OW Dives in Ft. Lauderdale...

[Medic0506]

Hey guys, I'm brand new to the sport and brand new to the site. I'm looking for some advice as to what dive shop to go through to do my open water dives when I go down to ft. lauderdale in late april. I'll be down there from april 24-30 so any suggestions would be great. Thanks!

 

[garyfotodiver]

Force-E in Pompano Beach or Boca Raton. I have always had good experiences with them. They have SSI and PADI instructors.

Good Luck!

 

[Medic0506]

Any chance of getting a real good dive for one (or all!) of my open water dives? Also I plan to cert the first couple of days I'm down there. Can anyone suggest any good dives for the days following. I'm really into wrecks and I know the waters are littered (in a good way) with them a lil bit north of Fort Lauderdale. All the wrecks, however, are wrecks that were sunk for artificial reefs. Are there any good "real" wrecks? Not that I wouldn't like the artificial ones but there is something just super appealing to me about a ship that went down with some history to it...

 

[cmcarver]

The Copenhagen is natural wreck. Not much of it remains but the site is around 20'-30'. You can still see the shape of the hull, it has been there a long time so it is teaming with coral and life. There is a plaque on the site giving some of the history and any boat crew that takes you there should have more background on it. I beleive it ran aground where it sits in the 30s or 40s and was then torpedoed around WW2.

 

[cmalinowski]

I really like Dixie Divers in Deerfield Beech. Pavan and company will take good care of you. Go to their site and drop him and email if you want. Nick is great to dive with for your checkout dives, and Serge (the DM) treats you real well and will take care of you. I have only been diving with them for about ten boat trips, but I don't plan on using anyone else.

Anyway, I like wreck diving as well. There are some good ones. I would suggest the sea emperor as there are a couple great rays and giant jewfish that will follow you around sometimes. It's and easy dive, but the sand is at 70'. You'll find this true with most of the good wreck dives (deeper than you may want to go).

Enjoy. I'm going to try and get back down there in May.

 

[Medic0506]

I just called them up. They seem like a real personable group. Force-e (no offense) seemed like they just wanted to shuffle me in and shuffle me out. I'm not closed minded however so if anyone else has suggestions as to where I could go just let me know!