West Palm Beach Diving last week of April 216

[luiscb]

Hello everybody
I 'm going to spend a week at WPB Florida on the last week of April 2016. I am an experienced diver (OWSI and Nitrox spe with +-600 dives) and my wife is AOW (also Nitrox spe with 100 dives). Ia ma also a photographer.
We will be staying at an hotel in Singer Island and we will be travelling with our 2 children (10 and 11 years old) and the idea is to dive in the morning and do some activities with them in the afternoon.
Regarding diving we are specially interested in seeing / photographing & filming sharks and, if possible to do some shark diving. Of course if there are no sharks to see, it will be no problem at all. We are presently in the process of choosing a diving center/charter boat in the vicinity.
We have just some questions that we would like to know your opinions:

- End of April is it a good month to dive in this area ? The sea is calmer than usual ? What about currents (I know that there are always currents in the area, but one thing is 1-2 knots currents another is a 3-4 or 5 knots current) ?

- Can our two children came with us in the boat (not saying all the time, but one or two times) or is it something that is not common to see in the dive charters of Florida ?
- My younger child has done her "Padi Seal Team" and I have been diving with her several times (5 meters max). Do you know if its possible to book that in a local dive shop for the afternoons ? What about snorkeling?

Thank you for your answers

 

[sportxlh]

The problem with kids on a dive boat is that it makes the crew into babysitters. The crews have assigned tasks and really don't have a lot of slack time to deal with bored or seasick kids. Kids can get in the way of divers trying to make their way back to the bench on a rocking boat. I'd only recommend bringing your children if one of you or some other adult that you trust can stay topside with them. April can have pretty bouncy conditions though you can also get calm spells as well. Many of the boats allow bubble watchers but you pay pretty close to full fare since the bubble watchers are taking a seat a diver would normally use.

As far as sharks go: you can see them year round in Jupiter. I like Jupiter Dive Center and they make regular trips to the Tunnels site where a school of sharks congregate year round. Other operators like Emerald do shark feeding dives in which you might see Lemons and Tigers. The divers on Emerald seem to be a pretty serious bunch, my bet is that your kids won't be welcome on that particular boat under any circumstance but you can always ask.

The diving in Jupiter and WPB is deep. The closest shallow site is Pompano where your one child can dive with you. Thats a little more than an hour south of Singer Island. Try South Florida Dive Headquarters. They have combined snorkel and dive trips on the shallow reef

---------- Post added December 27th, 2015 at 03:26 PM ----------

One last suggestion for diving with your child.... blue heron bridge is close to where you are staying and is a nice shallow beach dive site. It's a slack tide dive only. Force-E and Pura Vida are nearby for rentals as well. See the BHB thread for more info. The site is good for snorkelers too. If you want a snorkel only trip, check out McArthur State Park or the artificial rock structures off the public beaches on Singer Island.

 

[Johnoly]

...the last week of April 2016....

You know that April 23rd & 24th is the Blue Wild Dive show(The Blue Wild) just 30 minutes south of WPB. Bring the kids, they always win at the huge raffle & give-a-way. It is the best dive equipment show for consumers in Florida and open to everyone. Stop by the KOAH booth, and I'll be there to say hello. We'll all be there so the boats should be empty that weekend.

... End of April - is it a good month to dive in this area ?..

Well,,,,,,,,,....last year on April 29th folks video taped a Great White at the Capt Kurls site in Jupiter. Major pucker factor. So then YES, it's a good month to dive!!

That week usually sees a 5 degree jump in water temps from 74F up to 79F and that really brings the fish inshore for photos, etc.

....My younger child has done her "Padi Seal Team" and I have been diving with her several times (5 meters max). Do you know if its possible to book that in a local dive shop for the afternoons

Like Sportxlh said in his excellent advice, Blue Heron Bridge would be perfect for your Seal Team. High tide(best time to dive there) during that week runs from 10:25am on Apr24 til 3:13pm on Apr30th. So towards the end of the week you could easily get in a 2 tanker morning dive and then an afternoon BHB dive.

 

[drrich2]

How badly do you want to see sharks?

Emerald Dive Charters offers dives where sharks are fed while you watch. This is a controversial practice, and you can do some searching on this forum for the at times heated debates about it. I'm not pushing it, just telling you it's there.

