West Palm Beach Diving 9/22 thru 9/27

[denisegg]

My Vacation Finally!! Saturday, September 22nd through Thursday, the 27th at West Palm Beach, FL. I will be staying at the Marriott Ocean Pointe on Ocean Avenue so if anyone knows a good dive op close by please let me know. I want to do a couple of days of diving. I love wrecks and drift diving. I haven't made any plans yet. I can dive any of those days and will be traveling with a nondiving spouse so am looking for dive buddies also.

 

[Scuba_Dad]

You're right down the street from Pura Vida Divers. Great dive operator and if they don't have what you want, they'll guide you to where you need to go.

Al

 

[erparamedic]

Hi, Denise! Wow! Rod and I stayed at that Marriott back in December... it's on the tip of Singer Island, and It's a wonderful place to stay! We loved the comfy beds and down bedding!

As for dive ops... I'll HIGHLY recommend Pura Vida Divers... just a skip down the road from you, on Beach Ct. Dean and Shana are the owners and they run a very safe, very fun operation. The marina is very close by too, a 5 minute drive from the resort. Rod and I dove with them back in December, and again a couple weeks ago. We dove some great sites over those 2 trips...

--The Corridor- 3 wrecks, 1 drift... Mizpah, PC1170, Amaryllis... HUGE golliath grouper, and an enormous rainbow parrotfish!!
--Atlantis and Spud Barge times 2... Atlantis is huge pieces of bridge and road that were dumped offshore many years ago... lots of growth, lots of nooks and crannies... The Spud Barge is a huge wreck with more HUGE golliath grouper!
--NW Double Ledges, aka Shark Dive... we saw 1 nurse shark, and 3 reef sharks, nice dive!
--Bath and Tennis- Great drift dive on a reef. Lots of life! This is where I saw my first 2 cuttlefish! Also saw a big green turtle, octopus, huge brain coral, etc.
--Breakers Reef-- 7th thru 1st windows (fast current when we were there), also a very nice dive, lots of life. Even the fish swam sideways on this dive! Drift... oh, yeah! LOL

In December--
-- 3rd window... very nice, lots of eels, sea turtle, scorpion fish, etc
--Playpen/Toybox... Rod dove this one, saw HUGE stingrays, I sat that one out... bum knee.
-- The Trench... nice dive. Lots of life.
-- Flower Gardens... One of my favorites! Beautiful dive! Tons of life! Lots of eels and tropicals!

While you're there... ask when high tide is at the Blue Heron Bridge. I had always heard how the bridge dive was incredibly cool, and there was lots to look at. This time, we had the chance to dive it. We hired Dean as our private guide, and he was great! The bridge dive was awesome, and we had a long bottom time cause it's so shallow. I maxed at 23 ft at the bridge, LOL. This is a MUST do dive, and would be a very cool night dive too! Just an FYI... there's tons of scorpion fish and urchins... just be careful if you happen to touch anything. Look closely first.

If you decide to patron Pura Vida, can you do me a favor? Tell them Rod and Jamie says hi! Thanks!

 

[denisegg]

Thank you very much!! I wanted something close by and they sound perfect!! Just about everytime I dive I have at least a 2 hour drive and I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this on vacation. I am glad the Marriott is a nice place to stay and you had a good experience with the dive op that is right there! I am very excited!

 

[erparamedic]

Denise,

No 2 hour drive to dive this time! You're right in the middle of it! I can't wait to go back for a 3rd time... Dean and Shana make the diving GREAT! Oh, and this time, they were also my instructors for my AOW cert.

Here's a little more info...

I can't remember the name of the building that we stayed in... but it was the 2nd (Marriott) building from the tip of the island. We stayed on the 5th floor on the very end and had a gorgeous oceanfront view. Again, the bed was incredibly comfy with the down bedding! The room was clean, and the staff were very nice.

As for places to eat... there's not alot of choices on the island. I'd highly recommend Portofino's though! It's right down the street from you, and directly across the parking lot from Pura Vida. The pizza and breadsticks are very good. We tried Johnny Longboats too, it's about average. Not great, but not bad either. If you want some good seafood, and don't mind a higher priced resteraunt, then I'd definetly recommend the Sailfish Marina (it's on the island, easy to get to). It's fresh seafood at it's finest, and yet, a casual atmosphere. For Rod and I to eat dinner there, it cost us about $85. The blackened grouper was really good though! Mmmm, and the crab cakes too!

The island is nice, but the area of WPB right before you cross onto the island is a bit rough... just an FYI. There is a Walmart close-by... and if I remember correctly, it's only about a 10 minute drive from the resort.... don't hold me to it, but I think it's on US1... the locals will know, and will direct you to it. There's an Applebees right down the street past Walmart.

Oh, and my dive report for my most recent trip to WPB is here: http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=198761

Dive report from December is here:
http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=170502&highlight=Pura+Vida

 

[deepstops]

Be sure to book a trip with Scubaboard sponsor scubakevdm on the UW Explorer in Boynton Beach just 25 minutes south of Palm Beach. There's no where in Florida where the Gulf Stream comes closer to shore. Boynton is definitely in the top two for the healthiest reef systems in the state (Biscayne National Park being the other).

A guide is a great idea for Blue Heron but here's a website to give you an excellent primer on it: http://www.wadespage.com/D800DS06RF01.shtml

As long as you're not vegetarian, I highly recommend the Buccaneer Steakhouse just down the street from where you're staying on the Intracoastal Waterway. http://maps.metroguide.com/pbi/100408.htm

 

[denisegg]

Denise,

No 2 hour drive to dive this time! You're right in the middle of it! I can't wait to go back for a 3rd time...

I went back and read your reports. I really like the sound of the wreck dives. It sounds like you saw more on them.

 

[denisegg]

Be sure to book a trip with Scubaboard sponser scubakevdm on the UW Explorer in Boynton Beach just 25 minutes south of Palm Beach. There's no where in Florida where the Gulf Stream comes closer to shore. Boynton is definitely in the top two for the healthiest reef systems in the state (Biscayne National Park being the other).

A guide is a great idea for Blue Heron but here's a website to give you an excellent primer on it: http://www.wadespage.com/D800DS06RF01.shtml

As long as you're not vegetarian, I highly recommend the Buccaneer Steakhouse just down the street from where you're staying on the Intracoastal Waterway. http://maps.metroguide.com/pbi/100408.htm

Thanks for the info. I will look into the Boynton Beach diving idea. And thanks for the restaurant tip. I love seafood but my husband loves steaks so he will appreciate that tip.

 

[erparamedic]

We saw alot on all the dives... there's just a difference in the "kind" of life you see on the wrecks vs the reefs.

 

[denisegg]

I guess I just love wrecks. It is something about the feel of the history behind it...the reaching into the past..the nostalgia of the blending of the past with the present...