I want to "design" a week long diving trip to South Florida with the goal being to experience as many different types of diving. What I want to avoid is doing the same old 2-tank dives in Key Largo for 5 straight days. Don't get me wrong. These are fun and they will be part of my week. But I want a little variety. Without trying to sound like a snob, I want to branch out from the same 30 foot reef dives (insert "You always see something new when you dive" speech here.).
I'm looking for more challenging dives. Walls (if there are any in South Florida). Sharks -- I wanna see sharks. I am going to do a few wrecks in the Largo area. Deeper dives. Sharks - did I mention that?
What would you advise to do? I was going to head up north to the Palm Beach area in hopes of some more challenging dives and to see sharks. Is that where I should head?
What about for walls? How are the wrecks off Ft. Lauderdale (they're reefs didn't do much for me).
Any advice on places to see and go are appeciated.
Brian
I'll try to answer your post best as I can - while we all like different things, its just my opinion - but I'm a 31 year S. FL local (and I'm going to answer your post, but it would really be helpful if you could have posted your experience, number of dives, etc, b/c what I'll post is not necessarly aimed a new or inexperienced, or rusty diver).
I tend to agree with you about the Keys - especially if you dive with the better known operators - if you do head down to KL, try HMS Minnow (
www.hmsminnow.com).
There is a "wall" dive called Conch Reef Wall in the Islamorada area - but its NOT like Cayman, Bay Islands, or Cozumel - for all purposes, you need a volcanic formed land mass to have true walls, and that land mass is not FL.
To me the best diving in S. FL is found in Palm Beach county - hands down - However.....Miami has excellent wreck dives - RJ Diving out of Miami Beach Marina is an excellent op.
I'm not a huge fan of Ft Lauderdale diving ( I'm in the minority on this board!
), however they do have some excellent wrecks. Every time I do the reefs, I see the old tires (many thousands) that were dumped in the '70's as part of a failed experiment to build reef and had the exact opposite effect.
I'd recommend 2 areas - Boynton/Delray - they have the best reefs in FL IMO - Scuba Kevin - on this board - runs a fantastic operation - the reefs are great, and there are some wrecks.
My favorite place is Jupiter - to me, Jupiter has it all - beautiful reefs (although not as nice as Boynton), wrecks (although not as many or as good as Miami), but above all, certain sites you are almost assured of seeing sharks - sites like "Tunnels", or "Area 51" which are dived (dove??) regularly. You stand the best chance of seeing large animals in Jupiter - the Gulf Stream comes in close, and brings all sorts of big stuff in close. Recommend (highly) Jupiter Dive Center.
If you are new, or rusty, either hire a DM to dive w/ you in Jupiter, or do Boynton - little easier diving, but both are drift diving, and Jupiter tends to be 70 - 90' - to avoid 25 min dives, you need to be NITROX certified - most of your fellow divers in Jupiter will be.
You have dove the upper Keys - try Palm Beach county - plus its a haul from PB to KL.
Have a great trip!