Best Florida City for diving?
- Thread starter robbcayman
- Start date
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
PatW
Contributor
I think it depends on what you mean by "best" diving.
If you are a cave diver, it will not be a place on the coast because you want to be near to your beloved caves.
If you like diving for shark teeth, I guess it would be Venice.
If you like seeing sharks and big fish and you do not care about going deep, it would probably be near Jupiter.
If you like shore dives and seeing lots of small stuff, it would be near the Blue Heron Bridge.
There are books on the dive sites of Florida. You might pick up one of those and see what places have nearby sites that fit your style.
If you are a cave diver, it will not be a place on the coast because you want to be near to your beloved caves.
If you like diving for shark teeth, I guess it would be Venice.
If you like seeing sharks and big fish and you do not care about going deep, it would probably be near Jupiter.
If you like shore dives and seeing lots of small stuff, it would be near the Blue Heron Bridge.
There are books on the dive sites of Florida. You might pick up one of those and see what places have nearby sites that fit your style.
jasonb751
Contributor
That's easy, Pensacola. We have it all, beach, wreck, cave, shallow, deep,great spear fishing, and can't forget the Oriskany. Plus, it's dirt cheap to live here. Only problem, it's kinda cold in the winter.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
bilsant
Contributor
Lets see...off the top of my head, here are some shore dives in Broward:
Pompano Dropoff
Copenhagen Wreck
Hall of Fame Reef
Datura Beach Portal
Hibiscus Beach Portal (almost the same thing)
Lauderdale Erojacks
Dania Erojacks and Reef
Seatech Ledges
Perry Street Rocks
Yellow Brick Road
Some are more advanced than others with a long surface swim, and but I've done all over the past year with the Gold Coast Scuba group...and all are pretty cool as night dives, too !!!
Anybody want to fill in any I've missed?
Average dive cost equals $3.50 for a fill plus an average of $4 for parking (damned meter prices have gone up)
Pompano Dropoff
Copenhagen Wreck
Hall of Fame Reef
Datura Beach Portal
Hibiscus Beach Portal (almost the same thing)
Lauderdale Erojacks
Dania Erojacks and Reef
Seatech Ledges
Perry Street Rocks
Yellow Brick Road
Some are more advanced than others with a long surface swim, and but I've done all over the past year with the Gold Coast Scuba group...and all are pretty cool as night dives, too !!!
Anybody want to fill in any I've missed?
Average dive cost equals $3.50 for a fill plus an average of $4 for parking (damned meter prices have gone up)
100days-a-year
Contributor
Sand tiger,tiger,sandbar,nurse,dusky,lemon,reef,mako,great white,hammerhead,bull sharks.Black,gag,red,tiger,scamp,yellowmouth,graysby,coney,red and rock hind,warsaw,jewfish,kitty michell,yellowfin groupers.Kingfish,spanish,cero,wahoo mackerals.Giant bluefin,yellowfin,blackfin,little tunny,bigeye,bonito tunas.Spotted eagle,manta,stingray,cownose rays.Red,yellowtail,mango,cubera,vermillion snappers.Porpoise,pilot,right whales.Cobia,hogfish,lobster,too many tropicals to list.Too many invertabrates to list.Shipwrecks that less than a dozen people have dove.Planes that are WW2 era naturals.A really deep hole...90' to 480+'.St.Augustine Scarp.
All off Jax,seen by me personally mostly in the water but a few above.Just in the last year or 2.But it's not for everyone.
Best city...Tavernier.Number of ops,sites.Location.Amount of fish,vis and weather.Pretty fair food too.
All off Jax,seen by me personally mostly in the water but a few above.Just in the last year or 2.But it's not for everyone.
Best city...Tavernier.Number of ops,sites.Location.Amount of fish,vis and weather.Pretty fair food too.
Spending three months in Sarasota caregiving for Mom after major surgery. For some strange reason I wish she lived on the east coast of the State!!!
100days-a-year
Contributor
2 hour drive to the EC buddy.Lots of stuff in your area too.Venice has always intrigued me.Best wishes to your Mom.
+1, jasonb,
Most destinations count their sites in the teens or twenties at best, some in the single digits. Pensacola has over 120 on the list, and that doesn't count the natural bottom and private sites. Some sites, like the I-10 Bridge Rubble Sites are so big, they could count for several sites each. Depths range from 25 - 200+ feet, with some shore dive sites thrown in for good measure. The "O", tugs, barges, navy dive tenders, crew boats, historical wrecks, it just goes on and on. Temps range into the 60s in winter to mid 80s in summer. Sharks, we got 'em. Spearfishing, we do it. Lobster, sure, two kinds. Y'all come see us.
Capt. Jim
Dr Dive
Dr Dive Pensacola, FL - Home of the USS Oriskany
drdive@drdive.com
QUOTE=jasonb751;6147090]That's easy, Pensacola. We have it all, beach, wreck, cave, shallow, deep,great spear fishing, and can't forget the Oriskany. Plus, it's dirt cheap to live here. Only problem, it's kinda cold in the winter.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk[/QUOTE]
Most destinations count their sites in the teens or twenties at best, some in the single digits. Pensacola has over 120 on the list, and that doesn't count the natural bottom and private sites. Some sites, like the I-10 Bridge Rubble Sites are so big, they could count for several sites each. Depths range from 25 - 200+ feet, with some shore dive sites thrown in for good measure. The "O", tugs, barges, navy dive tenders, crew boats, historical wrecks, it just goes on and on. Temps range into the 60s in winter to mid 80s in summer. Sharks, we got 'em. Spearfishing, we do it. Lobster, sure, two kinds. Y'all come see us.
Capt. Jim
Dr Dive
Dr Dive Pensacola, FL - Home of the USS Oriskany
drdive@drdive.com
QUOTE=jasonb751;6147090]That's easy, Pensacola. We have it all, beach, wreck, cave, shallow, deep,great spear fishing, and can't forget the Oriskany. Plus, it's dirt cheap to live here. Only problem, it's kinda cold in the winter.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk[/QUOTE]
Hetland
Contributor
Sorry Pensacola Peeps... I do 99% of my diving in Pensacola, and I LOVE IT, but it can't beat the ease, convenience and value of the area between Boynton Beach and Ft. Lauderdale.
Miles, yes, MILES of live, garden-of-eden class reefs within sight of shore, easy shore dives, numerous dive shops within walking or driving distance. Better visibility, warmer water, $50 two-tank dive charters.
Pensacola has better spearfishing, no question at all about that, and the Oriskany, but I'd rather live in Broward or Palm if I had the choice, and drive to Pensacola once or twice a year.
Miles, yes, MILES of live, garden-of-eden class reefs within sight of shore, easy shore dives, numerous dive shops within walking or driving distance. Better visibility, warmer water, $50 two-tank dive charters.
Pensacola has better spearfishing, no question at all about that, and the Oriskany, but I'd rather live in Broward or Palm if I had the choice, and drive to Pensacola once or twice a year.
Similar threads
