10 days near Fort Lauderdale, where should I dive?

[Texasguy]

I'll be on a Bahamas liveaboard for a week then will stay 10 days in Fort Lauderdale By the Sea. Will do a few days of easy shore diving there to calm myself down after the liveaboard. What are other shore diving spots there in drivable distance? I dove Commerce pier last year, it was very calming. Might go to Jupiter and try their under the bridge diving. Maybe even will go to Keys for a day but it is rather a long drive. I don't want to do boat diving that trip, I've done it last year, plus, it will be right after a week long liveaboard, probably will not want to be on a boat for a while. So, shore solo diving only. Any ideas? Might entertain even a lake if it is warm.

EDIT: Timewise it will be the end of Sept.

 

[scubadada]

What dates are you looking at? If it is end August/early Sept, you may want to reconsider and dive the Castor out of Boynton Beach to catch the Goliath Grouper aggregation. The BHB in Riviera Beach sounds like a good idea.

 

[wspalding]

The bridge is in Riviera Beach. Jupiter Dive Center is awesome, as is Narcosis in West Palm,

 

[iamrushman]

i could be wrong ...but i hear there is no beach diving in the keys...........correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[boulderjohn]

Consider doing some boat dives. There are many good sites in that area and in Key Largo as well.

 

[sportxlh]

The bridge you'll want to dive is the world famous Blue Heron Bridge in WPB. A couple of bridges in Jupiter can be dove, from what I understand, but no one I know ever has. The window around slack high tide is much shorter on Jupiter bridges than BHB due to the geography. Two shops are close by: Force-E and Pura Vida. For info on BHB see the following:
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/florida-diving/386645-blue-heron-bridge-trolls.html
Blue Heron Bridge
Scuba Shore Diving Site Page for: Blue Heron Bridge of Florida, USA East

If you go to Jupiter, take a charter to the reefs since that is the only real option: I use and like Jupiter Dive Center. ScubaWorks can arrange trips on the other two Jupiter boats. The Keys are also not major beach diving areas, you'll need to use a charter to get to the sites which are 1.5-6 miles off shore.

You can beach dive in the Dania Beach area; here's some info
Scuba Shore Diving Site Page for: Dania Beach of Florida, USA East
City of Dania Beach, Florida - Official Web Site - Dania Beach Ocean Park

You can also beach dive Pompano's first reef line, but it is a long swim.....
Scuba Shore Diving Site Page for: Pompano Beach of Florida, USA East

Consider joining Gold Coast Scuba's meetup.com group. The shops sponsors lots of beach dives: most of which are in Lauderdale-by-Sea, but beach dives also get scheduled for Dania, Hollywood, Blue Heron Bridge and Pompano. Gold Coast can also rent any gear you'll need, including a dive flag: a must for this area.

There are no real freshwater lakes options to dive without an instructor: the only lake I know of in Broward County is Tigertail but you have to be with an instructor who has permission to dive there.
City of Dania Beach, Florida - Official Web Site - Tigertail Lake Center

 

[Aquanutuw]

Well if you want to do diving from a boat I would recommend Parrot Island Scuba in Pompano Beach. I go out Sunday mornings weather permitting and you are welcome to join my

group.

Welcome

I have a few pictures of the wrecks and reefs posted at

Howard Ratsch Images | All Photographs