Ft Lauderdale Recommendation?

[Mambo Dave]

The area is so good we, too, are staying under for a long time. bjpell and I did a 2h20min beach dive yesterday, garnering interest from at least one other diver who went in after us but came out before us - both times with a drink in hand and in street/beach clothes. Actually, nearly all the flags around us were gone after that long. I am getting to -really- like having a LP120 on... all 52-plus pounds of it. Gives plenty of air / nitrox for swims out to, then diving on, the 2nd reef / white ball buoys.

Though I keep meeting women who do that dive on an AL80 and have plenty of air... lol

 

[DebbyDiver]

I was also going to recommend American Dream II http://scubafortlauderdale.com/

They are really great.

I've been beach diving off Pompano, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood for 25 years and I still love it. I still marvel in wonder that such beauty could be so close to the beach and most people don't have a clue.

Enjoy your visit!

 

[vr24]

FastAttack,
It's easy to hit 1h20m when you are diving on the surface, lol... Hit me up for beach dives anytime as well.

And to the poster curious about dive operators being sympathetic and what not to n00bs, I went out on a boat at pennekamp a few weeks back, was only 30 feet deep at molasses reef, and when me and my friends came up, everyone was already dressed and ready to go. I looked at my dive computer, 56 minutes, lol... I've only done about 20-30 total dives, I'm a newbie as well... The dive operator even said "are we getting overtime for you guys" ... I was kind of blown away since we were first in the water and didn't even do a full hour...

 

[Dive-aholic]

Another vote for American Dream II. Big new boat, not crowded. Great Capt and crew.

 

[Divingguy]

I went with South Florida Dive Headquarters in Pompano in April. One thing you might consider for your first dives in the area is hiring a "guide" / instructor to go with you on your first day. It might help, especially your wife, to have the instructor around to make sure y'all are comfortable with any "new" aspects of boat/drift diving, and navigation. Just a thought.

 

[Wolfie2012]

I went with South Florida Dive Headquarters in Pompano in April. One thing you might consider for your first dives in the area is hiring a "guide" / instructor to go with you on your first day. It might help, especially your wife, to have the instructor around to make sure y'all are comfortable with any "new" aspects of boat/drift diving, and navigation. Just a thought.

Yeah I was considering hiring a guide because of my wife. I'm pretty confident that I'd personally be fine without one, but I know my wife may feel differently. Would make me feel better knowing she was as comfortable as can be, although she was pretty darn comfortable on her checkout dives in 50 degrees with 10ft vis.

Anyway, glad everyone is recommending American Dream 2. I got a pretty good feeling about them after the first poster who recommended them so it's nice to see my feelings validated.

And FastAttack... I might PM you about the beach dives when we get down there. I know my wife wants to take our 7 year old to the beach one day and it might give me a chance to sneak away and hook up with you guys for a dive. My wife and I are not huge pre-planners on vacations so I'll have to see what we figure out on the drive down.

Thanks again for everyone's replies