Best beginner dive center and shallow diving near Miami and Ft Lauderdale

[sportxlh]

Schwob: I used to live in South Florida and drove down to LBTS to dive occasionally.

The Windjammer Hotel is right on the beach at Datura Ave: they are diver friendly. In fact, I did some of my Rescue Diver training in their pool as they have a relationship with Gold Coast Scuba. If you stay at the Windjammer, the only reason you'll need to get in your car is to pick up tanks or get fills at somewhere like Gold Coast or Force-E. There is a dive shop that is only two blocks off the beach just south of the intersection of Commercial and Ocean (A1A) called Deep Blue, I've never used them, but theoretically, you can probably carry tanks to and from their shop pretty easily. The walk is one block north from Datura to Commercial and then two blocks west to Ocean.

There are 10 or so parking spots right on Datura at the beach entrance (next to Windjammer) but those go early in the day. I loved it when I scored one of these on Saturday morning. There is metered street parking on Datura west of the beach and there is a metered public surface parking lot on the north side of Commercial and Ocean next to the Wings.

In LBTS, you'll be diving reefs. First reef line is 3/4 of the way out the length of the pier, second is past the pier. Its a pretty easy swim if the marine conditions are calm. A lot of divers will surface swim to one of the reef lines, then head south to explore the reef. Once they're a little more than half way in their dive, they cross to the other reef line and let the current carry them back north (current is normally headed north). Then they surface swim to shore or stay submerged and scuba over the sand back to beach.

Since I wasn't staying in a local hotel, I always locked stuff in my trunk and had a water proof case to carry my car key with me. I wouldn't leave anything sitting on the seat. Break-ins to steal stuff out of cars isn't exactly uncommon in FL..... especially if thieves know you'll be on the beach or in the water for a while. I've had many friends with broken windows near very nice beaches because they left bags that looked like purses on the floor of their car or thieves spotted them hiding a wallet or purse under a seat as they were getting set to head to the sand.

Pompano can be beach dove, but its a long swim. I always took a boat to get to the shallow reef (mostly with South Florida Dive HQ). There is a fair amount of boat traffic in the area on the weekends: between the long swim and the need to dodge boats, I decided swimming wasn't worth it. The weekdays might be a better time to beach dive Pompano. By in large, I think Pompano's shallow reef line is prettier than LBTS. Especially if you cross to the east side (ocean side) of Pompano's reef line. The Copenhagen wreck is in the area and can be beach dove, again, a long swim. SS Copenhagen (shipwreck)--Florida Shipwrecks: 300 Years of Maritime History: A National Register of Historic Places Travel Itinerary

 

[Texasguy]

Schwob: I live 5 mins away from the site, dive there weekly.

Map: Link

Public restrooms are right next to the marked scuba shop.

Yes, $10 buys you 12 hours, got to be there by 10-11am or it will fill up (on a meter computer you'd select more and more time till it jumps to $10). You can rent tanks, fills, dive, all in the same location. You can gear from your car. I'd recommend getting tanks from Gold Scuba, they are half a mile away. Their tanks are new and even have DIN. The scuba shop on the beach has very beat-up !!! tanks and other gear, I'd use them for air fills only, personally. Also, rent a flag. Thus, to remember, Gold Coast Scuba has much nicer stuff to rent. Get stuff from them first, then park for a day. Walgreens is across the road from parking. There is a **** ton of restaurants in the area, from burger, pizza to seafood. I'd recommend Aruba.

The other parking next to water is hard to get, got to be there by 7-8am, even then not guaranteed. Once people occupy that parking, they are not moving; I think they are passing the spot from one generation to another, lol. I don't think you can buy more than 4 hours at a time there, thus, constant pain of checking time, cutting enjoyments short just because you got to pay again.

Never seen a car with broken windows. Not an issue. But hiding valuables is smart. It is a big tourist center, I bet there is a bunch of undercover police.

You'd be diving a big reef, about 100 feet from the beach. It is huge, it is wide, even if you dive 10 times, you won't feel like you are re-doing some old dive. Depth is about 12 feet. Search youtube for "datura scuba" to see some sample dives. I'd recommend to snorkel first, to note what is where and how it looks like. Then when diving you'd have some idea if it can get any better and what direction to take (unless you are guided by a DM).

Pompano is worse because the reef is further out from the shore, you'd be diving and boats will be on top of you. Here you got a pier, it cuts down on boats getting close.

I think the best time to be in the water is 10am-2pm, the sun is above you, less shadows, everything looks very life affirming. Make sure to get a proper neoprene thickness. With 80cu I can do 2.5 hours at this depth, it can get chilly vs boat rides that are only 50mins dives.

 

[Schwob]

Thanks guys...

