Need help on where to dive in Florida

[scubadada]

Hi @BspoonDiver

Lot's of good advice, easy to do, as SE FL and the Keys are a fantastic place to live and dive. I decided to buy a house in Boynton Beach because, after sampling SE FL and the Keys for a dozen years, I decided the drift diving on the reefs of SE FL was my favorite and offered tremendous diversity. We have our share of wrecks also, particularly, off Pompano. My favorite wrecks remain the Duane, Spiegel Grove, and Bibb in Key Largo and I go down occasionally to refresh my memory

In Boynton Beach, my primary operator is Underwater Explorers Underwater Explorers, I have been diving with Kevin Metz for 10 years and nearly 400 dives. I also dive with Loggerhead and Starfish, both, very good operators. In West Palm, I dive with Narcosis and in Jupiter, I dive mostly with Jupiter Dive Center. Obviously, the Blue Heron Bridge is a shore dive. The three different areas offer, not only tremedous diversity (see note from @sheeper above) but also allow diving in varying sea conditions. The Boynton Beach inlet is the most difficult in big seas, whereas, West Palm is the most forgiving.

The operator I mostly used in Key Largo through 2009 has changed hands and offerings and service are not what they once were. The last time I dived in Key Largo was on a liveaboard wreck trek along with @mselenaous and @NetDoc I have dived with Elena and Pete in Boynton Beach and in the Keys. You won't go wrong in taking their advice and will enjoy diving with them if you get the opportunity. There are many good operators in the upper Keys, Rainbow Reef has a tremendous reputation. A fellow SB member @drrich2 has posted a very nice review that he can steer you to.

Good diving, Craig

 

[t-mac]

I've used Horizon, Ocean Divers and Capt Slates. All are fine, but I'd probably go with one of the first two. OD is very good, but they are cattle boats; if you go on the wreck that selects out a lot of folks, so that's not a big issue. Horizon in my experience tends to have a higher proportion of "serious" people -- they have a pontoon boat that is more intimate than any of the OD boats, but again, both are good. The Spiegel Grove and the Duane are my favorite wrecks there. SG is massive and it's endless exploration under the watch of monstrous goliath groupers. The Duane is small and to me less interesting as a wreck, but it's close the to gulf stream, so it gets current and is generally very fishy. It also gets some big pelagics -- I was there in December and ran into a bull shark. Take your nitrox card. Happy diving!

 

[Ghetto Diver]

I dive Pompano a lot, I like Pompano Dive Center and Parrot Island Scuba. PDC has frequent tech dive trips if that's your thing. In Palm Beach I hear good things about Florida Scuba Charters.

I have been with Florida Scuba twice. One dive each trip we were dropped on sand. Not cool. DM was mouthy as well. Owner seemed nice enough. But I prolly wont be back.
If you are diving Palm Beach - go Narcosis. Very experienced crew and a big boat to ride out rough water.
Jupiter Dive Center is awesome as well. As others have posted, big critters to be seen.

 

[markmud]

Hello Bspoon diver,

I am not an expert on Florida diving. However, I have dived Rainbow Reef Divers in Key Largo and Narcosis in WPB. I enjoyed both experiences. The crews on both boats were excellent. I love Florida and Florida diving.

A good plan, if you have the time, is to start at about the WPB latitude and work your way south. Spend a day or two in each region. There are lots of great diving spots down the eastern seaboard of Florida to Key West.

My favorite dives were Neptune off Miami, Spiegel Grove, and the other wrecks off Key Largo. There are lots of wrecks (artificial reefs); most of them I have not dived, but would like to.

markm

 

[drrich2]

Trip Reports for a couple of places mentioned; Rainbow Reef (they moved their location a bit since) and Jupiter (Dive Center).

Key Largo with Rainbow Reef Dive Center 2013 - http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/fl...iving-key-largo-rainbow-reef-dive-center.html

Jupiter 2014 - http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/florida-diving/491927-jupiter-trip-report-9-7-14-9-11-14-a.html

Loved both trips; they were different kinds of trips. RRDC has pretty big boats, no-added-charge dive guides (at times used 2, so it wasn't a bunch of us in one group), good times. If you search the forum, you'll see Quiescence well-mentioned as a smaller boat op. (a '6 pack' perhaps?) without the guide service, and Conch Republic is spoken very highly of; I haven't dove with either.

Jupiter Dive Center is well-regarded.

Richard.

 

[frndrfoe]

I dove conch republic in January and I liked them. They were very attentive helping everyone get their gear on and helping with cameras when getting back in the boat. There was a solo with us one day so that appears to be allowed. We did not use a guide since we had a decent sized group. They just told us about the dive and what to expect and gave us a return time.
I didn't arrange the trip but enjoyed a 5 trip package with them.

They also keep their website updated with available spots on the day's trips.

 

[BspoonDiver]

Wow, Im so thankful for all the help everyone has given. I'm extremely new to this forum but very quickly finding out that the power this forums. I have actually took a little bit of advice from everyone. Hey maybe I might run into any of you on the boat. I will be there in the last week of April.

 

[BspoonDiver]

@mselenaous and @Capt Jim Wyatt (aka Capt Crunch) both work at Rainbow Reef. While I dive a lot of charters down here when I get invited, I use these guys quite a bit. They treat me like my SO and best friend work there, so why not? Incredibly professional with an eye on safety and fun, you simply can't go wrong with this motley crew. From easy, easy novice to advanced and even technical, Key Largo has it all. Let us know when you're down here and I'll try to catch a dive with you. I don't think they've kicked the @Texas Torpedo off of their boats, so you know they'll take just about everyone.

Im thinking of going to Rainbow Reef and do a few days of diving between 4/26-4/29 if you were looking for a reason to get out there and enjoy the great deep water. Love meeting new scuba buddies.

 

[The Chairman]

Im thinking of going to Rainbow Reef and do a few days of diving between 4/26-4/29 if you were looking for a reason to get out there and enjoy the great deep water. Love meeting new scuba buddies.

You'll have fun! Be sure to tell them that ScubaBoard sent you and if you talk to Elena, tell her you want me to dive with you. I don't make dive plans this far out, but feel free to ask me just before you come out.

 

[sunshower]

Lots of good info in here. I'll just second Conch Republic for diving in the upper keys; been out with them on a couple of different trips like them very well. I think my bottom line is a slight preference for the West Palm/Jupiter area but my last trip down there I split time between there and the keys. Nobody has talked about Key West. The Vandenberg is a cool dive; I've used Southpoint a few times and never had any issues. Imo the rest of the diving there isn't that great but I still like to go just because it's a cool place to change your latitude a little bit.