Diving Orlando

[Minion_Diver]

this past october i got my OW and has since been looking at diving in FL. I plan on being in the Orlando area in Aug 2011 and as i was searching for a place to go diving while i am in the area. I am looking for some advise on where would be a good dive location in the Orlando area for a person with my level of experience. Im hoping by the time that i go to FL that i will have my AOW. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[amw5g]

Orlando, if you aren't going to stray, means lake and spring diving. You can also dive Disney's aquarium and the Seas in Epcot.
We did our training and check out for OW in the area. We found the springs to be generally not that interesting. They were great for practice because no current, lack of distractions, and so on. If you are so certified, many also offer cave diving. But they aren't really our style for recreation. They are a constant 72F or so, which can feel great on a hot August day.
Lakes, on the other hand, are interesting to me and I'd like to do more of it. The wife is not so keen on it, but I think they'd be a great place to practice navigation, low viz diving, and for bottom exploring. My only concern is the boaters, and Aug is a prime boating time. So you'd want to find a place that's known for safe diving.
I have seen a number of threads about Disney's Seas. We swam it once before certification and had a great time. Don't know if I'd do it now as a diver, but I haven't seen a bad review of it, honestly.
Dayo Scuba is a good resource for local diving news, info, and trips.
Best of luck

 

[j yaeger]

new symrna beach is only an hours run from orlando
seadogs dive charters are a good hit for wrecks
have fun
yaeg

 

[Minion_Diver]

thank you. im going to be going to both the gulf and atlantic whenever i am down there. and if i money permitting i would like to dive in both places and also and inland area as well.

 

[Busdiver]

Venice is 3ish hours away from Orlando. Go mega tooth hunting with captain jamie

 

[ColinB]

I've had a couple work trips to Orlando in the last year, and I found it worth the drive time to head down to Jupiter and dive with Jupiter Dive Center, or Boynton Beach to dive with Underwater Explorers. The drive wasn't bad, and the diving was great!
have fun wherever you decide on!
-c

 

[PatW]

I prefer Pompano Beach diving to West Palm or New Smyrna. It is farther, but there is much better soft coral growth down there. You can drive down and stay over night. Dive and come back.

I think the best diving in Florida is Key Largo. The marine sanctuary has some great shallow diving on coral reefs. Alternatively, you can go out and do wreck diving.

As mentioned above, on the strange side is muck diving for Megladon teeth (giant shark and the teeth go up to 6") at Venice. The vis stinks but if you like searching for "treasure", it might be just the thing. Another unique kind of diving is Crystal River. I don't know how it will be in the summer but you dive with manatees. That is pretty much a one of a kind sort of thing.

 

[Minion_Diver]

I was thinking about diving in Crystal River. I dont want to stray to far from Orlando to where i couldnt drive n dive in one day. I also would like to ocean dive in either the gulf or altantic. Are there any reefs or shallow wrecks in those areas that have charters that travel to them frequently?

 

[MuddyRubberDuck]

I live in Geneva. It's just north of Orlando. I spearfish and New Smyrna is my place. The vis and temp are hit or miss depending on the thermocline. The thing about it is I've had 57* otb in the summer and 75* in the winter. Other than that, blue springs is open that time of year. We also go down to west palm on occasion. If you go down there, try Capt. John with Hypnautical Dive charters. He has a nice catamaran that is only a six pack boat so it's much better than a cattle boat. We have also done the shark tooth dive in Venice. It was ok but I'm not sure I would go back. I just can't see myself paying a boat to take me to 6" vis. It is fun to see what you got though and compare to everyone else. Also, when we went, they were nav dives. You had to swim up current so you would end up back at the boat. Drift diving is more our style. There might be some people who either like to spend half their dive swimming back the way they came or surface swimming back. Not me, that's for the birds. Anyway. Those are my opinions on diving around Orlando. sorry for the drift diving rant and the grammar. I did it from my phone.