S. FL shore diving roadtrip planning

[Lorenzoid]

I would appreciate any comments, advice, etc., on plans my wife and I are making to do a long-weekend roadtrip down to S. FL for the dual purposes of: (1) checking out the shore diving we've heard so much about, and (2) familiarizing ourselves with some new gear and practicing some skills in easy waters. Oh, and (3) it will be my wife's birthday. We definitely want to do Blue Heron Bridge. For a different venue, we are thinking maybe Lauderdale-by-the-Sea and specifically the beach next to Anglin's Pier. Might that be a good place to do the gear familiarization and skills practice in the morning and then some relaxed diving in the afternoon? Are there better options? Worth Ave. Pier in Palm Beach looks like another option for easy diving.

If we go with this plan or similar, we would arrive in Ft. Lauderdale on a Saturday afternoon, have a nice birthday dinner Sat. night, do the beach diving on Sunday, and then move up to the Riviera Beach area and dive Blue Heron Bridge on a Monday when it would be less crowded.

It looks like Force-E is a good dive shop with locations near both our destinations (Riviera Beach and Pompano Beach). We'd need to rent tanks. Force-E seems to have plenty of information for visiting divers wanting to do Blue Heron Bridge. I've read a bit about how to dive Blue Heron Bridge (including in the Blue Heron Bridge Trolls thread), such as being mindful of the tides, etc., and I'm sure the dive shop would be glad to tell us what we need to know as well.

Other than making sure my wife has a good time for her birthday, this doesn't have to be an epic dive trip--we can always come back.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

 

[Pavao]

(1) checking out the shore diving we've heard so much about...

...Thoughts? Suggestions?

The difference in what a boat dive and a shore dive can offer in SFL is tremendous.
I wish the shore diving here was good, I would do it every single day, and I'm only 10 minutes away from Lauderdale-by-the-sea.

I think there are valid reasons to shore dive here, you've listed many, but just in case it isn't known, I wanted to point that out.

Just in case you didn't know either, BHB can only be done at slack high tide, 1 hour before and 1 hour after is your window, and in 99% of the time, you only have one shot per day, so, know the tide of the day you plan to dive and plan accordingly

At LBTS, if you keep on swimming past the first "reef", you will find a much improved site, but that's a bit more swimming, definitely doable though.

 

[sportxlh]

Skip the Worth Ave Pier beach dive and head for LBTS. I work close to Worth Ave and live in Palm Beach County and while that site used to be a neat beach dive, sand has covered everything. Additionally, you can have some decent northward current. To be clear, I've not dove it, but the handful of people I know who tried in the last few years say it is a waste of time. Now if you were to take a boat out to the Breaker's reef, that would be a different story: it is a beautiful dive site but can only be reached via a boat.

LBTS is fantastic: I normally park on Datura Ave. which is a block or two south of the pier. Easy to swim out to the first and second reef lines. Here's some more info Florida's Best Shore Dive - Go Dive Florida

Force-E is a great shop as is Gold Coast Scuba (both of those shops are close to the Datura Ave. LBTS entrance). For Blue Heron Bridge, I always use the Force-E location on Blue Heron Blvd for fills or when visiting friends need to rent any equipment.

Pavao is right: only dive BHB at slack high tide (usually an hour on each side of high tide works). Here's some more info on BHB. Just note the tide calculator is out of date: Blue Heron Bridge

For tide info, use this link: Tide Predictions - PORT OF WEST PALM BEACH 8722588 Tidal Data Daily View - NOAA Tides & Currents

 

[Lorenzoid]

Pavao and sportxlh, thanks for the reminders about timing the dive to slack high tide. I've seen the BHB info page sportxlh links to. Looks like slack high tide next Monday 4/7 will be around 3 pm.

