Diving near orlando

[RedddogK]

My husband and I are going to Orlando the 1st week in October and we want to do some diving. Anybody know a good place that we can go and who we can go through. We have been to ORlando many times but this is the first time we want to go diving. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thank you
Denise

 

[Dive-aholic]

Disney World has an aquarium dive. It's about $140 per diver. It's 3 hours, but most of that time is spent dry. The only gear you can bring is your mask. They supply everything else (understandable since it's a closed environment). I think you get to do 2 20 minute dives. I've never done it, but only because it doesn't seem worth it.

Blue Springs in Orange City is about an hour north of Orlando. It's a high flow cave system. You can drop (climb) down to 60 feet and still be within the cavern/OW zone. No lights allowed. We use Seminole Scuba in Lake Mary for tank rentals (closest shop)

Daytona Beach is about an hour and a half NE of Orlando and has boats going out to wrecks. It can be hit or miss though. Last October our trip got cancelled due to 1 foot viz. We dove with Discover Diving Dive Center in Port Orange.

I don't think you'll find much more near Orlando. You can drive over to Crystal River in about 2 hours and snorkel with the manatees followed by a couple of dives. We did that last year with American Pro Dive.

Hope this helps.