DiverDave65
Contributor
Just spent 4 days diving around Jupiter, three days with Jupiter Dive Center and one day shark diving with Emerald Charters. Short version is I would highly recommend both operations and we had a great time with both.
Did two 2 tank trips and one 3 tank trip with Jupiter Dive Center. Hit Capt K's reef, the wreck trek (Bonnaire) and the MG-11 and Pillars. Also the "Norman" wreck at the end of one day. Was surprised at the chilly bottom temps around 70F the first day but always around 72-73F. Viz started out at 50 feet but by the end of day 4 down to 30 ft or so. Some mild currents and some very strong currents. Some days the reef was pretty full of small fish but nothing big; other days we spotted big sting rays, occasional Goliaths and small sharks. The MG-11 and "pillars" were FILLED with Goliaths one day, around 30 of them and very impressive! Well worth the trip by itself. The dive shop was well run including daily check-in, tank fills and analysis. The crew always hauled our tanks to the boat, a nice service. Dives were all well led by capable divemasters, and the crew assist on the boat was super. Two different Captains were incredible at dropping us on the right spots for each site and putting us in with regard to the current. My partner and I had practiced negative buoyancy entries in a 17 foot pool prior to this trip and that was invaluable, as we were required to do this on several dives, including the shark dives. Pickup went well; usually by the end of some dives we were pretty well spread out at the surface and each group had to deploy an SMB. Overall fun but my partner and I found these to be somewhat challenging dives due to current, poor viz and chilly temps.
The day of shark diving with Emerald was also excellent; another very well run operation. Tank rental was coordinated with Jupiter Scuba, and they were very efficient at providing required nitrox tanks or other equipment (my buddy uses bright yellow fins which are not allowed so we arranged fins, too, for her.) The 3 dives were also well led and managed with appropriate deck assistance and the Capt dropped us into 3 different spots. We had 2 sharks join us on 2 dives, got skunked on the last one. First set of sharks were Dusky sharks, about 6 ft long, second dive we were joined by 2 10 foot lemon sharks. They all swam around us as the shark handler doled out small chum and the sharks never seemed to get too aggressive. Lots of photo and video opportunities. This was a lot of fun and a first time experience for my dive partner; I had done it once in the Bahamas.
Overall an excellent experience with both dive operators and I would repeat with both of them. Definitely not Caribbean diving but nice to just drive there from the Tampa area and not have to go through airports with all the flying hassles.
Would like to try the Pompano wrecks next time.
Did two 2 tank trips and one 3 tank trip with Jupiter Dive Center. Hit Capt K's reef, the wreck trek (Bonnaire) and the MG-11 and Pillars. Also the "Norman" wreck at the end of one day. Was surprised at the chilly bottom temps around 70F the first day but always around 72-73F. Viz started out at 50 feet but by the end of day 4 down to 30 ft or so. Some mild currents and some very strong currents. Some days the reef was pretty full of small fish but nothing big; other days we spotted big sting rays, occasional Goliaths and small sharks. The MG-11 and "pillars" were FILLED with Goliaths one day, around 30 of them and very impressive! Well worth the trip by itself. The dive shop was well run including daily check-in, tank fills and analysis. The crew always hauled our tanks to the boat, a nice service. Dives were all well led by capable divemasters, and the crew assist on the boat was super. Two different Captains were incredible at dropping us on the right spots for each site and putting us in with regard to the current. My partner and I had practiced negative buoyancy entries in a 17 foot pool prior to this trip and that was invaluable, as we were required to do this on several dives, including the shark dives. Pickup went well; usually by the end of some dives we were pretty well spread out at the surface and each group had to deploy an SMB. Overall fun but my partner and I found these to be somewhat challenging dives due to current, poor viz and chilly temps.
The day of shark diving with Emerald was also excellent; another very well run operation. Tank rental was coordinated with Jupiter Scuba, and they were very efficient at providing required nitrox tanks or other equipment (my buddy uses bright yellow fins which are not allowed so we arranged fins, too, for her.) The 3 dives were also well led and managed with appropriate deck assistance and the Capt dropped us into 3 different spots. We had 2 sharks join us on 2 dives, got skunked on the last one. First set of sharks were Dusky sharks, about 6 ft long, second dive we were joined by 2 10 foot lemon sharks. They all swam around us as the shark handler doled out small chum and the sharks never seemed to get too aggressive. Lots of photo and video opportunities. This was a lot of fun and a first time experience for my dive partner; I had done it once in the Bahamas.
Overall an excellent experience with both dive operators and I would repeat with both of them. Definitely not Caribbean diving but nice to just drive there from the Tampa area and not have to go through airports with all the flying hassles.
Would like to try the Pompano wrecks next time.
