Palm Beach County v. The Keys

[sportxlh]

Two more questions to those in the know:

Are water temps the same in PB/Jupiter as Key Largo?

If 50% of the trip is for the purpose of practicing some skills and getting sorted with some new gear on a shallow reef, would you dissuade me from doing it in PB/Jupiter? I'm very familiar with Key Largo diving, and those reefs would certainly fit the bill. Should I consider PB/Jupiter for this particular trip or save it for a trip when I can experience the drift diving?

I usually find Key Largo is a couple of degrees warmer. Jupiter was 73-74 degrees on Saturday.

It depends on which skills you need to practice. You can practice many skills in WPB or Jupiter, but almost any skill would be much easier to practice in Key Largo with no current.

As Mr Chen indicated, the one exception is Blue Heron Bridge where many folks are certfied and where many folks will try out new gear.

You might also find the shallow reef in Pompano or LBTS a good place to practice as well.

 

[devinesigns3]

Just how bad is the current in WPB area? I assume strong current is why you do a drift dive and thus the current itself isn't an issue so long as you enjoy drift dives? I love drift diving but hate doing a regular dive with strong current.

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[danvolker]

Just how bad is the current in WPB area? I assume strong current is why you do a drift dive and thus the current itself isn't an issue so long as you enjoy drift dives? I love drift diving but hate doing a regular dive with strong current.

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All the charter boats drift dive---which means the divers do not ever NEED to fight a current....with the exception of if you choose to do a wreck dive on a high current day---the boat will know how high it is running....and tend to NOT drop people on the wrecks when the currents could be annoying....
Even on a high current wreck dive in palm beach...the method of diving these is quite easy....you are dropped far enough up current so that a leisurely descent will have you reach bottom just as you are drifting into the wreck...you then follow the dive guide on to the easy access areas on top of the wreck, and the easy swim throughs that are out of the current....if you watched the video of the Mispah early in this thread, the big swim through area with tons of fish in it, is totally out of the current.
As easy as this can be, there is a learning curve, and it is smarter to get the feel of drift dives on reefs like Breakers, and then as it gets really easy, then you can try the wrecks with little challenge.

 

[sportxlh]

Just how bad is the current in WPB area? I assume strong current is why you do a drift dive and thus the current itself isn't an issue so long as you enjoy drift dives? I love drift diving but hate doing a regular dive with strong current.

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Some days the current is very robust (2.5 knots or more) and sometimes the current is non-existing. Most of the time it is modest: a comfortable northward drift but it takes a bit of work to kick against it to swim back south. On the ledges divers can drop over the side and get out of much of the current. Regardless of the current on any given day, the dives in WPB and Jupiter are almost always drifts: there are no mooring balls on the deep reefs. You'll never have to swim back to a mooring line or anchor line in Jupiter/WPB. The boat will pick you up at the conclusion of your drift.

The gulf stream runs closest to the USA around WPB and Jupiter which is why we normally have a northbound current and hence drift dives.

 

[acteg]

Two more questions to those in the know:

Are water temps the same in PB/Jupiter as Key Largo?

If 50% of the trip is for the purpose of practicing some skills and getting sorted with some new gear on a shallow reef, would you dissuade me from doing it in PB/Jupiter? I'm very familiar with Key Largo diving, and those reefs would certainly fit the bill. Should I consider PB/Jupiter for this particular trip or save it for a trip when I can experience the drift diving?

Another option would be to dive some of the shallow stuff with South Florida Diving Head Quarters, they do a site called the nursery regularly which is a dive/snorkel site. Check out the link for more info.

Dive the Nursery Reef Dive Site with South Florida Diving Headquarters

Blue Heron Bridge is also good, but you kind of need to know how to time it right because you can only dive it during slack tide, and you need to make sure you do not enter the boat channel.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Thanks for the replies to my two questions. I think for this particular trip where we're testing out new gear and practicing some skills we will stick to what we're familiar with: Key Largo.

 

[HalcyonDaze]

Aside from the fact that these days I'm choosing to spend my diving dollars on the big-ticket critters, the other thing that appeals to me about West Palm/Jupiter dive ops is that I feel more like a welcome passenger than a cash cow wearing an air tank. Granted, maybe this is a function of not having dove Keys charters on a regular basis since about 2006 or so, and even then not widely sampling the Key Largo options. I was supposed to go on a dive with Quiescence in November, but given the lousy weather and the fact that my two visitors had maybe 20 dives between them they leveled with us and we decided not to push it. That impressed me and I'd go with them the next time I dive down there. The last time I actually dove off a Key Largo boat ... well, the dive was fun but I loathed being coddled the same as the open-water students. I think I can walk myself from my seat to the dive platform unaided after 400+ dives, thank you very much, and I'm not keen on having only 45 minutes of dive time on a 30-foot reef because you decided to put the open-water students in first and they took 15 minutes to get their act together.

West Palm on the other hand - I actually have a dilemma when choosing which boat to dive with. Do I check out an operator I haven't tried before, or go with one of my usual ones where they know my name and ask me where I've been when I step aboard?

 

[devinesigns3]

That's interesting because we had a pretty good experience with Pirate Island Divers in Key Largo in 2011. I liked that they were helpful but not coddling. For instance, I prefer diving with a 63 tank rather than an 80 because I'm short; they had no problem always setting up my tanks with my husband's 80s without me having to ask. We did dive a week when there were no open water students on board.

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[HalcyonDaze]

Hmm, I've never dove with them. So many dive operators and sites ... so little money and time!

 

[devinesigns3]

Amen to that! This is not a cheap hobby!!!

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