Does any know the Daytona area?

[oceanaddicted]

Phoneman's right about Alexander. Beautiful place to spend the day, picnic or camp! Be prepared to walk a ways there with your gear tho. And definitely stay away from Blue Springs.....not much to see there really....goes into a cave system starting at about 15' or so and goes on to 120' with a really ripping flow. Quite a few divers died there because of the lack of experience. You may also want to consider diving in the aquarium up at Marineland in St. Augustine if they still offer it up. Got a couple of sharks in there, 3-4 turtles (one green and 2 loggerheads). You can watch the Divemanster feed them all (feed twice a day). Lot's of fish in there too. Think the fee was $65 and they're pretty lax about letting you dive all afternoon (or morning) if they don't have a bunch in there. Water is heated there since they had a cold snap a lost their big jewfishes a couple of years back. One was 400lbs and other two were around 250lbs. Shame but it happens. Dive fee includes admission to the park also so you can see the show too. Hope this helps.

 

[costi]

Phoneman's right about Alexander. Beautiful place to spend the day, picnic or camp! Be prepared to walk a ways there with your gear tho. And definitely stay away from Blue Springs.....not much to see there really....goes into a cave system starting at about 15' or so and goes on to 120' with a really ripping flow. Quite a few divers died there because of the lack of experience. You may also want to consider diving in the aquarium up at Marineland in St. Augustine if they still offer it up. Got a couple of sharks in there, 3-4 turtles (one green and 2 loggerheads). You can watch the Divemanster feed them all (feed twice a day). Lot's of fish in there too. Think the fee was $65 and they're pretty lax about letting you dive all afternoon (or morning) if they don't have a bunch in there. Water is heated there since they had a cold snap a lost their big jewfishes a couple of years back. One was 400lbs and other two were around 250lbs. Shame but it happens. Dive fee includes admission to the park also so you can see the show too. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the info. I've heard the same about Daytona from several people. Too much sand I guess. Drift diving sounds like a lot of fun if you go with the right boat crew. I'd like to learn more about it. thanks for the heads up on Blue Springs! I can die around here quite nicely...don't need to go south to do it! I was thinking the other day about how it would be interesting to dive the Boston Aquarium! (Not that the public is allowed). Would be a good way to dive when the ocean is crappy.....sounds a bit pricey but if it includes the show and admission it takes the bite out of it.
Thanks again, B.C.

 

[Reel Crazy14]

Diving off Daytona is probably just ok at best on a good day.

What?! I have been diving the Northeast Florida coast for about five years now off my boat from Daytona to Jacksonville and I can tell you first hand costi, Northeast Florida diving is not just ok. Sure your normal day is only going to give you about 40 ft of vis and less this time of year, but why judge a dive based soley on the vis? The big reason I like Northeast FL diving is its unpredictable nature, you never know what you're going to see (mantas, whales, BIG sharks, turtles, I could go on). The amount of marine life offshore of NE FL is second to none among all the places I've been diving.
The only problem with the diving here is that its a long boat ride out to all the good dive sites (15-30 miles). It creates a problem for the charters in that the fuel cost becomes very high so they all have to stay closer to shore where the meteocre spots are. I believe this is why so many people label NE FL diving as bad. Its like labeling the keys bad diving if the charters only dropped you off in the nearshore grass flats.
So I guess my point is, go ahead and try to dive Daytona (if the weather is good) and if possible try to dive some of the more offshore spots.

 

[aue-mike]

There is some awesome diving off NE Florida. Unfortunately, most charter boats (of the few running up there) don't run to the good spots. Personally, I don't accept the fuel costs or the long run issues. In the mid-Atlantic, 2 hour runs were typical (20-40 miles from the inlet). This includes popular dive locations like Morehead City and elsewhere.

 

[Reel Crazy14]

aue-mike- very true but people here in Florida do not usually like to pay over 50 or 60 dollars to do a two tank dive. I know here in Jax, charters are just able to get by with charging 75 dollars, any more and I believe divers would just go further south to avoid the high cost. In the mid atlantic however, there really is no alternative place to dive as Florida is too far away and outweighs the cost. I hope that makes sense.....

 

[100days-a-year]

6 divers in NE Fla out 15NM=35NM trip@.7MPG or roughly $150 in fuel.Expenses other than fuel may amount to another $100 a day.So a 6 pack makes roughly $200 a day plus tips by say 2:00PM.

12 divers (normal) get you an additional $400 in profit.

It's not so much fuel as idiots on the net and elsewhere telling everyone it's not worth it to dive here.Or that the only things to dive here are inshore or there's no vis.There's little demand for charters and few willing to babysit those who do show up.It is different here.I know personally just about every dive charter operation for the last 20 years here,Amelia and St.Augustine.Most were not able to make enough money regularly to justify staying in business.Our vis averages better than many Northern states and Daytona to Ft.Pierce.Can't be the seasons as they have those up North too.It is nice to not have to compete with many other divers for spots here.Look at my gallery to see what for.

 

[costi]

$50-60 for a two tank dive doesn't seem unreasonable to me. Understand though that
I have only done shore diving in the NE.

 

[costi]

6 divers in NE Fla out 15NM=35NM trip@.7MPG or roughly $150 in fuel.Expenses other than fuel may amount to another $100 a day.So a 6 pack makes roughly $200 a day plus tips by say 2:00PM.

12 divers (normal) get you an additional $400 in profit.

It's not so much fuel as idiots on the net and elsewhere telling everyone it's not worth it to dive here.Or that the only things to dive here are inshore or there's no vis.There's little demand for charters and few willing to babysit those who do show up.It is different here.I know personally just about every dive charter operation for the last 20 years here,Amelia and St.Augustine.Most were not able to make enough money regularly to justify staying in business.Our vis averages better than many Northern states and Daytona to Ft.Pierce.Can't be the seasons as they have those up North too.It is nice to not have to compete with many other divers for spots here.Look at my gallery to see what for.

whoops, hit the wrong button before I was through! Being new to an area and in need of an experienced reputable crew to show me the sites, I would gladly spend the money for a good dive rather than jumping into the water on a whim.
Everyone has a different opinion....rather it is a question on what regulator to breathe or what constitutes a good dive. To me a good dive is any time I am with good people, dive comfortably, learn something new, or see something unique, and all end up back on shore safely. Some feel 40 -50 feet of visibility is poor vis. I am new to diving but as of yet I haven't seen past 20 feet and couldn't believe the sites I saw whether it be the lobsters, crabs, flounder, bass, sand sharks, or just a piece of seaweed catching a ray of light.
The comment I made about hearing that vis was lousey I believe was related to someone talking about shore diving which is how I have done most of my diving. Is this accurate? Bob
in the D area?

 

[phoneman]

I live near Marine Land and I'll find out if they still do the tank dives. My instructor use to work there. The last I knew it was closed and I know the dolphins are gone. I'll let you know.

 

[100days-a-year]

right-on costi,I've heard for 20 years now how the diving here has bad vis,no fish whatever...I dive blackwater for fossils 30 minutes away,springs and caves are 2 hours,green inshore diving is a 20 minute boat ride out, to 2 hours to the continental shelf and sometimes 150'+ vis.A lot od so-called divers get in maybe 20 dives a year and only as babysat resort cattleboat divers.They then pontificate on this reg or that fin and this reef or that operation.That's why I don't rely on Rodales or Undercurrent for any useful info either.
Marineland is a cool dive,as is Epcot,Blue springs etc all within 2 hrs.
BTW my good dive criteria are similar to yours.Good friends,fun,sights and safely home.