Hello From Illinois to Florida

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tpmc64

Registered
Messages
27
Reaction score
7
Location
Fort Myers, Fl
# of dives
200 - 499
Hello Everyone,

I am originally from outside Chicago IL and currently moving to the warmer weather where we will be able to dive all the time!
One of my favorite places to dive is in Bonaire doing some shore diving. I got certified in 2011 for open water through SDI and did some advanced courses after.

Let me know your favorite place to dive in the Florida Keys or around Florida!
 
Ah, beautiful Lemont. Like all the 'burbs, not a bad place to get out of. I escaped Will County for Texas a decade ago. Congrats on the move and welcome!
 
Hey @tpmc64, we're also from Illinois but now in Florida.

I assume some of the people here will have more specific advice based on how you liked Bonaire.

My dive buddy and I have quite enjoyed the variety Florida diving has to offer.

Off the top of my head, for casual dives, Blue Grotto and Devil's Den are right next to each other and worth seeing at least once. Ginnie Springs a bit further north. All sorts of more tech oriented cave stuff in the northern half of the stake, if you are into that kind of thing.

On the Gulf coast, not diving but the manatee snorkeling in the winter was one of the most special trips we've taken. Megalodon tooth hunting off Venice, FL is on our list.

In South Florida there's excellent drift diving off Palm Beach. With the goliath grouper aggregation in early fall. Of course Blue Heron Bridge for cheap but world class shore diving.

Charters to suit every taste in the Keys. A night dive with a whole bunch of turtles on the Benwood Wreck stands out to me.

I'm still working through the Florida regional forum archives myself. There's tons of stuff there and the BHB trolls thread is quite active.

Hope to see you out diving some time. I was on a charter one time where at least half the divers were from Illinois, so you should feel right at home.
 
Ah, beautiful Lemont. Like all the 'burbs, not a bad place to get out of. I escaped Will County for Texas a decade ago. Congrats on the move and welcome!
Haha! couldn't get out of there fast enough!
 
Hey @tpmc64, we're also from Illinois but now in Florida.

I assume some of the people here will have more specific advice based on how you liked Bonaire.

My dive buddy and I have quite enjoyed the variety Florida diving has to offer.

Off the top of my head, for casual dives, Blue Grotto and Devil's Den are right next to each other and worth seeing at least once. Ginnie Springs a bit further north. All sorts of more tech oriented cave stuff in the northern half of the stake, if you are into that kind of thing.

On the Gulf coast, not diving but the manatee snorkeling in the winter was one of the most special trips we've taken. Megalodon tooth hunting off Venice, FL is on our list.

In South Florida there's excellent drift diving off Palm Beach. With the goliath grouper aggregation in early fall. Of course Blue Heron Bridge for cheap but world class shore diving.

Charters to suit every taste in the Keys. A night dive with a whole bunch of turtles on the Benwood Wreck stands out to me.

I'm still working through the Florida regional forum archives myself. There's tons of stuff there and the BHB trolls thread is quite active.

Hope to see you out diving some time. I was on a charter one time where at least half the divers were from Illinois, so you should feel right at home.
Thanks for all the great info!
I have been wanting to get out to do a meg dive in Venice the goal is to find a big one haha that's everyone's dream right?!
 
Im going to be in the Fort Myers area
I do all of my diving in Boynton Beach, Jupiter, and West Palm. I have not been down to the Keys since 2015, Let me know if I can help with any questions.

You can find several of my visit reports in the Florida forum. Click on one of the trip report icons and all the trip reports will come up. Here is my latest, just last week Trip Report - Back in Florida, 2022 #3

Best of luck in your move, Florida has some great diving
 
I used to work for a company that had it's headquarters in Schaumburg, Illinois and it was interesting how many engineers wanted to come down to Florida and "help me" in the fall and winter. Many would time it so that the company would move them to Florida several years before they were to retire. BTW all of the places mentioned above will give you a great start to your Florida exploration. East coast of Florida, Jupiter south is the best.
 
Im going to be in the Fort Myers area

I'm just south of you in Bonita Springs. I head over to the east coast about one weekend a month. As has been said, the best diving is from Jupiter south down into the Keys. Most of my diving is in Palm Beach County, occasionally in Broward, and on rare occasions Key Largo or here in Southwest FL although diving options are extremely limited on this (southwest) coast of FL.
 
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