Ft. Lauderdale Area Next Wknd., Jan 13-15

[mccabejc]

Okay, all plans are finalized for my first time trip to Ft. Lauderdale area next weekend. My non-diving wife and I are staying on the beach in Pompano, and I'm really looking forward to doing some shore diving in the area if I can find some folks to buddy up with. We'll be arriving on Thursday, and have no plans for Friday thru Sunday, so if anyone would like to do some beach diving I'd love to tag along.

This weekend I'll probably be diving in 3-5 ft surf, with water temps around 55, so I'm really looking forward to breaking out my 3mm fullsuit and dropping lots o' pounds off the belt

 

[Scuba_Dad]

Jim... Keep an eye on the surf conditions... This is not the most predictable time of year for good viz... but, you never know... I'll be down there this week 9-11, but... I'll be stuck in a seminar, and I probably won't get any diving in. Unless of course... Marvel and Jenny kidnap me and force me to go diving... If there's a chance to dive... I'll drag my gear down with me...

 

[Padipro]

Jim,

A few of us are going to be in Key Largo diving the Grove with Blue Water Divers on Saturday afternoon the 14th if you're interested. Key Largo is only an hour and a half to two hours from Ft. Lauderdale and you might be able to hich a ride from one of the other divers that isn't staying over night so you wouldn't have to drive.

There is a thread started with all the information in the Conch Divers section. If there is anyway you can make it I highly recommend a dive on the Grove.

BTW the water temps are in the mid 70's and some of us wimpy Florida divers are going to be wearing drysuits that weekend.

 

[Marvel]

BTW the water temps are in the mid 70's and some of us wimpy Florida divers are going to be wearing drysuits that weekend.

And some of us are wishing we had one!

 

[mccabejc]

Thanks for the invite Scott. I was thinking about maybe heading down to the Keys at some point on the trip if we have time, but I'm gonna see if I can get the local beach dives to pan out. I've always been partial to beach diving, since it's so cheap and easy, etc. Plus my wife loves going with me to the beach...

By the way, I found a map of the reefs and wrecks off the Pompano/Ft. Lauderdale coast ( www.oceanfest.com/JPEG/reefmapbig.jpg ), and it looks like you can get in the water pretty much anywhere along the coast and head out to 15-30 ft depth and find some kind of reefs, no?

 

[Marvel]

By the way, I found a map of the reefs and wrecks off the Pompano/Ft. Lauderdale coast ( www.oceanfest.com/JPEG/reefmapbig.jpg ), and it looks like you can get in the water pretty much anywhere along the coast and head out to 15-30 ft depth and find some kind of reefs, no?

Yes, pretty much but some spots are better than others. For example, north of Commercial Blvd (#12 on your map), the reef is patchier than it is south. That's why you'll often see folks posting that they are meeting at Datura Street or Hibiscus- 1 & 2 blocks south respectively. The diving is just better there.

Thanks for posting the map, BTW- it's a great reference!

 

[mccabejc]

Hey, are there any local beach diving rules/ordinances? Around here some of the beaches require that you have a buddy and a snorkel, and LA County requires a dive flag (which most people ignore). The lifeguards do enforce the buddy/snorkel ordinance pretty strictly. Anything like that in Pompano/Ft. Lauderdale? Any places that are off limits to beach diving?

Thanks.

 

[aabond]

I haven't heard of any buddy/snorkel ordinances. Flags are required and there is a pretty hefty fine for not using one. Although I did do a night dive the other night with a friend of mine and decided not to use one since I was using my new camera with a demo strobe which I was unfamiliar with. We just descended real close to shore and didn't surface till we were at 4 feet of water. I'm guessing there are times of the year such as mini-lobster season where the patrols are much more vigilant.

I'm definitely up for some beach diving, although diving the grove sounds like a good trip.

 

[mccabejc]

Okay, well I guess there aren't any takers for beach diving this weekend...

I'm heading out early tomorrow, and probably won't hit the hotel until 8pm, so I guess I'll have to take a boat on Friday morning. If anyone changes their minds and wants to do some shore diving this weekend, leave a post and I'll try to find an internet connection on Friday.

 

[mccabejc]

Well, we got back from our trip yesterday, and unfortunately didn't get any diving in due to the weather causing the boats to stay in port. Though the wind on Saturday blew the surface of the ocean flat, and viz was probably around 15-20 feet in front of our hotel in Pompano. I was dying to grab a tank and jump in, but without a buddy or dive flag I decided not to.

By the way, do any of the dive shops rent dive flags? I noticed that a lot of speed boats like to skirt those "vessel exclusion" buoys pretty close, so I can see where the flags are necessary. Hopefully they don't tie the dive float off to their boats and hit the throttle

Anyway, too bad I didn't get to meet any Florida SB'ers. If any of you come to the Los Angeles area, let me know (either PM me or post on the SoCal Kelp Divers forum). We dive most every weekend, and have regular monthly get-togethers (barbeque and beach diving one week, and boat diving another week), and we'd love to have you join us.