 

[danvolker]

I would appreciate any comments, advice, etc., on plans my wife and I are making to do a long-weekend roadtrip down to S. FL for the dual purposes of: (1) checking out the shore diving we've heard so much about, and (2) familiarizing ourselves with some new gear and practicing some skills in easy waters. Oh, and (3) it will be my wife's birthday. We definitely want to do Blue Heron Bridge. For a different venue, we are thinking maybe Lauderdale-by-the-Sea and specifically the beach next to Anglin's Pier. Might that be a good place to do the gear familiarization and skills practice in the morning and then some relaxed diving in the afternoon? Are there better options? Worth Ave. Pier in Palm Beach looks like another option for easy diving.

If we go with this plan or similar, we would arrive in Ft. Lauderdale on a Saturday afternoon, have a nice birthday dinner Sat. night, do the beach diving on Sunday, and then move up to the Riviera Beach area and dive Blue Heron Bridge on a Monday when it would be less crowded.

It looks like Force-E is a good dive shop with locations near both our destinations (Riviera Beach and Pompano Beach). We'd need to rent tanks. Force-E seems to have plenty of information for visiting divers wanting to do Blue Heron Bridge. I've read a bit about how to dive Blue Heron Bridge (including in the Blue Heron Bridge Trolls thread), such as being mindful of the tides, etc., and I'm sure the dive shop would be glad to tell us what we need to know as well.

Other than making sure my wife has a good time for her birthday, this doesn't have to be an epic dive trip--we can always come back.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

[video=youtube_share;nsJNxGEhCV0]http://youtu.be/nsJNxGEhCV0[/video]

If you WANT shore dives in addition to the BHB, then one day there, and you could do this the next day at high tide, though it is much easier if you can have someone drop you off at the west end of the road that goes beyond the Ocean mall.




And this next one starts from the same place, but you go out into the nav channel, and this is very fun--but only for very advanced divers--advanced in the sense of being more advanced than the average dive instructor--which does not really say much
[video=youtube_share;3zUSzto-dWM]http://youtu.be/3zUSzto-dWM[/video]

 

[SavageRon]

Since it's a birthday trip, you might want to check out which of the dive shops in Jupiter that has free dive trips on your birthday. Maybe JDC, though I've never taken a trip with them; just heard about it on here. I'm sure someone will be quick to let us know.
It's not shore diving, but if you're in the neck of the woods....

 

[danvolker]

Since you are already planning on the BHB dive, you will want to visit Force E--this is an exceptional dive shop --not just to help with diving the BHB, but also for booking some reef or wreck dives ideal for you or your wife...and you'd already be there.
You should be trying Breakers Reef, Pauls Reef, or, if you want a wreck dive, the Mispah is pretty awesome....

 

[sportxlh]

Since it's a birthday trip, you might want to check out which of the dive shops in Jupiter that has free dive trips on your birthday. Maybe JDC, though I've never taken a trip with them; just heard about it on here. I'm sure someone will be quick to let us know.
It's not shore diving, but if you're in the neck of the woods....

that's a great idea! I dive with JDC quite a bit and it is a good operation. I've taken advantage of the b-day dive a few times as well.

 

[acteg]

If you are driving down from Atlanta, I would stop by one of the many springs on your way down, and do your skills practice/familiarization there. Lauderdale By the Sea is great because there are 3 reef lines to dive depending on how far you feel like swimming out. Give Gold Coast Scuba a call and they can give you the run down (they are just down the street from commercial pier), and will even loan you a dive flag to tow.

If you stop in Jupiter for the birthday dive (never done the free birthday dive, but have gone out with JDC many times, they run a solid operation), make sure to grab lunch after at food shack. Great seafood place.

 

[jimw]

When I have done the free birthday dive with Jupiter Dive Center--the dive MUST be on your birthday! The boat Kyalami also in Jupiter offers anyone a free 1 tank dive on Wednesdays--anyone who has not been diving with them before that is--check their Facebook-aka Capt Sl8r..........Jupiter diving is a little deeper than WPB around 90-100 for Jupiter. Boynton Beach is a little shallower than WPB. In other words--the further south in the area--the shallower!