Any blue water, good viz ocean diving north of Jupiter, FL?

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Plenty of bluewater N of Jupiter.
Not always in typical recreational depths.
It varies by season, algae blooms, plankton blooms and outflow from inlets.
From Daytona on N I had good vis most of the time , crystal clear occasionally to frequent offshore and blacked out rarely.
No need for the stream directly for clear water as it forms gyres and can bring clear blue water very far inshore. Most people aren't familiar with how good the diving is in NEFL, GA and SC as there aren't a lot of charters.
90+% of diving there is off private boats. Make some friends in that community and you can avoid hitting the same tired part ground reefs over and over.
 
Plenty of bluewater N of Jupiter.
Not always in typical recreational depths.
. . .
So is there consistent nice viz, bluewater diving within recreational limits in NE Florida? Sometimes the FL panhandle can be blue and clear too, but that is fairly rare. When you have to drive a long way to get there, it is nice to know what to generally expect (though weather can always be a factor).

Most people aren't familiar with how good the diving is in NEFL, GA and SC as there aren't a lot of charters.
90+% of diving there is off private boats. Make some friends in that community and you can avoid hitting the same tired part ground reefs over and over.
I have noticed not many charters. Even though GA has a national marine sanctuary, seems there is only 1 charter going there, and then only sporadically. Have been diving in Myrtle Beach, SC once and it was not much different from Gulf diving. Are there charters you would recommend in NEFL or GA? (If not, do you perhaps need some friends from Tennessee? :))
 
So is there consistent nice viz, bluewater diving
Even those of us that live & dive here every week struggle with planning dives days in advance.
"Consistent" is a your key word. This may help you decide how big a bet you want to place with your hard earned dive dollars & time .........

Visibility.jpg
 
Even those of us that live & dive here every week struggle with planning dives days in advance.
"Consistent" is a your key word. This may help you decide how big a bet you want to place with your hard earned dive dollars & time .........

View attachment 689728

What is considered "inconsistent" or "bad viz"?
 
What is considered "inconsistent"
I understand it's an opinion but for me:

Inconsistent Viz = the 80 / 20 rule. So 20% of the time when planning days in advance and I jump in,,,It's nothing even close to what I predicted, expected or hoped for. I'll dive Venice, Florida for teeth and expect 6 -12 inches of viz almost every day of the year. 20% of the time you can splash and immediately see bottom but that's on rare inconsistent occasions.

What is considered "bad viz"?
Again just an individual opinion:

I'm primarily a bug hunter, so for me to abort the dive, get back on the boat, reload the car, swearing my butt off at how much time I wasted that would be.....10 feet of horizontal viz.
 
I understand it's an opinion but for me:

Inconsistent Viz = the 80 / 20 rule. So 20% of the time when planning days in advance and I jump in,,,It's nothing even close to what I predicted, expected or hoped for. I'll dive Venice, Florida for teeth and expect 6 -12 inches of viz almost every day of the year. 20% of the time you can splash and immediately see bottom but that's on rare inconsistent occasions.


Again just an individual opinion:

I'm primarily a bug hunter, so for me to abort the dive, get back on the boat, reload the car, swearing my butt off at how much time I wasted that would be.....10 feet of horizontal viz.

So consider me ignorant. You expect viz to be 6-12", but will quit if it's less than 10'? I'm not understanding.

Your opinion matters. You live and dive there. I do find FL opinions are usually skewed when it comes to talking about viz, which is why I always ask! I'm pretty happy if I can see my fins.
 
What is considered "inconsistent" or "bad viz"?

Coming from the Midwest I tend to be easy to please. I've dived in quarries in 45 degree water and <5' of viz for "fun"!

In Southeast Florida, a really bad day is 5-10' of green water, a great day is 80'+ of clear, Bahama-blue water. I'd say the majority of days are pretty consistently in the 30-50' viz, bluish water with some particulate matter. Those are pretty darn good days in my book!
 
What is considered "inconsistent" or "bad viz"?
Since I'm the OP on this thread, and I raised the question about consistency, I'll say that for me the question is: what makes it worthwhile to drive 4 hours farther (each way) than the panhandle.

PCB is definitely Not consistently blue water and Not consistently good viz -- viz can be less than 20 feet even if the weather/waves are nice. Water is generally murky and lots of particulate, and sometimes worse than the quarries we dive. We've had fun diving there, but it's definitely not Cozumel (or Jupiter).

Jupiter seems to be fairly consistently blue water and viz 60 feet or more if the weather/waves cooperate.

I know there can be exceptions, and weather/waves can change conditions anywhere, but that is the perspective of my questions in this thread.
 
Coming from the Midwest I tend to be easy to please. I've dived in quarries in 45 degree water and <5' of viz for "fun"!

In Southeast Florida, a really bad day is 5-10' of green water, a great day is 80'+ of clear, Bahama-blue water. I'd say the majority of days are pretty consistently in the 30-50' viz, bluish water with some particulate matter. Those are pretty darn good days in my book!
My local quarry hole I'm heading to today is 10' viz, sometimes less. If I can see the color of my fins it's a good day. It's 42f on the bottom, I still think it's "fun", lol. My wife actually has pictures of me diving last year when it was snowing and you can't see from my chest down, it was just a trashy day, but still fun.

Since I'm the OP on this thread, and I raised the question about consistency, I'll say that for me the question is: what makes it worthwhile to drive 4 hours farther (each way) than the panhandle.

PCB is definitely Not consistently blue water and Not consistently good viz -- viz can be less than 20 feet even if the weather/waves are nice. Water is generally murky and lots of particulate, and sometimes worse than the quarries we dive. We've had fun diving there, but it's definitely not Cozumel (or Jupiter).

Jupiter seems to be fairly consistently blue water and viz 60 feet or more if the weather/waves cooperate.

I know there can be exceptions, and weather/waves can change conditions anywhere, but that is the perspective of my questions in this thread.
I didn't mean to jack your thread (if you took it that way).

Every time I hit the FL state line (from MD) I know I'm only 3/4 of the way there and not to get too excited, so I feel your pain.
 
I didn't mean to jack your thread (if you took it that way).

Every time I hit the FL state line (from MD) I know I'm only 3/4 of the way there and not to get too excited, so I feel your pain.
No worries, didn't take it that way, I know that "good viz" can vary by circumstance and just wanted to clarify my frame for the question.

My problem now is that after diving in Jupiter my son/dive buddy wants to drive the extra 8 hours round-trip each time rather than go back to PCB. Makes for a tiring weekend/long-weekend of driving!
 
https://xf2.scubaboard.com/community/forums/cave-diving.45/

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