Florida Keys shore dive locations?

[MarineVet32935]

Originally Posted by bilznut:
there is a place the locals call "Cuban cut" on the Gulf side. It is the only great shore dive spot I've heard of or dove (3x) in the Keys. It is at mile marker 38, Big Pine Key.

Mile marker 38 is somewhere between the Ohio-Bahia Honda Channel Bridge and the entrance to Bahia Honda State Park. I don't know of any bayside accesses off US-1 on Big Pine. Once you make landfall on Big Pine at about mm33, the road turns north and everything to the right is Spanish Harbor, then it turns west again, into the middle of Big Pine Key. Here's an aerial of the Channel, showing the old and new bridges, I mentioned previously. That's Big Pine Key Fishing Lodge in the middle.

 

[BILLB]

The "shore dive" location is just on the west side of the Bahia Bridge. There is an ambulance on the bottom around 45 feet. The Viz is usually 10 feet or less. Some use it for OW dives when the wind is blowing. It is also a nice swimming hole. Parking is available on the side of the road and you will have to haul your gear to the dive spot over a short trail. I usually take a dip there from an inflatable boat every now and then.

Another "shore dive" is located in the Bahia Honda state park. The water side campground has a channel from the campers boat area to approximately the last campsite near the bridge. The depth is 25 feet. Careful, many campers are fishing and many boats are either anchored there or are underway. Viz is not bad but the bottom holds all the camper's trash! The bottom is a bit silty too. Plenty of small fish to see.

This is a boat dive, but approximately 2 miles offshore from Bahia Honda is a channel marker (G Marker is what I call it). There is a small patch reef there where the corals are in very good shape and lots of fish. Some of the best brain coral in the keys is found here. Max depth is 35 feet. A very good dive. My wife and I dive it every year and we are usually to alone except for maybe a fishing boat or two.

 

[MarineVet32935]

I completely forgot about the ambulance site. It was one of the first sites I took my daughter to, when she was little.

I've dove G Marker a few times, too. You're right, it's a pretty nice site and usually few people on it, because just a few miles away are the finger reef's of Looe Key.

 

[Buoyant1]

DO they run trips off of Bahia Honda? We wandered through the park one time on our way to KW and just checked it out, I saw the minimal dive shop in the main building, but didn't get any info on what they offer?

The Mrs. want's to rent one of the cabins sometime, and of course I'm going to dive if I can!!!

 

[bilznut]

In the pic "marine vet shows, the horseshoe cut of the left side is the dive site. That entire horseshoe is a coral shelf. Be aware of jellies.

 

[MantaRey]

A long time ago a buddy of mine from national geographic recommended an interesting trip to take around big pine. Rent a kayak and take it out to one of the small islands, great shallow dives (famous for snorkeling) I probably have some links saved somewhere to a good place where you can rent the kayaks which is near the islands. Feel free to pm me if you'd like the info. Oh yeah this is heavily dependent on the weather; if there is any kind of wind or current you'll probably not want to go, also the place won't rent you a kayak. Tarpon Belly... it's called something like that.

Great overnight camping on some of the islands as well.

 

[vapovick]

there are some shores dives up in biscayne key, but nothing south of it... when in March are you head down? I am looking for a trip in March to. I dive with Capt. Slates ADC in garden cove>key largo<

./good luck

 

[MarineVet32935]

What horseshoe cut are you talking about in the picture?

Everything to the left of US-1 is land or wetlands (very shallow brackish water) on Big Pine Key. The bottom right corner is Spanish Harbor and the Atlantic. The upper right is Spanish Harbor and Florida Bay, with No Name Key in the extreme upper right.

You can see a missing span in the western (left) end of the old bridge, that was removed to keep people off of it. The channel into Big Pine Key Fishing Lodge runs parallel to the highway and below it. Coming out of that channel, you can go under the new bridge and through the missing span of the old bridge into a narrow channel that runs out into Florida Bay, or run the channel between the two bridges, out to the middle of Spanish Harbor and turn under the new bridge, into the Atlantic.

Diving north of the missing span, would be dangerous, as there's a lot of boat traffic coming out of BPKFL into the Bay. I've dived the pilinggs under the old bridge a whole lot, probably 100 or more dives and it's really cool. Lots of corals, tropicals and game fish all together. Even saw a huge tarpon there once, over 4' long. There's lots of lobster too, but of course, it's illegal to take them that close to a bridge.

 

[MarineVet32935]

In the picture I posted, you're looking toward the northwest at the top. here's a map of the same area:

 

[SFLDiver]

A long time ago a buddy of mine from national geographic recommended an interesting trip to take around big pine. Rent a kayak and take it out to one of the small islands, great shallow dives (famous for snorkeling) I probably have some links saved somewhere to a good place where you can rent the kayaks which is near the islands. ... Great overnight camping on some of the islands as well.

Hmmm, sounds great, but if I come down with my own kayaks,
where does one find an overnight parking spot ?
and don't you need permission for camping on some of the outer islands ?