Divesites around Jacksonville??

[Waterborne]

Hello everyone, I will be attending commercial diving school in Jacksonville, Florida from April until July. Being a native of Michigan and not getting out much, I haven't done very much ocean diving at all. Mostly cold freshwater in the Great Lakes and inland lakes all year in a wetsuit (aka crazyman style:nuts: .) So if anyone has any good divesites that are not too far from the Jacksonville area please do share. I can't wait to get down there and enjoy what the ocean has to offer. Thanks everyone!

 

[metridium]

Among 22 divesites around Jax, Ned DeLoach's Diving Guide to Underwater Florida lists Amberjack Hole as the most beautiful natural reef, the wreck of the 180' freighter Anna, and a sunken drydock which was formerly FL's largest artificial reef.

 

[Waterborne]

Thanks for the help! I'll have to pick up that guide before I go down. Oh yeah I'm hoping I can get a dive or two in with the KPP on my drive down!

 

[ABQdiver]

metridium once bubbled...
Among 22 divesites around Jax, Ned DeLoach's Diving Guide to Underwater Florida lists Amberjack Hole as the most beautiful natural reef, the wreck of the 180' freighter Anna, and a sunken drydock which was formerly FL's largest artificial reef.

That looks like a good book! Think I might order it.

 

[metridium]

ABQdiver wrote...
That looks like a good book!

Yup, ~350 pages of divesites, descriptions, maps, and GPS coordinates.

Caveat: I'm not a frequent FL diver, so I can't say how accurate it is. Maybe Wreckwriter or some of the other FL divers will reveal their impressions of it?

 

[100days-a-year]

Drydock is still Flas biggest art reef.At 615' by 400' you can put 2 Spiegel Groves side by side and still have room for 2 Adolphus Busch.There are several WW2 wrecks and at least 200 other published art reef wrecks ,mostly barges and tugs.There are as many sites with culverts,pilings and concrete rubble.in addition there are ledges at 60' ,75',90',105',115',125',140',and the Hatteras slope at 150'-180'.Try www.atlanticprodivers.com for some ideas.They offer charters and courses and are located 1 block from the ocean.There are a lot of Jax spearfishermen at www.spearboard.com if you like fresh seafood.Jax is also 2 hrs from cave country and many of the Fla springs.PM me for more info.