florida dive trip help needed

[duncan1958]

Hi Guys.
I am in the early stages of planing a trip to Florida, Miami area this year,late april till the end of may.I have been to the USA many times in the past but never diving.So my diving buddys,can you help?dive sites,dive clubs,etc....
I am fond of wreck diving.Will be qualified to divmaster level by the time I take the trip.
I am an English man currently living and diving in Spain,so if you have any questions of the diving here just ask.

 

[timle]

Since you are going to be here a month - I would definately recommend heading down into the keys for some of that. The drive from Miami to Key Largo is about 1:45 minutes or so. Great diving down there. I'm headed there on Saturday Heading further down south on the keys they are tons more dive sites - Islamorada, Marathon, and more.

The Speigal Grove is a popular artificial reef in Key Largo. City of Washington is a wreck from 1917 but is highly deteriorated. The Duane is another popular artifical reef.

 

[moneysavr]

Hi Guys.
I am in the early stages of planing a trip to Florida, Miami area this year,late april till the end of may.I have been to the USA many times in the past but never diving.So my diving buddys,can you help?dive sites,dive clubs,etc....
I am fond of wreck diving.Will be qualified to divmaster level by the time I take the trip.
I am an English man currently living and diving in Spain,so if you have any questions of the diving here just ask.

I second Timle's post,KeyLargo is the dive meca of Florida And the Florida Keys are the dive Meca
for wrecks,they have sunk many over the years. Its not a bad drive,Also see the John Penakamp park for some dives as they run trips to some nice reef area,
A good source of dive shops and boats in Florida is this Free Scuba news sign up on the web at
www.scubanews.com
hit the site and sign up they will send you a few copys free! have fun and dont forget to dive the S.Grove she now sit upright,
Brad

 

[deeper thoughts]

As a keys resident I am not too objective but the diving is fantastic here, also the following operators have a good reputation and take you to the best sites.
HMS Minnow(6pk)
Conch Republic divers(Great people dove with them once and fellow Board Member)
Ocean Divers(Big Boats but I like the service and they have a definite schedule)
If you need further info i will be glad to assist.

 

[ranger]

I second Conch Republic divers, will put you on all the wrecks, good, friendly service. They are very safety aware, check C Cards and will not let anyone dive outside of their C Card limits ( no OW divers on deep dives)

 

[KBeck]

Duncan--
You may want to ask over on the Conch Divers secton; you'll get lot's more answers, I think.

There is plenty of diving from the Keys, as previously covered, to Miami (more in the wreck area than reefs), tons of wrecks in Ft. Lauderdale just to the north, and then all the way trhough and up to WEst Palm Beach/Jupiter. If you tell us depth preferences, we can definitely point you more specifically. And as you said you're here for a whole month, you can probably cover several areas.

Pop a note over on the Fl Conch Diver's secction, and I bet we can even get a group together as well....funny how we like to do that.
April/May is a great time to dive here....water is warming back up, but the surface temps aren't usually hot enough to melt you.
Pop me a PM if yo'd like as well and I can try to point you to specific dive ops, etc. in a particular area.

 

[1_T_Submariner]

Hi Duncan
I dove with Silent World in Key largo last summer, Great service not crowded etc....

 

[Padipro]

Hey Duncan,

Check out this Site for a list of the local dive sites. On the left of the page is a link to the list of wreck and reef dives. Most of these are a little north of Miami but not to far.

Let all of us in the Conch Divers section know when you're here and maybe we can all get together and show you around.

 

[duncan1958]

Let all of us in the Conch Divers section know when you're here and maybe we can all get together and show you around.[/QUOTE]

I have booked my flights .Will be in Florida from the 27th april till the 30th of may.
I have a friend who lives in the Delray beach area so will be with her and her family for the start of my trip.