Shore dive pompano dropoff?

[blackvans1234]

Opinions?

Its a far swim right?
something like 300 yds?
Dangerous boat traffic?

lets hear what ya'll think

 

[Ana]

Should be an easy swim, depending on the day you may have a lot of boats or the place almost to yourself. I imagine you can keep the danger to a minimum by staying away from the surface until very very shallow and holding the reel (or whatever) for the dive flag loosely in case a boat runs over your flag.
There are mooring balls around that area so you should expect some boats to be present, that may actually work to your advantage. If there are moored boats, traffic should be off the reef.
As far as marine life, like all that area there is no telling what could be cruising the day you show up. The more you go, the higher the chances to see that great creature you"ve been waiting for.

 

[bilsant]

One of my favoriite shore dives...figure about 25 minutes or so for surface swim if conditions are nice. You'll be in less than 20 fsw the entire dive. I always see something fun and new there. We've seen all the little stuff in the way of fish, tarpon, nurse sharks, rarely a manta ray (and a recent report of a Goliath Grouper who came to visit in the shallow water), turtles, smaller eels, and so on...check my response to your other post about finding dive buddies...

 

[blackvans1234]

Im worried that the swim out past the swim buoys and before the dropoff is a semi-common boat traffic lane
is that true or am I wrong?

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

Any place in SE Florida waters past the buoys is where the boat traffic. For some reason boats just love travelling the coast right at the reef line, about a hundred yards or so off shore. Make sure you have your flag, be aware of your surrounding, and don't tie off your flag to you. Be ready to drop down quickly if you've got a boat coming at ya. I've had prop wash go over me.
That said, the pompano drop off is a nice dive and very doable from shore.

 

[bilsant]

OK, I think there's some confusion here. The Dropoff is AT the mooring buoys. There may be boat traffic and you need to be careful, but if you're with a group of divers, a gaggle of flags tends to be more noticeable...safety in numbers, as it were. A boat bearing down is a scary idea. Can it happen where we dive? Yeah. Is is a regular thing? Not at all, be we tend to be careful. Also, weekends and holidays with really nice weather make the boat traffic heavier, so we're extra cautious then.

If you're uncomfortable, there are plenty of other dives...but for any of them, if you're in the water, boats may be too.



There's absolutely no truth to the rumor that just like other marine mammals you can often identify different South Florida beach divers by our prop scars...and I don't want to speak for Jenny whom I know and deeply respect, but she has had a few close calls over about a zillion dives. Like anything else, how much time you spend in the water affects your odds, too.

Let me put it another way...I'm not as experienced and only have about 100 or so beach dives in this area. Number of boats I've had to dodge? Zero.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

 

[bilsant]

My dear, are you laughing at the "about a zillion" or the "prop scars" comment? and to minorly jack this thread, want to dive LBTS with us tomorrow morning?

 

[blackvans1234]

Bilsant, where are good spots to enter for LBTS?
I've heard SE 12th street, I believe i've also been told hibiscus ave?

 

[bilsant]

Hibiscus and Datura are the two most common entry spots. Hook up with the GCS bunch and they'll take care of you.