Hi, New to the Board not the sport.

[madmacs]

Hi, Hope everyone out there is doing great. I am new to the forum so here is a little about me. My name is LLoyd Mackey everyone calls me Gene so Gene it is. I live in Daytona Beach, and believe it or not I am a Native to florida. I have been diving off and on most of my life and can't really imagine not doing it. I have always been a fun diver exept in the military I know everyone out there knows what I mean, just getting wet and watching everything in the underwater world. You would think living in Daytona I would do a lot of ocean diving but around here you do more springs than the ocean. I really like diving the west coast there is just so much more to see. If you are coming this way just drop me a line and mabye I can point you in the right direction, locale dive shops and places to dive, later.

 

[inked59]

Hi Gene welcome aboard!

 

[Spider13]

Hi Gene,

What do you recommend for diving in the Daytona area (I'll be staying in Port Orange). I'll be down there soon for 5 days. I know Sea Dogs does wreck dives. Are these worth doing? Is there much to see, how is the visability, water temp, etc. in June?

You also mentioned spring dives. Are they close to Daytona and are there any dive shops that you recommend. I have read a little about the spring dives and it seems many of them are advanced dives, is that true? I have my PADI OW cert right now and won't be getting my Adv OW until later in the summer, after the Daytona trip.

Thanks for any info.

 

[madmacs]

Hi Spider13,
Well you have Discover diving on Dunlawton blvd. in port orange just on the inland side of the river or you can use Atlantic scuba on ridgewood ave in daytona. If you can catch a trip to the mindanow wreck thats pretty cool its in about 60 feet fair to good vis has lots of marine life and some really cool sand tigers. Springs you have blue springs in orange city real cool drift dive great vis then you have Deleon springs but you have to go with a group going vis good to poor depends on how many people are there then you have alexander springs super easy dive good vis only about 30 feet. talk to you later ps: let me know when you get down here.

 

[Spider13]

Madmacs, I was in Daytona the end of last week and ended up diving with Sea Dogs on Friday. I called Atlantic Scuba, Discover Diving and Spruce Creek, but none of them offered dive charters. Sea Dogs were great and we dove the USS Mindanao and Rio Yuna. I was surprised at how cold and dark it was, only 66F at depth below the thermocline at around 30ft. They thought vis was great at around 30ft, maybe a little more, but I was hoping for better visability. The Rio Yuna has many goliath groupers in the hull that were absolutely huge. Had I known it was that cold, a hood and gloves would have been a good idea, and the 3mm wetsuit might have been a bit light, but my tolerance for cold is pretty good, so I survived. Anyway, I didn't get your response until after I got back, so I might try to look you up if I ever get back there soon. Thanks.