Diving near Orlando for beginner

[kcape]

Hello,

I'm a new diver and have been coerced into a Disney vacation with relatives the first week of May. I'm hoping somebody can suggest a place my husband and I could sneak away for a couple of days to get a few dives in. Being from Chicago, we don't get to dive much!

I've looked at the operation at New Smyrna Beach and several near Ft. Lauderdale, but most of the sites are wrecks at 60 feet or deeper. Where can we go for some diving that's within the depth we can go.

Most of our diving has been boat diving so we are comfortable with that. Do we have to travel further south to find shallower diving?

Thanks so very much for your help.

 

[Brian Sharpe]

One dive you might want to try if you're in Orlando is the DiveQuest at Epcot - you dive in a large, warm aquarium & get to rub shoulder with sharks, turtles etc etc - a little pricey but a very pleasant dive (and you briefly become a Disney cast member)
Epcot DiveQuest | Walt Disney World Resort

 

[Crush]

I am from Canada. Last year I was in Orlando and drove the 2.5 hours (?) to get to West Palm Beach and dove with Starfish Dive Charter at Scuba Charters and Scuba Dive Boat Tours of I Dive Starfish of Lantana, FL . I have no affiliation with them. I LOVED the diving and hope to be diving with them again this year.

West Palm diving is some of the best US diving you are going to do.

 

[scubassplayer]

From what I understand, you need to go south to at least Jupiter for great diving. BTW the Epcot Dive Quest is alot of fun, my buddy and I really enjoyed the experience, I highly recommend it.

 

[Saltwater Junky]

Check with Enzo at Scubatyme in Pompano Beach. They have deep and shallow dives. The deep dives are generally wrecks that sit on the sand at 110', but with parts of the wreck being at 60'-80'. The shallow dives are reefs from 30' to 70'. Check out their website. They have descriptions of the wrecks including depths. .:: SCUBATYME ::.

 

[NavyGreg]

There are also numerous freshwater springs within a couple hours of Orlando that are great dives. If you want to stick to ocean dives, Little Deeper charters out of West Palm is a good operation.

 

[JahJahwarrior]

Little Deeper in WP is a great one, I hear great things from them. Jupiter Dive Center in Jupiter has been good to the Dive Club at UCF.

If you want some fresh water spring diving, Ginnie Springs is world famous and located about 2 hours from Orlando. It is $30 per person or so to dive there. State parks are cheaper, but more out of the way, and won't have any rental gear for you if you need some, and are more closed right now--Manatee Springs and Blue Springs both have manatees in them right now I believe. Manatee will still have Catfish Hotel open, but no lights allowed unless you are cavern. It's sitll cool, but at Ginnie, you'd have several springs to see for only double the price, and they have rental gear on site.

 

[orlandoscuba]

As it was posted that there are springs about 1.5 hours away (Blue Grotto and Devil Dens), and boat diving on the east coast. But there are also some good places on the west coast near tampa. I have a friend who does boat charters (TampaDivers.com) and is also a divemaster. He can take you to some good dive sites.

If you want to stay at disney, as mentioned Dive Quest at Epcot is great. But it would cost you about 150 and includes all your gear.

 

[Louma]

Check in with The Lake Mary SCUBA Club (link in my signature) there are always people doing dives at various levels. It costs nothing to join, you don't have to live in the area, and you can go diving with some people that are experienced diving the site.

 

[Joe21]

If you looked at sea dogs dive center they run a great charter, but if youre looking for shallower west palm beach is hard to beat the vis is great and the water is warm and the reefs are usually around 60ft or less. Sea dogs has been making quite a few trips down there lately you might wwant to check their web site for dates.