Urgent.. Liveaboard cancelled — How’s diving in Miami?

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

I would think Blue Heron Bridge is open. Dives there are very affected by the tides so contact one of the local shops for the window. You might also see what Scuba_Jenny (here on SB) is doing this weekend - she guides there.

Another Florida road trip option not affected by weather - Epcot Seas Adventures – DiveQuest
Pretty sure you need a reservation. You're abut 3.5 hours away so take the Florida Turnpike - it's pay but non-stop afaik

Maybe book a room for a couple days and see DisneyWorld?

Check a shop in Tampa also, it's not that far to drive straight across. About 4 hours. Pretty much all boat diving and they go pretty far out to some wrecks.
Or if it looks good - Fly. Flights s/b around $200 r/t.

hth

Thanks for the info! I’m trying to stay around Miami..thinking about going to Key Largo!
 
Thanks for the info! I’m trying to stay around Miami..thinking about going to Key Largo!

I thought it was said that the seas were too rough, and nobody was diving in KL? If diving is out, then go to Key West. The drive itself is part of the fun.
 
Latest update that I saw regarding conditions at Blue Heron Bridge was from Sept. 19. Reported brown water and about 3' of visibility. You might decide to forego diving for the next few days. Maybe visit Zoo Miami, walk on the beach, grab a Cuban sandwich, or divert yourself in some other fashion. Could be worse. Could be raining.
 
@nicole2 if you get down to Key Largo and nobody is diving then there may be another option. It won't be the kind of diving that you traveled all the way to Florida to experience, but it is a chance to get your gear wet and see some fish and coral.

John Pennekamp Coral Reef Park in Key Largo is a lovely place to visit and they have an onsite full service dive op that does boat dive trips out to the reef.

There is also a small beach and lagoon in the park called Canon Beach. This is mostly a snorkeling beach but you can dive there and it is sometimes used for dive training gear and there's a small shipwreck to explore, see the links below:

John Pennenkamp Coral Reef State Park

Scuba Diving Tours | John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park

Beach Rentals | Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park
 
@nicole2 if you get down to Key Largo and nobody is diving then there may be another option. It won't be the kind of diving that you traveled all the way to Florida to experience, but it is a chance to get your gear wet and see some fish and coral.

John Pennekamp Coral Reef Park in Key Largo is a lovely place to visit and they have an onsite full service dive op that does boat dive trips out to the reef.

There is also a small beach and lagoon in the park called Canon Beach. This is mostly a snorkeling beach but you can dive there and t is sometimes used for dive training gear and there's a small shipwreck to explore, see the links below:

John Pennenkamp Coral Reef State Park

Scuba Diving Tours | John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park

Beach Rentals | Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park

I decided to go down to Key Largo on Monday and stay until Saturday. Weather should clear up on Tuesday.
Thanks for the recommendations!
 
There's Holiday Inn and Marriott at MM100 - they're on a marina with about 3-4 dive operations so may be a good option. No beach though.

Otherwise the nicer Marriott on the bayside has a small but nice beach.

Make the drive to Key West one day if you can't dive it's a couple hours and Key West would be fun for a day of exploring.

Hey, it's better than being here (Phx). Although it finally cooled off this weekend.
 
Don't be surprised if the viz isn't that great. Particulates take a long time to settle out after being churned up that much.
 
Be grateful you’re down here this coming week, because these last few days have been a bummer! I just saw photos of BHB on the Blue Heron Bridge Dive Club Facebook page from yesterday. Extremely low viz still. We dove Horseshoe on Big Pine Key on Saturday. It was about 4-5 feet of visibility. The whole day was a comical cluster. A troup of Boy Scouts descended upon the dive site to go fishing as we pulled up with our tanks. We almost left, but decided to stick it out. Thankfully, a large thunderstorm ran them off, but it also made us question our life decisions, ha. It was an interesting dive. I haven’t felt claustrophobic on a dive for at least the last 150 dives but that one sure did. If it settles down, though, I could see it being fun experience.

I was pretty horrified by the dive shop we got tanks from telling us that there are two beautiful baby angel fish there... that he’s trying to catch for his aquarium. Now, we are reluctant to share what we did see, but I will say this: we saw some fun critters that made it well worth it.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/
https://xf2.scubaboard.com/community/forums/cave-diving.45/

Back
Top Bottom