One Sunday in April to dive S Fl: where? FL, Deerfield, Boynton?

[coldwaterglutton]

Taking my 18 yo son down to Key Largo for some deep tech learning stuff for 4 days this month. We end the tech stuff on a Saturday, and will be able to dive on Sunday before our return flight (Tuesday am). The son really wants to squeeze in a day of low stress "normal" diving.

Unfortunately we can't stay in Key Largo as I have to see family in Fort Lauderdale both Sat and Sun night, and we have a deep sea charter out of there on Monday.

So we want to go out on the Sunday. Can anyone recommend a boat/operator? And/or recommend what's the best dive site to hit - Castor, Mercedes, Ancient Mariner?

I'd appreciate any input. My son's skills are good, so anything within the 130' limit is fine for him.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

If you want wrecks, which is all you listed, dive in Ft L or Pompano Beach. If you want to try some excellent drift diving, go a bit north and dive in Boynton, Palm Beach or Jupiter. Plenty of trip reports here for all those locations to read for suggestions on charters in each location.

 

[chrisjur]

I have a lot of info in my blog post here:

A Regular Guy’s Guide to SCUBA Diving in South Florida

There are many dive operations in the FTL area, but many of them are focused on occasional tourist divers and don't have interesting deep diving options. If you are looking to go deeper (recreational/non-tec), I'd recommend looking at Soth Florida Diving HQ, Aqualife (both Pompano), Narcosis, and Gung-Ho if you want to do some sharks as well (both Riviera Beach). They will have more advanced dives available on the weekends.

If you want to go down to Miami, Ace Diving (downtown) and Divers Paradise (Key Biscayne) have deep dives pretty much every Saturday/Sunday and are excellent operators.

 

[coldwaterglutton]

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Thanks for the tips. I decided I was doing too much brain damage for a simple relaxed day of diving and booked on the Lady Go as recommended by a friend.

 

[FreqFlier]

Dixie Divers caters more to the locals that come with all their own gear including tanks. If you're renting, you'll have to go to their shop, rent tanks, lug them to the boat (about a mile or so away), then take them back. If that's your jam.

For a Sunday trip out of FLL I'd say go with Diver's Paradise out of Key Biscayne on a 3-tank wreck trip.