First Drift Dive in West Palm, Florida
- Thread starter Oddthomas
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
Reef_Haven
Contributor
Your in for a treat. Drift diving in West Palm is some of the easiest diving there is. One thing you may want to do, is get a safety sausage (SMB) and a short spool and practice deploying from your safety stop.
PatW
Contributor
The safety sausage is a very good idea and I would recommend it. I think the diving is better down in Pompano where you can also drift dive.
In a drift dive, it is important to get into the water quickly. Because otherwise the group will get scattered. When getting out of the water, the idea is to hang onto the tag line and stay away from the boat. Getting slammed against the boat by a brisk current is not fun. Just wait your turn and then move quickly to the ladder.
In a drift dive, it is important to get into the water quickly. Because otherwise the group will get scattered. When getting out of the water, the idea is to hang onto the tag line and stay away from the boat. Getting slammed against the boat by a brisk current is not fun. Just wait your turn and then move quickly to the ladder.
Scott L
Contributor
We manage to attract some divers and marine life here in the Palm Beaches...
YouTube - Jupiter Dive Center-What you will see diving in Jupiter
Reef_Haven
Contributor
Safety Sausages don't have a pressure relief valve. I only use one full breath and release it to the surface, usually from about 30ft. Then it's nearly full on the surface. This is easiest for me, more than one breath and I run into buoyancy issues. There are some good video clips on youtube for deploying. Also search a few threads on SB for proper deployment and tips, like being slightly negative, and don't attach directly to your BC.
Scott L
Contributor
What you may consider is to engage the services of a Dive Master for your first outing. Any charter operator in S. Florida can provide for a reasonable sum. They can provide a spool/reel and instruct on the proper method of deployment. In addition, you will likely better enjoy the dive eliminating the chance of separation from the DM provided by the charter who has many responsibilities....
stinkynewf
Contributor
If you're around for a few days of diving, I'd recommend you do a dive in Jupiter, a dive in WPB and something Boyton or slightly further south. All three have great diving, are very different and worth doing.
nolatom
Contributor
At the risk of heresy, I'd say forget deploying the sausage from the safety stop on your first couple of dives at least, it could be one task too many when you're new to the scene. Get used to the drift diving first (it's fun, that's where I did my first one, out of Riviera Beach marina) and use the advice above, particularly about being ready to jump when capt says "dive dive dive" and descend quickly, so you're with the group to start out, and not chasing them.
Just stay with the group and the DM who will be trailing a buoy, that way the boat (who follows that buoy) should be right nearby when you surface, because on a drift dive, the smart divers don't really swim, they "drift", using only enough fins to stay headed downcurrent. So you're moving almost the same speed over the ground as the group is, even if you ascend earlier than them and do your safety stop.
Later on you can add that extra task. I never did it, though, still don't, don't have a spool. I just use the sausage on the surface if the boat isn't nearby.
PS. In general, I found WPB to be more novice-intermediate and structured, Jupiter a little more advanced and "dive your dive"-ish. So if you're going both places, do WPB first since you're new to drift diving.
Just stay with the group and the DM who will be trailing a buoy, that way the boat (who follows that buoy) should be right nearby when you surface, because on a drift dive, the smart divers don't really swim, they "drift", using only enough fins to stay headed downcurrent. So you're moving almost the same speed over the ground as the group is, even if you ascend earlier than them and do your safety stop.
Later on you can add that extra task. I never did it, though, still don't, don't have a spool. I just use the sausage on the surface if the boat isn't nearby.
PS. In general, I found WPB to be more novice-intermediate and structured, Jupiter a little more advanced and "dive your dive"-ish. So if you're going both places, do WPB first since you're new to drift diving.
Similar threads
