Only 2 diving days in Miami - Best bang for my buck

[Chavodel8en]

Greetings from cold and rainy No. Calif., where pretty soon I'll be able to do some shallow dives in my carport.

I'm going to be in Miami for several days at the end of January. I'd like to know your recommendations for getting the best diving possible in 2 days, w/in a moderate budget. I especially would like to see as much sea life as possible. Where should I go? (I'm willing to travel a couple of hours if need be). I'm assuming that I'll be doing boat dives.

 

[DIVERTOM]

One suggestion is to drive to West Palm Beach, use Pura Vida Dive shop
and request to go to the reefs to the south of the inlet. If they are not
doing a trip that day try Abernathy's dive shop. Depending on your
experience the Biscayne National Park's wall dive on Sundays is good.
Biscayne National Park is close to Miami. These are the places I'am
familiar with. I have photos from these sites on my web-site.
http://divertom.net/


Diver Tom

 

[CAPT HOOK]

West Palm Beach has lots of good OPs and great diving.
You can also head south to Key Largo and dive with Bluewater Divers or Quissence, both good OPs that will get you a variety of dive sites.

 

[divad]

you're already diving from your carport, and you want to dive cheaply, go to "Commercial Pier" for free.

 

[Scubakevdm]

Check out WWW.Splashdowndivers.com.

 

[DennisS]

Greetings from cold and rainy No. Calif., where pretty soon I'll be able to do some shallow dives in my carport.

I'm going to be in Miami for several days at the end of January. I'd like to know your recommendations for getting the best diving possible in 2 days, w/in a moderate budget. I especially would like to see as much sea life as possible. Where should I go? (I'm willing to travel a couple of hours if need be). I'm assuming that I'll be doing boat dives.

There are some reefs and a lot of "artificial wrecks" off of Miami. They sunk an airliner off of Miami, kind of a neat one time dive.

I'd recommend heading south to the keys (1-1 1/2 hrs) and diving Mollasses Reef with whichever dive op is diving there on the day you want to dive. If you are on a budget and staying in Miami its a good one day trip. Try to get to Molasses, all reefs aren't the same.

There are also motels before you get to the keys, florida city at the end of the turnpike is about 20 miles north of Key Largo with 1/2 the price of lodging in the keys. No sunsets over the gulf or atmosphere but the carribean club will take care of that before your ride back. Fl City is a good place for a bed and a shower, fast food-Miami subs.

Drive safe, drive sober, the stretch of the road between fl city and key largo is dangerous, --- people in a hurry and doing illegal passing so they can get to the keys and slow down. If you want a different drive, take the toll road back and stop at Alabama Jacks after the toll bridge. The route shows what the keys used to look like.

 

[Padipro]

There are several good shops in the Ft. Lauderdale area that I know of. Pro Dive and American Dream II. Both have very nice boats and great crews.

One wreck you have to do if you're in this area is Tenneco Towers IMO it's one of the best dives in the area.

Hope you have a great trip.

 

[Chavodel8en]

Thanx for the info everybody. Looks like Key Largo is the best bet.

 

[MikeJacobs]

... in fact, if you can, spend a night there and do TWO days of diving!

 

[dedhed]

Maybe I'm a little late on this thread, but I do have an opinion. If you have been diving on decent coral reefs anywhere in the world, don't waste your time in Key Largo unless you dive the wrecks. The reefs are not at all impressive, they are shallow in height and I feel, very disappointing. I've been to the Keys four times and had much more interesting dives on the artificial reefs(wrecks) off the Miami/Lauderdale coast. The pace of life in the Keys is fantastic, but reef diving is relatively boring.

Peace,
Stephen