First, a caveat. These opinions are of someone with only 55 dives. A more seasoned diver of this area may disagree, and they would probably be more accurate since how much can I know after one week of diving here!
After reading and hearing about Jupiter being great diving, my wife and I decided to split our time between PB and Jupiter...two days/4 dives in Jupiter and three days/6 dives in PB this past week, 3/20 to 3/25.
The weather was good for most of the week. Lower 80's early on and nearly 90 by Thursday. It was clear with 2-4 foot seas. Friday was overcast, wind out of the NW, seas 2-3 and much cooler since a cold front just passed through.
Water temps were 75-76 in Jupiter and 74 in PB, with one thermo at 67. Viz was mostly in the 60 foot range. Currents were pretty strong through Thursday. Estimate 2 to 3 knots. Friday was much calmer, 1 or so knots.
We dove with Jupiter Dive Charters and Capt. Paul. In PB, Force E recommended Pura Vida and Capt. Dean. The Capt's and DM's were all great. Would dive with them again in a heart beat...and plan to. Their boats had one nice ditty in common....a center rail in the stern...made getting up and moving to and from the dive platform VERY easy. JDC boat had what they called an Orca platform. You dropped in backwards (not a roll) and you "orca'ed" up on your belly when returning. The first time was odd, then it got very easy.
Two downsides to Jupiter, slightly longer boat rides and the reefs we dove were deep....90 feet. So, bottom time was limited. BUT...Jupiter was fantastic. We saw everything we did in PB and more. Plenty of nurse sharks, at least one reef shark, two loggerheads (one asleep under a ledge) and two hawksbill...one chomping away on a reef like it was its last meal. Tons of fishies....angels (grey, blue and queen), butterflies (reef and four eyed), millions of porks, ocean trigger (I thought it was a small sun fish!), box fishes, tangs, puffers, and a soapfish and healthy reefs everywhere. Eels - a couple of morays, a spotted and a honey. What we really liked were the deep ledges. Just so much to see!
In PB we didn't see any sharks, saw one turtle (loggerhead), a green moray and 2 big spotted eels, a stingray (I missed that), a bat fish, a pederson shrimp and most the other fishies described above. While the bottom was not as dramatic as up in Jupiter, there was plenty of fishies to see and reef to explore...and more bottom time on the shallower dives.
After reading and hearing about Jupiter being great diving, my wife and I decided to split our time between PB and Jupiter...two days/4 dives in Jupiter and three days/6 dives in PB this past week, 3/20 to 3/25.
The weather was good for most of the week. Lower 80's early on and nearly 90 by Thursday. It was clear with 2-4 foot seas. Friday was overcast, wind out of the NW, seas 2-3 and much cooler since a cold front just passed through.
Water temps were 75-76 in Jupiter and 74 in PB, with one thermo at 67. Viz was mostly in the 60 foot range. Currents were pretty strong through Thursday. Estimate 2 to 3 knots. Friday was much calmer, 1 or so knots.
We dove with Jupiter Dive Charters and Capt. Paul. In PB, Force E recommended Pura Vida and Capt. Dean. The Capt's and DM's were all great. Would dive with them again in a heart beat...and plan to. Their boats had one nice ditty in common....a center rail in the stern...made getting up and moving to and from the dive platform VERY easy. JDC boat had what they called an Orca platform. You dropped in backwards (not a roll) and you "orca'ed" up on your belly when returning. The first time was odd, then it got very easy.
Two downsides to Jupiter, slightly longer boat rides and the reefs we dove were deep....90 feet. So, bottom time was limited. BUT...Jupiter was fantastic. We saw everything we did in PB and more. Plenty of nurse sharks, at least one reef shark, two loggerheads (one asleep under a ledge) and two hawksbill...one chomping away on a reef like it was its last meal. Tons of fishies....angels (grey, blue and queen), butterflies (reef and four eyed), millions of porks, ocean trigger (I thought it was a small sun fish!), box fishes, tangs, puffers, and a soapfish and healthy reefs everywhere. Eels - a couple of morays, a spotted and a honey. What we really liked were the deep ledges. Just so much to see!
In PB we didn't see any sharks, saw one turtle (loggerhead), a green moray and 2 big spotted eels, a stingray (I missed that), a bat fish, a pederson shrimp and most the other fishies described above. While the bottom was not as dramatic as up in Jupiter, there was plenty of fishies to see and reef to explore...and more bottom time on the shallower dives.
