Naples, Florida area diving

[Diving Canuck]

Hello all,

I am going to be in the Naples, Florida for business in early May. I am planning to extend in order to get some diving in. I am not familiar with the diving in the Naples area. I have been to Pomapano / Ft. Lauderdale before and am planning a trip to the Keys later this year.

I was hoping someone might have a recomendation for: 1) a good dive shop to book dives with; 2) Some recommended dive sites in the area. On the later point, I would appreciate any recommendations on wrecks or where to find larger marine life.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

[Straegen]

Hate to say it, but I would day trip over to the other coast for rec diving. Rec diving on the south west coast isn't very good as the vis is poor, boat trips are often quite long and it simply isn't as pretty as the other coast. Key Largo is about 3 hours away and a trip over to Boynton Beach is a couple hours. If you try Boynton Beach, give Kevin at Underwater Explorers a call. My favorite dive op in that area.

If you want an interesting west coast dive, there is shark tooth diving in Venice which is a 1.5 hours north.

 

[Chugwhump]

90 miles east on Alligator Alley and you will arrive in Fort Lauderdale.
If time is an issue.....
I would recommend for as fast an "in and out" as possible dive trip that you contact Sea Experience at Bahia Mar.
If you have a little more time and are not in a hurry, there are many other options.
For larger marine life, Shoot for Jupiter.

Chug
Wishing good luck to the Canuck.

 

[idive2]

When I was running late and looking for a last minute trip I would use american dream charter in lauderdale and
have dove sea experience as well. I could get from naples to either of those docks in about two hours. I'm over on this
side now so a few more charters to pick from on short notice. If you need any gear or tanks when in naples a popular
shop is Sweeneys Scuba Adventures. They are on tamiami trail a bit north of golden gate parkway on Creech rd. and tamiami trail.

 

[Garrobo]

I tried diving the Gulf once about sixty miles south of Tampa and it wasn't worth the trip. I did enjoy diving the Oriskany off of Orange Beach though.

 

[deepstops]

Hello all,

I am going to be in the Naples, Florida for business in early May. I am planning to extend in order to get some diving in. I am not familiar with the diving in the Naples area. I have been to Pomapano / Ft. Lauderdale before and am planning a trip to the Keys later this year.

I was hoping someone might have a recomendation for: 1) a good dive shop to book dives with; 2) Some recommended dive sites in the area. On the later point, I would appreciate any recommendations on wrecks or where to find larger marine life.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

There just aren't many charters running south of Sarasota but you could try these folks in Naples for a trip: http://www.cruisefishdive.com/
I have not used them before and you should know that reaching 100' of water in the Gulf Is usually 40+ miles out.

You have clear options in Fort Lauderdale with American Dream and Sea Experience as noted in other posts.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

We vacation pretty regularly in the Naples area. Other than driving up to Venice for some shark tooth diving on occasion, I always drive east to Fort Lauderdale or Boynton Beach. The diving there is fantastic and there are tons of charters to choose from.