School me on Juno Ledge/Shark canyon

[Underthesea81]

Hey fellow FL divers, my pops and uncle are coming in today and we are going diving together for the first time. We are hitting mo deep in key largo on Sunday but on Saturday we are headed out with narcosis and hitting Juno ledge and shark reef. What can I expect viz wise life wise etc... Pretty excited as I still haven't seen a shark and since my cert 2 months ago I've already dove 8 times without seeing any. Pretty good chance this weekend with that reef schedule?
Also any other advice would be awesome, thanks!

 

[Doubler]

Dependent on what drops you do you can expect Bull Sharks meeting you on the way down and on safety stops. Contact Amazz, Johnolly or Chuckitail as they are (IMO) the resident experts on Jupiter area diving.

 

[DiverDean59]

Here is a picture my son took last year at Shark Canyon. This may give you an idea of the viz. We dove with JASA and had a blast. Let us know how you liked the dive. Have fun.

 

[Underthesea81]

Thanks for the info guys. Pic makes me real excited, a bull shark meeting me during my safety stop...not so much haha, but that's fine. Looking forward to hearing others opinion as well and will definitely update with dive info and what we did, thanks

 

[danvolker]

Hey fellow FL divers, my pops and uncle are coming in today and we are going diving together for the first time. We are hitting mo deep in key largo on Sunday but on Saturday we are headed out with narcosis and hitting Juno ledge and shark reef. What can I expect viz wise life wise etc... Pretty excited as I still haven't seen a shark and since my cert 2 months ago I've already dove 8 times without seeing any. Pretty good chance this weekend with that reef schedule?
Also any other advice would be awesome, thanks!

For Shark Canyon... YouTube - Shark and Wreck dive with Pura Vida Divers in Palm Beach Florida
For juno ledge YouTube - juno-ledge
And Narcosis is an awesome diveboat. Huge roomy boat ( one of the largest diveboats I've seen in Florida) that goes so fast it can pull water skiiers !

 

[Shcubasteve]

Shark canyon is lame, imo. The reef peeters out after a few hundred yards and turns into a sand dive real quick; if the current is moving, you'll run out of reef well before air or bottom time,. Juno ledge is where its at- The ledge is HUGE and continues for miles. +1 for narcosis too, really fast boat. See if van will do two drops on Juno ledge.

 

[Splitlip]

Agree. Juno Ledge is my favorite site.

And you should see sharks. Nurses are not really "sharks", but you should see Reefies. They are more skittish than the bulls. Bulls are plentiful if you are spearing.

A little further north, you can just snap the bands on a gun and they'll come around.

In the Keys, we'll 'crunch" up an urchin and it'll bring in the Sapper along with the Nurse Sharks.

 

[diveprof]

Agreed. Nothing special about the reef at shark canyon. See sharks regularly on Juno Ledge (spots like area 51 and Capt. Kurl -further north). Nothing wrong with a double drop here.Don't tell anyone but Juno/Jupiter has the best non-wreck diving in S.E. Fl. Well, maybe I need to retract the non-wreck part - the Corridor (Mizpah , China Barge, etc) is actually a fav of mine (actually out of the W. Palm) -Narcosis does this too. Second the Narcosis recommendation. Van runs a fast, nicely laid out boat that can handle seas well.

 

[Doubler]

Posted by Amazz on 5/8/11

It was a great day. Went out with some friends on the Emerald for a three tanker. The 130 foot deep ledge never disappoints. We saw numerous bull sharks, sandbars, duskies, and a hammerhead on the first dive. Second dive we saw a few nurses. Third dive we were bombarded by very active Caribbean reef sharks.

Those bull sharks are very sneaky. We saw them throughout the first dive. They like to make close passes while we are on our 15 ft. safety stops. But then you get to the surface. Everything is quiet until you stick you head out of the water. As soon as you stick your head back in the water, you see two or three bull sharks swimming vertical toward you from below. That's a humbling sight. You make eye contact and they veer off and stay away. You stick your head out of the water, then look down again, and here they come again. Sneaky little bastards. Water temp 78 degrees, visibility 100ft.

 

[Splitlip]

Posted by Amazz on 5/8/11

It was a great day. Went out with some friends on the Emerald for a three tanker. The 130 foot deep ledge never disappoints. We saw numerous bull sharks, sandbars, duskies, and a hammerhead on the first dive. Second dive we saw a few nurses. Third dive we were bombarded by very active Caribbean reef sharks.

Those bull sharks are very sneaky. We saw them throughout the first dive. They like to make close passes while we are on our 15 ft. safety stops. But then you get to the surface. Everything is quiet until you stick you head out of the water. As soon as you stick your head back in the water, you see two or three bull sharks swimming vertical toward you from below. That's a humbling sight. You make eye contact and they veer off and stay away. You stick your head out of the water, then look down again, and here they come again. Sneaky little bastards. Water temp 78 degrees, visibility 100ft.

And THAT my friend is why I don't dive with a snorkel and why I no longer wear polarized glasses while surfing. Ignorance is bliss.