SHOP IN FLORIDA KEYS..2006 & 2007 you will not be disappointed.

 

[SoggyPretzel]

Also, regarding your question about drift diving, no it is not hard to learn at all. One person in the group will carry a line to the float ball and the boat follows along behind as you drift with the current. When you surface the boat comes to you, so its a great way to dive. The only tricky part might be doing the safety stop because you have no frame of reference as to your depth. You can't hold on to the line to the float ball if you come up first because someone is holding the other end and you will jerk the line out of their hand. You can shoot your own line with a SMB and a small finger spool if you have problems holding at 15-20 ft. Just be careful not to tangle with the line to the float ball (don't ask me how I know that!).