Trip Report A week in fort lauderdale

[tkaelin]

Thanks- Have you ever dove with them or visited that property? That sounds like a great setup, diving, restaurants and beach all in close proximity.

Stayed at Bahia Mar and dove with Seaxp in 2010. Very easy flying into FLL and taxi to the hotel. Plan was to stay three nights and dive two days but only ended diving one. Made for an easy trip

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Thanks- Have you ever dove with them or visited that property? That sounds like a great setup, diving, restaurants and beach all in close proximity.

Yes. Bill Cole, Sea Experience owner, has been a fixture in Ft Lauderdale for decades. They run a great operation.

 

[scubadada]

Pretty amazing on the dolphins and hamerhead sitings and getting pictures to boot. Seen plenty of dolphins on the surface and only one underwater and that one experience was not great (Stinky the wayward dolphin in GC). No hammerheads yet.

I have been diving a bit north in Boynton Beach, West Palm, and Jupiter for 12 years/1160 dives. I have only seen hammerheads 4 times, a pair of Scalloped Hammerheads and 3 solitary Great Hammerheads. We see dolphins on the surface frequently, but I have only seen them diving twice, a pair swam by me in the opposite direction and a group of five leisurely swam three circles around me before heading off.

It's amazing what you will occasionally see if you spend enough time diving. Not infrequently, we see Eagle Rays swimming in the Boynton Inlet and Mantas swimming just outside the inlet. I've only seen one Eagle Ray while diving and only two mantas Area between Jupiter and Boynton Beach, a potential manta ray nursery I have seen sailfish three times. I have seen my only two local Tiger Sharks in Jupiter.

Go down, swim and look around, you never know what you will see

 

[cather]

Sweet!
I really like the dolphin picture, and you got to see a great variety of stuff.
Where did you stay? I think I remember reading (Maybe in the PADI magazine?) that there is a hotel directly onsite at the marina, which makes it super easy to dive.

It was really cool to see a pod of dolphins let alone a single dolphin. I stayed at the breakaway guest motel. smaller family owned thing with mini studio/apartment style rooms right off commercial ave a few minutes walk to the beach bars and such. I was 8 minutes by car from the sfdh marina so that was nice.

Indeed. I've never seen either underwater. @cather consider yourself blessed!

Yeah i couldnt believe my luck. Even my dive guide couldnt either.

Maybe next time ill get even luckier with some whale sharks and manta rays!

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Agree with the Bahia Mar but using the Sands Harbor Resort you are in the same marina as the South Florida Diving HQ boats.

Probably cheaper too. Ft. Lauderdale can be quite expensive.

 

[cather]

Day 5: May 29th

Dive 14-17: aqua zoo, and more reefs
Again some familiar dives here. Mostly just enjoying myself floating around in the water.
A turtle came swimming really close to me. so i tried to stay as still as possible and watch.
We did 2 more night dives and knocked out the night dive cert because why not.
A nurse shark got pretty close to us in the night dive. It was a great day to finish off my vacation.

That's my well needed vacation. now to start planning the next one!

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Friendly loggerhead came to check you out. Always a treat!

Looks like you had a great trip, saw many of our usual critters and had some very rare treats (dolphins and a hammerhead).

Thanks for sharing!

 

[cather]

Yeah that turtle was really cool. i guess he was checking me out or something hah.
Lots of luck with sights so im really happy!
was a great vacation and cant wait for more. Glad others were able to enjoy some cool pictures!

 

[PoolsOpen]

A diving vacation and you were able to dive several days including nights..
Saw hammerhead and pod of dolphins underwater, along with several turtles and other cool creatures...
Knocked out your night diving specialty....

Does it get any better?

Thanks for sharing and sounds like an awesome trip!!

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

Thanks for all the info in this post. My dad and I are going down in July to do his DSD. Sea Experience has been great helping me figure out the logistics for his pool and open water dives and we found a sweet AirBnB 10 minutes away by Uber.

Good stuff, everybody.