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Is Key Largo a bad idea for winter diving?
- Thread starter CAPTAIN SINBAD
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seaseadee
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jimw
Contributor
Lauderdale By The Sea--just north of Ft Lauderdale on the ocean..........good shore dive if the seas cooperate. BHB=Blue Heron Bridge.....good shore dive most of the time all year, but what is going on outside comes in on the tide; so the viz can suck. We had 3-5 ft Tuesday but a nice dive with lots of critters. Called Force E today to check viz at the bridge and they said about 20 ft which is about average there.............we should have gone today!
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Randy g
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LBTS has 3 reefs to swim to and lots of sea life. First one is pounded down pretty good but very close to shore, second one is about at the pier length and pretty decent and the third one is a ways out from shore from what I hear maybe 300 yds, haven't been there yet. We've done the first 2 and will be taking the scooters out the the 3rd reef this next week to explore it. There's also some faux cannons and ballast stones within a hundred feet from the shoreline for snorkelers to look at. We park on Datura ave and if your lucky you can get a spot right at the beach.
Windjammer - Lauderdale-By-The-Sea Beach Cam
Windjammer - Lauderdale-By-The-Sea Beach Cam
jimw
Contributor
Back to the original question--Are the keys good diving in winter? Answer, it depends on the winds mostly! Usually it is blown out from the keys up the east coast to Jupiter at the same time but not always. So, dive vacationing in Florida is a CRAPSHOOT IN WINTER, but that's when most tourists come down.........I too lived up north and went to Key Largo to visit relatives in the winter and dive--other seasons too--I think I've been blown out in all seasons in the keys--probably all months! But if you have a couple of weeks or more; you will find some diving somewhere in SE Florida.........
In short, It's better in summer or fall IF there are no hurricanes! Consider Bonaire--south of the hurricane belt.
In short, It's better in summer or fall IF there are no hurricanes! Consider Bonaire--south of the hurricane belt.
Capt Sinbad, if you are doing to do a "long" (week to two) trip dedicated to diving, you should come in August through September and dive both Palm Beach and Key Largo. We have reliable long spells of calm weather during these months, there are lots of turtles and goliath groupers around (spawing aggregations), temps are downright toasty, vis tends to be stellar. Summer is just the best diving there is (unless a hurricane comes through, of course).,
If you have to do this trip in the winter, you should be ready to improvise depending on the weather. Your logbook experiences are fairly typical of winter diving down here. Driving to West Palm for the BHB is always a good idea because that dive is almost always do-able (although even there you can get rare days of 10' or less, right down to zero if the seas are rough, because that stirs up sand which comes in through the inlet to the bridge). Still, I would say BHB is the most reliable saltwater dive in Florida in the winter. If you are based in West Palm you can jump down to Key Largo if the weather gets calm. It would be just over 2 hours to northern key largo. You can also get great wrecj and reef trips out of Palm Beach if the weather calms down, as well.
We can get spectacular stretches of calm weather that last a week or two and give conditions as nice as anything you can hit in the summer, but there is just no reliable way to predict this between October and June. You have to check NOAA twice a day, it is fairly reliable down here. If a calm spell is predicted, then book a day or two down in Key Largo.
As for Key Largo, even when there are higher seas offshore, there are "inside" reefs that are significantly calmer. When the weather is windy, Key Largo gives you the best chance for a nice reef dive due to these inside reefs, when places from Miami northwards would be too rough. Personally, as I live here, I don't go out in seas 4' or higher. Just too miserable, tough and risky entries back onto the boat, uncomfortable surfact intervals, etc. If this is a once a year trip though, some of the bigger boats might be comfortable enough for you.
If you have to do this trip in the winter, you should be ready to improvise depending on the weather. Your logbook experiences are fairly typical of winter diving down here. Driving to West Palm for the BHB is always a good idea because that dive is almost always do-able (although even there you can get rare days of 10' or less, right down to zero if the seas are rough, because that stirs up sand which comes in through the inlet to the bridge). Still, I would say BHB is the most reliable saltwater dive in Florida in the winter. If you are based in West Palm you can jump down to Key Largo if the weather gets calm. It would be just over 2 hours to northern key largo. You can also get great wrecj and reef trips out of Palm Beach if the weather calms down, as well.
We can get spectacular stretches of calm weather that last a week or two and give conditions as nice as anything you can hit in the summer, but there is just no reliable way to predict this between October and June. You have to check NOAA twice a day, it is fairly reliable down here. If a calm spell is predicted, then book a day or two down in Key Largo.
As for Key Largo, even when there are higher seas offshore, there are "inside" reefs that are significantly calmer. When the weather is windy, Key Largo gives you the best chance for a nice reef dive due to these inside reefs, when places from Miami northwards would be too rough. Personally, as I live here, I don't go out in seas 4' or higher. Just too miserable, tough and risky entries back onto the boat, uncomfortable surfact intervals, etc. If this is a once a year trip though, some of the bigger boats might be comfortable enough for you.
The Chairman
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There are times that are trying for the Florida Keys during the winter but when the weather cooperates the diving is better than summer: it's spectacular. The good thing is that if the weather is snotty, you can always fall back to BHB. Probably not LBTS as it's affected by the weather just as much as we are and even more so when the surf's really up.
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