Diving in West Palm Beach Area

[LynnB]

Hi there,
I am thinking of heading down to Palm beach area at the end of the month for a few days of diving. Who would you recommend diving with? Might be traveling alone so wouldn't mind finding a dive buddy.
Will probably be staying in the Boynton beach area with family so not sure what is the closest to it.
Any help would be appreciated..
Thanks
Lynn

 

[acteg]

Lynn,

I've had good experience with Jim Abernathy Scuba Adventures (JASA) out of Palm Beach as well as Jupiter Dive Center (JDC) in Jupiter (a little north of Palm beach). One of the nice things about JASA is the rental equipment includes a dive computer. Both shops have good rental gear but I think you have to pay extra if you want a computer at JDC as there standard rental package comes with analog gauges.

With JASA the dive shop is across the street from the docks and its metered parking by the docks. With JDC, the dive shop is on the water, so you just park in the parking lot and haul your gear to the boat (convenient). While you are down in the area you should also dive blue heron bridge if you have the opportunity.

I live in Orlando, but will also be down that way towards the end of the month (think weekend of the 20th). I planned to do a boat dive with JASA on Saturday, and then BHB on Sunday. Shoot me a PM if you're down that weekend and need a buddy.

 

[Shark Bait!]

If your going to be staying in the boynton bch area, then I would suggest Underwater Explorers hands down

https://securec7.ezhostingserver.com/diveboyntonbeach-com/indexs.cfm

Or Starfish

Scuba Charters and Scuba Dive Boat Tours of I Dive Starfish of Lantana, FL

If your going to venture up to the Jupiter area then JDC, Narcosis, emerald, or Scuba works/blue tang

 

[sportxlh]

Hi there,
I am thinking of heading down to Palm beach area at the end of the month for a few days of diving. Who would you recommend diving with? Might be traveling alone so wouldn't mind finding a dive buddy.
Will probably be staying in the Boynton beach area with family so not sure what is the closest to it.
Any help would be appreciated..
Thanks
Lynn

You can dive right in Boynton with Underwater Explorers. Call the shop: sometimes the owner, Kevin, actually dives and can be your dive buddy.

In West Palm Beach, Jim Abernathy is a great operator. I've been out with them several times without a buddy and I just stay close to the in-water DM, and they are cool with that.

Looks like you are an experienced diver from your profile, so I hesitate to suggest the Scuba Club, but they are a saftey focused operation and send down a couple of DMs on most dives. I only bring them up since you can easily just stay close to the DM if you don't have a buddy. The main knock on the operator is all the one tank dives they run. I only dive with them on the occasional Friday I can get off work in the afternoon since that is a two tank dive (and the only game in town for Friday afternoons year round).

Acteg also suggested Jupiter Dive Center which is the dive op I dive with the most. It is a longer drive but if you like big encounters, you can't beat the area. The last two days (4 dives), I've probably seen 20 turtles, a little over a dozen sharks, 15 goliath grouper, two free swimming green morays and 10 more in crevices, some of which stretched out to have their pictures taken. On some of the dive sites that JDC visits, the tropicals almost form 'living rivers' as they move through the crevices in certain sections of the reef.

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Lynn,

I've had good experience with Jim Abernathy Scuba Adventures (JASA) out of Palm Beach as well as Jupiter Dive Center (JDC) in Jupiter (a little north of Palm beach). One of the nice things about JASA is the rental equipment includes a dive computer. Both shops have good rental gear but I think you have to pay extra if you want a computer at JDC as there standard rental package comes with analog gauges.

With JASA the dive shop is across the street from the docks and its metered parking by the docks. With JDC, the dive shop is on the water, so you just park in the parking lot and haul your gear to the boat (convenient). While you are down in the area you should also dive blue heron bridge if you have the opportunity.

I live in Orlando, but will also be down that way towards the end of the month (think weekend of the 20th). I planned to do a boat dive with JASA on Saturday, and then BHB on Sunday. Shoot me a PM if you're down that weekend and need a buddy.

I just did some dives with JASA and overall was pleased. Nice people, well run boat and I plan to use them again in a couple of weeks. One minor consideration that bothered me because I did not know this up front is they do have a 45 minute limit on air divers and 55 minutes for nitrox, so if you like longer dives, spend the extra $ on nitrox.

 

[sportxlh]

I just did some dives with JASA and overall was pleased. Nice people, well run boat and I plan to use them again in a couple of weeks. One minor consideration that bothered me because I did not know this up front is they do have a 45 minute limit on air divers and 55 minutes for nitrox, so if you like longer dives, spend the extra $ on nitrox.

Those limitations are pretty common around here. I know that the dive ops I mentioned above all generally expect the Nitrox divers to be back on the surface at the 53 minute mark. At 80-90 feet, most divers are getting pretty close to their NDL anyway or are running low on gas.

 

[SandyRobinson]

Lynn, I have used the Scuba Club since the early 80s. Some of the same people are still there. Last time I was there was 4 years ago and all was fine. As mentioned they have a DM in the water. Kind of nice to have someone to point things out and carry the flag. Dives are drift which are nice. Most dives are single tank as they are 15 minutes from the sites. Website is scubaclub.com - diving scuba - I thnk. May have "the" in the name. Have fun

 

[LynnB]

Thanks for all the advice. I am now considering going down with one of our LDS as they have a trip the same weekend I wanted to go. Have never gone with a group before so I am not real sure how I feel about that. Should be fun. The owner is a really nice guy and there are a few females going that I would be able to double up with someone.
It will be a little more expensive but everything is planned with the dives and can buddy up with people for the drive etc. Just a thought. Haven't made def decision just know I am going diving!
Sandy you up for going down that weekend? You could meet up with us...

 

[SandyRobinson]

Lynn, wish i could but I have some cenotes with my name on the at the beginning of August- not enouigh funds

 

[SheilaRee]

Hey Lynn, I just got back from WPB. Shoot me a message next time you're planning on going. Be sure to post a trip report when you get back. Which LDS are you going with? I'm right up north of you in SC.