Luckyfindiver
New
I have been a "lurker" on this board for quite some time and should start by thanking you all for great advice and information. In fact, much of your experiences helped in planning our most recent trip to West Palm Beach from June 29-July 4. I am posting a brief report below.
We planned this trip with our dive buddies from Wisconsin. The four of us typically take one or two dive vacations a year. We have only been to the Caribbean and decided to check out the east coast of Florida. We shared an apartment at the Admirals Club on Singer Island. It was a perfect size for 4 people and just a few minute drive to our dive op. We enjoyed eating dinner on our dock right on the Intracoastal waterway and were able to walk to the beach on Singer Island.
When we first researched dive ops in Palm Beach county, the multitude of choices was almost overwhelming. We decided to dive with Pura Vida Divers based on the favorable reviews we saw here on ScubaBoard. We all were very happy with this choice. The people at Pura Vida (Charity, Kevin, Ashley, Trevor, Dean) are the best part of this op. They are friendly and fun but also very safety conscious and thorough. We got a great reef orientation before each dive and the divemasters asked for our requests each morning. The owners, Dean and Trevor, offered to store our gear at the shop each night, rather than us having to bring it back to our apartment. They then delivered our gear to the boat each morning.
We werent exactly sure what to expect out of West Palm Beach diving but were pleasantly surprised! The water temp was between 81-85 degrees each day and the viz seemed to be at least 70 feet. A few of the great sites we visited in our four days of diving were Tear Drop, Second Window, Elevator Shaft and Moray Alley. We saw a wide array of fish species and some VERY large loggerhead turtles (larger than any of us have ever seen). We couldnt help but make comparisons to our Caribbean experiences. We saw most of the same fish species (drums, porcupine fish, snapper, nurse sharks, puffers, etc.) The reefs were quite healthy but the main difference is that they lacked the drama of great wall dives in places like Cozumel. Having said that, the cost of this trip was half the cost of a trip to Cozumel!
All in all, this was a fun and relaxing dive vacation. We hope to return to Palm Beach and dive with Pura Vida sometime in the future!
We planned this trip with our dive buddies from Wisconsin. The four of us typically take one or two dive vacations a year. We have only been to the Caribbean and decided to check out the east coast of Florida. We shared an apartment at the Admirals Club on Singer Island. It was a perfect size for 4 people and just a few minute drive to our dive op. We enjoyed eating dinner on our dock right on the Intracoastal waterway and were able to walk to the beach on Singer Island.
When we first researched dive ops in Palm Beach county, the multitude of choices was almost overwhelming. We decided to dive with Pura Vida Divers based on the favorable reviews we saw here on ScubaBoard. We all were very happy with this choice. The people at Pura Vida (Charity, Kevin, Ashley, Trevor, Dean) are the best part of this op. They are friendly and fun but also very safety conscious and thorough. We got a great reef orientation before each dive and the divemasters asked for our requests each morning. The owners, Dean and Trevor, offered to store our gear at the shop each night, rather than us having to bring it back to our apartment. They then delivered our gear to the boat each morning.
We werent exactly sure what to expect out of West Palm Beach diving but were pleasantly surprised! The water temp was between 81-85 degrees each day and the viz seemed to be at least 70 feet. A few of the great sites we visited in our four days of diving were Tear Drop, Second Window, Elevator Shaft and Moray Alley. We saw a wide array of fish species and some VERY large loggerhead turtles (larger than any of us have ever seen). We couldnt help but make comparisons to our Caribbean experiences. We saw most of the same fish species (drums, porcupine fish, snapper, nurse sharks, puffers, etc.) The reefs were quite healthy but the main difference is that they lacked the drama of great wall dives in places like Cozumel. Having said that, the cost of this trip was half the cost of a trip to Cozumel!
All in all, this was a fun and relaxing dive vacation. We hope to return to Palm Beach and dive with Pura Vida sometime in the future!