 

[Tournesol2000]

Is shore diving worth it in winter at FLBTS?
Wondering if its too murky and wavy?

 

[Texasguy]

It can be wavy, thus, you pick and choose what you can and want to do. Rule is, if you cannot do a shore dive, you do a boat dive. Water gets cold to 70-75. Getting out when it is windy sucks. A dry suit is good to have. Water is as clear as during summer, maybe more chances to see a shark, but I never seen one as yet.

 

[Tournesol2000]

Drysuit? Yikes.
I am hoping to go in December. Was not expecting it to be that cold.
Thanks.

 

[boulderjohn]

I go to the Pompano Beach area for a couple months every winter. For recreational diving, I wear a 5mm wetsuit, and I am just fine with it. Some people wear less. I only use a dry suit for technical diving, and that is more because of the need for redundant buoyancy than for the cold.

I think the best diving for your wife, though, is in Key Largo. She will be able to do a bunch of fun dives without going below 30 feet. She will need to go off a boat, but the people who are recommending shore diving may not realize the real problem with that--with her current certification level, she has to dive with a professional. The best deal for her would be to make arrangements with one of the fine dive operators in Key Largo to have a DM work with her on boat dives on Molasses Reef. If she gets a good one, she will feel confident enough to get the full certification in no time.

The biggest problem you MAY encounter is wind. There is the potential that every day of your planned diving will be cancelled because it is too windy for the boats to go out. (It as like that much of December last year.) In that case, though, you will not want to be wading into the waves farther north, either.

 

[trigfunctions]

In the Fort Lauderdale/Pompano Beach area, look for a dive operator that's going to the wreck of the Copenhagen. It's shallow - around 25 ft - and interesting and perfect for novices. Pay extra to have a dive master guide you on the dive so you can get comfortable with Florida diving.

 

[Schwob]

Slightly sidelining the topic, not a direct answer to your question:

Similar situation with my water timid wife:
After initially signing up with someone else, specifically selected for her, who however had to bail last minute for health reasons, she ended up (a few weeks ago) in Key Largo with Rainbow Reef, going for her OW cert.
In principle that was not bad, the instructor was patient, although some of the "fearful misunderstandings" were a bit misdiagnosed at first, but all that worked out. BUT: RR does all their diving from a boat . The instructor initially flat out refused to have my wife do her initial OW dives in a local cove. Not for ill will, but because of bad visibility there. The water is calm, no dangling on a line from a boat in waves, just walk in and swim, but reduced vis and not much to see.

So, for my wife, who is quite comfortable UW, and a whole lot less so in waves above water, it was a huge step from the pool to a boat in waves.
She did it, but it also delayed her progress a bit because she could not address her initial OW skills w/o getting all scared up by dangling on that line at first.
But she also lost her fin (for good), dangling on that line at the beginning of open water dive 3.
Since it was a two tank boat dive and since no fitting spare fin was available, it was the end of her dive day...
In the end with the instructor running out of time my wife did do one cove dive after all to complete one missing skill and then got a scuba diver cert. and needs to still do OW dives 3 &4 for her OW rating.

After some search, we decided to do that next weekend in a local quarry with a local outfit. Our reasons were:
1.) Remedials, if needed are easy locally, hard on a trip when time is up...
2.) After the cove dive my wife was quite sure that bad vis did not bother her even remotetly as much as dealing with waves and lines on the surface. So, the vis in the quarty might be just fine now...
3) Although my wife now figured it out and is confident she will try again on vacation, why travel somewhere with "big bad boats" and with "big bad waves" and instructors that let students dangle on lines while caring for other students. Why be at the mercy of the weather for the few days there?
4.) If we wait for the next chance for a trip (next year), she might as well start over and we decided to fortify the new learned skills and water comfort before they get forgotten and old fears might come back into the foreground

Long story short:
Pending on where your wive's concerns are rooted, consider whether boat or shore diving is better... just to get the card more, carefully selected diving thereafter can address those fears as slow as necessary.

Taking real cold water out of the equation (FL), what bothers her the most? Wave action, or visibility, or the endlessness of an ocean, or?
If the former or the lattet, I am wondering if an OW class could be completed in one of those clear springs in FL. Don't know if they would be considered big enough.

Anyway I do wish the two of you all the best & success and lots of happy diving afterwards!

@Bruno Genovese & all:
Just offering a happy end (not that we see it as an "end") to the above "water timid" thoughts here in this thread:
My wife, my hero - lessons learned about OW class for a water timid person

 

[scubadada]

For the beginner, timid diver, no doubt at all, go to Key Largo. Shallow reefs, little to no current. I have a home in SE Florida and recommend it to many. The deeper, drift dives are better left to later.