For future reference, if you really want to dive with sharks, sizable, in numbers and without resorting to baiting or feeding, check out the diving out of coastal North Carolina (my trip report).

Richard.

 

[uncfnp]

And in general don't worry too much about the current. The dives are drift dives so unless its a wreck, or you have to fight the current a bit to get to a specific part of the reef, currents are not typically much of a problem.

 

[luiscb]

Thanks to all of you by your answers !

I'll try to look for alternatives for our kids in the case they are not allowed in the boat.
Blue Heron Bridge seems to be an excellent choice for me to dive with my daughter. Visiting the Blue Wild Dive show will also be an excellent idea!
Richard, you gave a good hint with North Carolina, but this time I will stay in Florida.

Concerning the current we should expect, it does not seem very different from what we are used to in Europe. We dive essentially in France, in mainland Portugal and in the Azores islands (in Portugal as well). In the Azores we are used to drift dive in very strong currents sometimes, so I guess it will not much different there.
Just one question concerning sharks. Is it common to see sharks (close enough to get good pictures of them) on a regular reef trip (in places like Shark Canyon, Juno Ledge or Northwest Double Ledges or in wrecks like the Esso Bonaire for example) ? Or I can only have them really close to me in a shark dive, like the ones organized by Calypso or Emerald ?

I've seen sharks very often in different parts of the world. I've done some really nice shark dives like the one is done in the Azores with blue and mako sharks, but only in Fakarava (Polynesia) I've seen sharks (hundreds) very close to me without really being in a baiting/chumming shark dive.

Another different subject
On the 29th I'm planning to go with all the family to dive/snorkel with the manatees. Any dive operator that you suggest ?
Thanks
Luis

 

[Johnoly]

...On the 29th I'm planning to go with all the family to dive/snorkel with the manatees.

Snorkel is the key word since Crystal River operators won't allow scuba. Also they don't allow flash strobes but do allow cameras. There's a ton of rules but it's fun with advance reading so you know what to expect.

I like American Pro Diving and Birds Underwater in Crystal river. Good operations and easy to follow their rules with excellent boat briefings. But I have to say the number of manatees present on a day to day basis in the last week of April can be as many as a half dozen or it could be zero and you get burned with no-shows, it's definitely a gamble for that long of a car ride. There are usually a couple near the spring year round, but not hundreds like mid January. They are looking for food and move out of the springs to eat the vegetation in the river. It's about a 4 hour drive each way to WPB which means you'll be overniting it. Plantation INN, Holiday Inn Express and Best Western all get great reviews but I'm close enough to drive and have never stayed at any of them.

On your shark question, all the boat operators are excellent at finding sharks and all the boats are great or otherwise they would be out of business. With that said, I will tell you that along with that 5 degree water temperature warm up that brings in all the fish for photography, it also brings in the sharks. And it's ALOT of sharks. I usually see it on the deep ledge {40 -45 meters deep) but you don't have to go that deep. As soon as you jump off the boat, they will come rushing up from the deep to investigate you. We call it the Bull Run and it's alot of bull sharks. You should have your camera turned on, strobes powered up and extended and your finger on the shutter button before you jump off the boat because it happens that fast. Get negative and get down to meet them as they come up. We can't give you an exact date on the sudden warm up because it follows how our warm gulf stream gets pushed inland by the breezes, etc. For a spearo like me, it's really tough to get a fish into the boat's ice chest during this time.
Keep reading the great dive reports in this Florida section by using the search feature and you'll narrow your choices on what you want, where to stay.

Don't even get me started on the best dinner places in town for kids (Dune Dog -Jupiter )

 

[scubateacher]

OMG what a great place to visit bhb ( Blue Heron Bridge } is wonderful place to dive not many sharks but a great place to take new divers . I like Pura Vida dive shop , they are on the island . very easy to get to and helpful with lots of knowledge about bhb and the reefs offshore. For a fun place to eat try sailfish marina on singer island . they are on the intercostal water way and don't forget to feed the fish on the dock or Johnny long boats for an island type of food . For the down time try kayaking in the inter coastal water way or take a boat to peanut island for Snorkeling the Snorkel trails. Years ago people could go to the power plaint in Rivera beach and see manatees in the waters at the plaint . Ask at Pura Vida to see if they still allow people to visit their . The beach's are warm and friendly . Have a wonderful time .