Get right to the pics!
On a recent trip to Miami, I of course decided to bring my dive gear, and a co-worker and myself would try and get a couple of dives in. For those not familiar with the Miami diving scene, it has a lot of wrecks and some very nice reefs as well as limited shore diving. Unfrotunately, there doesnt seem to be a very good diving infrastructure. After calling a few places, and not getting calls back, I eventually got in touch with RJ Diving Ventures and signed up for some reef dives on a Sunday morning. We planned to get our gear through South Beach Divers the day before. Unfortunately, this was a bad move as there was zero parking in south beach, which is a common occurance. Even had we parked anywhere it would be a long walk to the car with gear.
-Harlequin Bass
Instead I recalled a dive shop near the boat, on the southwest side of south beach, and we drove over to there where parking turned out to be free! The dive shop in question is Tarpoon Lagoon Dive Center, which turned out to be a wonderful shop, with everything we needed. RJ also uses them to collect boat fees. We arranged to get gear the next morning, and then walked from there to South Pointe Park, about half a mile away, which seems to be the only shore dive around, which takes place on a jetty on the north side of Govt Cut. I just wanted to see what it looked like for future dives, and it did seem to look clear enough for a dive, although it gets a good wave pounding. There is even a temporary loading zone where gear can be dropped off, and benches to set up on. Parking could be tight however.
-my buddy
On to diving. Sunday morning, my friend and I arrived at the dock, picked up our gear and loaded onto the boat. We met the captain and his DM, who were both very friendly and knowledgable. Also on the boat were some couples visiting, and a dive club from UM. We all headed off to Rainbow Reef, our first stop. Waves were small, water temperatures were in the low 70s (a welcome change), and we dropped into the blue water and down to the bottom, only 20ft away. Visibility was about 20ft, but blue, and I decided to practice some navigation on this dive. I took a bearing on my compass and headed off. Current was light, which wouldnt affect my nav much. We came accross the usual tropicals, Blue Tangs, Butterfly Fish, Squirrel Fish, etc. Unfortunately, no sharks or eels. I also picked the Harlequin Bass and my fish to identify this trip, and you can see it in my pics. After 5 mins in one direction I turned 90deg, swam another 5 mins, turned again, and again to complete a square and bring us right back where we started. I then did a straight out and back, and a triangle, which didnt work as well, causing me to surface to find the boat and get a direction. It turned out I was only 50ft away. After 45mins, we were near the last ones in the boat, and we headed to the next spot.
Keiths Canyon was our next dive, and this was a much prettier spot, with sandy areas, and more cracks and ledges. Visibility was a little bit less and we took on an extra buddy as his had trouble and would not dive this round. I again took compass bearing, but as this was a more rounded coral formation, I was able to essentially follow it around and back to the boat anchor. I was lucky this time to come accross a small Spotted Moray, but otherwise the usual tropicals. After 45mins of this, we were the last ones on the boat, and we headed back to miami.
In summary, while visibility could have been better, and I would have loved to do more challenging dives, this is still a great area to dive, and the ops I mentioned above I would highly reccomend.
On a recent trip to Miami, I of course decided to bring my dive gear, and a co-worker and myself would try and get a couple of dives in. For those not familiar with the Miami diving scene, it has a lot of wrecks and some very nice reefs as well as limited shore diving. Unfrotunately, there doesnt seem to be a very good diving infrastructure. After calling a few places, and not getting calls back, I eventually got in touch with RJ Diving Ventures and signed up for some reef dives on a Sunday morning. We planned to get our gear through South Beach Divers the day before. Unfortunately, this was a bad move as there was zero parking in south beach, which is a common occurance. Even had we parked anywhere it would be a long walk to the car with gear.
Instead I recalled a dive shop near the boat, on the southwest side of south beach, and we drove over to there where parking turned out to be free! The dive shop in question is Tarpoon Lagoon Dive Center, which turned out to be a wonderful shop, with everything we needed. RJ also uses them to collect boat fees. We arranged to get gear the next morning, and then walked from there to South Pointe Park, about half a mile away, which seems to be the only shore dive around, which takes place on a jetty on the north side of Govt Cut. I just wanted to see what it looked like for future dives, and it did seem to look clear enough for a dive, although it gets a good wave pounding. There is even a temporary loading zone where gear can be dropped off, and benches to set up on. Parking could be tight however.
On to diving. Sunday morning, my friend and I arrived at the dock, picked up our gear and loaded onto the boat. We met the captain and his DM, who were both very friendly and knowledgable. Also on the boat were some couples visiting, and a dive club from UM. We all headed off to Rainbow Reef, our first stop. Waves were small, water temperatures were in the low 70s (a welcome change), and we dropped into the blue water and down to the bottom, only 20ft away. Visibility was about 20ft, but blue, and I decided to practice some navigation on this dive. I took a bearing on my compass and headed off. Current was light, which wouldnt affect my nav much. We came accross the usual tropicals, Blue Tangs, Butterfly Fish, Squirrel Fish, etc. Unfortunately, no sharks or eels. I also picked the Harlequin Bass and my fish to identify this trip, and you can see it in my pics. After 5 mins in one direction I turned 90deg, swam another 5 mins, turned again, and again to complete a square and bring us right back where we started. I then did a straight out and back, and a triangle, which didnt work as well, causing me to surface to find the boat and get a direction. It turned out I was only 50ft away. After 45mins, we were near the last ones in the boat, and we headed to the next spot.
Keiths Canyon was our next dive, and this was a much prettier spot, with sandy areas, and more cracks and ledges. Visibility was a little bit less and we took on an extra buddy as his had trouble and would not dive this round. I again took compass bearing, but as this was a more rounded coral formation, I was able to essentially follow it around and back to the boat anchor. I was lucky this time to come accross a small Spotted Moray, but otherwise the usual tropicals. After 45mins of this, we were the last ones on the boat, and we headed back to miami.
In summary, while visibility could have been better, and I would have loved to do more challenging dives, this is still a great area to dive, and the ops I mentioned above I would highly reccomend.
