Where to go in Fla?

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Just returned from a trip to Panama City, we used Dive Locker charters and was one of the nicest crew I have ever dove with. Dove a wreck and then the Captain even took time to take us by the beach to see the dolphin and the baby dolphin. The keys are the best in Flordia but Panama City is nice also, really cool place to just hank out and DIVE. Good luck hope you enoy wherever you go.
 
About 2 to 3 times a year, I will "hop" down to Fort Lauderdale from So Cal, for an extended weekend of some warm water diving & relaxation from the Los Angeles Rat Race. I usually get a cheap rental car by the airport and grab a cheap motel room on the beach ( A1A) and dive with Amercian Dream or Sea XP. Used to go with Pro Dive but they are out of business. Here are some recommendations for all the above;

Sea Club Resort - $60 a night, coffee shop, bar, pool, cheap, decent, on the water, not fancy.
Bahia Days Inn - On the water, restaurant, close to dive op's and close to the Elbo Room and other great little restaurants on the beach right there.
Sunshine Rent a Car - $12 a day, close to airport. Nice guys, no "insurance" hard sell, decent cars. Having a car is good for the trip to CVS or Starbucks or Reef Photo or Las Olas or out to Divers Direct/Pro Bass or Down to Aventura Mall, or perhaps even hop down to Key Largo.

There are quite a few other hotel/motel options around and on the beach that are reasonable. Do a little homework and you will find. I ALWAYS have a great time there.

EXACTLY what I was looking for!!! That's exactly what I was wanting to do! Do you shore dive? I know it's a no-no but I'd like to do a little shallow water exploring alone.
 
Brad,

Asking where to go for diving in Florida is kinda like asking where's the good BBQ in Texas.

The Panhandle, Southeast coast, Gulf coast, Northern Freshwater Springs, the Keys....it's all good! Let me ask your question a different way....what kind of diving do you like? Wrecks? Springs and caverns? Shallow muck and fossil diving? Coral Reefs? Boat dives or shore dives? Seeing big Pelagics or little tropicals? Perhaps if we knew your preferences, we could give better advice. But as you said, it's all good.

Another question: when do you think you're coming? My advice would be different in August than it would be in January.

If you make it to SE Florida, give me a shout and I'll hook you up with our group for some diving.

I've just been snorkeling for the most part for maybe 10 years (?) and enjoy free diving (20 ft max) so mostly I'm happy just seeing the marine life and coral in the top 30 ft or so.

Coral while snorkeling this past summer in Turks & Caicos:
http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p131/BradMM1/Coral800x600.jpg

Free diving over turtle in Bonaire last summer:
[video=youtube;bb-Le7Fa000]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bb-Le7Fa000[/video]

I've done wrecks and other stuff but I think this is my fav!

Brad
 
EXACTLY what I was looking for!!! That's exactly what I was wanting to do! Do you shore dive? I know it's a no-no but I'd like to do a little shallow water exploring alone.

I have never shore dove in Lauderdale, or related area's. I know I'm missing out on a great (and economical) experience, as there seems to be a lot of great places in the area to do it, but I just prefer to dive from a boat.
 
I think about 4 or 5 months ago. If you click here, you will see their website which you can book direct. Sometimes they will be "in the mix" of other travel websites, i.e. Travelocity, Expedia, etc. I will tell you though, I've seen their prices go from $18 to $15 to $23 to $15 to $28, in a matter of hours and days. Just kinda gotta watch it, much like airfares. The $12 for was for a 2 door Toyota Aeris, with a "scratch or 2", that I caught at just the right time. And as I mentioned, they could care less about selling insurance. Very nice, no-nonsense guys. I have full coverage with AmEx anyways. They will pick you right at airport, take you down the street and get you in a car quickly.

I wanted to post a follow up post for this thread, and one of my earlier posts.

I just booked a rental car through Sunshine in Fort Lauderdale, for 4 full days this coming October. $100.52 + taxes = $125.37 I checked all the "majors" at FLL, same dates, car, etc., and it ranged from $177.55 to $249.32, with taxes. I love you Sunshine Rent a Car :D
 
I was looking at Ft. Lauderdale because that's where SW Airlines flies (I may have free ticket!) but I'm open. Many years ago, family and I did a trip down the east coast all the way to Key West diving along the way. Does it matter much where I go? It all looks good to me!

Brad in HOT, DRY TEXAS!

Look at the dive conditons and marine life in these videos, and you will see why people who dive Palm Beach consider this the best in South Florida:
Boynton is spectacular also, much like the Pauls reef shots in the first video I described as what Palm Beach reefs look like. Also, Boynton Beach boat operators have a shipwreck knows as the Castor, which has the largest aggregation of Goliaths we have ever seen--if we went there today we could see 50 or more in one dive!!! I should be shooting a Castor Wreck Goliath video in the next week or two.

Palm Beach gets the Gulfstream flowing within A 1/4 MILE OF SHORE. This keeps the coral healthy, and prevents fertilizer, sewage, and agri-runoff from burning up the reefs, as has been caused by irresponsible city governments to the South... check out Broward wants to keep dumping treated sewage in ocean « Reef Rescue – Coral Reef Blog


Videos are best viewed at 1080P... If you can't stream that fast, RealPlayer is a free download of an alternative media player to your Windows Media Player, that will allow free downloads of streams from Youtube....If you begin watching in 1080P, you can then click download, and watch the video later in full 1080P !!!!!!!! For free.
 
https://xf2.scubaboard.com/community/forums/cave-diving.45/

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