Where to dive now that I am poor?

[twinkles]

I have to admit, the past few years have been very good to me, investing wise, but 2008...well like the title says, now that I am poor, where should I dive.

I love going to the Caribbean, and Coz is my favorite. But I have been working out my vacation plans for 2009 and checking prices for airfare, and hotels, and such and have decided some scaling back may be required. Especially after today.

I was looking at airfare to south Florida today. It is a lot cheaper to fly to Fort Lauderdale than Cancun or coz.

I started diving down in Key Largo 20 some years ago when I lived in south Dade, but I have been back a couple of times over the past year and I have to admit, the thrill is gone.

But I have never been up the coast, to Pompano or West Palm. Is the diving exciting enough up the Florida coast to keep a Coz fanatic happy for a week?

Secondly, I wouldn't hesitate for a minute to do a solo trip to Coz, but for some reason, I am wondering whether a solo trip to SF might be a little less comfortable. It seems easy to drink cheap beers and watch tourists go by in Coz, I guess I am wondering what I would do when the diving is over in Pompano.

 

[divinginn]

Then there is always lake Lanier.

 

[Doc]

It seems easy to drink cheap beers and watch tourists go by in Coz, I guess I am wondering what I would do when the diving is over in Pompano.

Yes- those drinking trips can get costly.

 

[wetvet]

Consider doing some cavern stuff. The output for gear wont be significant, and if you get bit by the cave bug, you are within shouting distance to heaven. I know where I would spend all my weekends if I lived in Georgia. You save money on flights, charters and hotels (Central florida hotels are almost free )

Wetvet

 

[twinkles]

Then there is always lake Lanier.

I am going to Pelham Key first.

 

[dmmike]

Hey,

Don't forget about the East Coast. RI, MA, Maine are great places to dive and there is plenty to do after the diving is over. But ya got to be ready for the cold. Just spent a week diving off MA. and the bottom temp at 80 feet was around 48 degrees. Not to bad for us Northeast divers, but I have heard some people that its cold up here........

 

[LIVES4SHARKS]

Hiya Twinkles! Our shop has gotten a charter together for offshore diving on the Georgia coast. We are doing some exploration diving to discover some sweet spots. We expect to really ramp up the diving here next year! Conditions here can be great 60' vis to 10' or less. After Hanna blew through, the vis, as Cpt Walt put it, is like whale snot! Hopefully it will be clearing up over the next couple of weeks! The water temp in August was 78F. Most dives are about 25 miles offshore so a bit of a boat ride, but there are loads of fish on the wrecks out here!

Diving down the Eastern coast of Florida is great! My favorite dives so far have been out of Jupiter. But I have enjoyed W Palm and Boynton Beach also. I intend on doing some dives in Jupiter in January when the lemon sharks are in. I usually dive down there alone, since dive buddies can be difficult to come by. The vis at Jupiter was 80' plus! The drift dives are deep also at about 80-100'. It's an easy drive and since now there are so many restrictions in travel, I would rather drive to dive until things calm down in the airline industry!

If you would like to hook up for some diving here or down in Florida, please let me know. You are also welcome to stay at my place, I have a comfy couch or a large inflatable mattress! I like to cook too! So hey, this could be fun!

Carolyn:shark2:

 

[don Francisco]

I( wouldn't be so quick to write Coz off. Though air fare is higher, all other costs are less than most other destinations.

On a one week trip it would be easy to offset the airfare by trading down slightly on accomodations, maybe to a B&B, and being more carefull with your food dollars. There are many good meals to be had at restaurants other than the ones that serve mainly tourists.

Where else in the world can you do three boat dives for less than $75?

 

[sambolino44]

Poor people don't dive in any of the places you mentioned. The only diving poor people do is scraping the barnacles off the boats of rich people.

OK, OK, I can, actually, lighten up. But watch it with those loaded words, word-man!

 

[robint]

I feel your pain. For 4 years my hubby was still active duty military and we couldn't afford to go anywhere but a one week trip to Coz every summer. Now we are doing better and can afford more trips, but we still remember how stressed we were over that week, getting in as many dives as possible, squeezing as much out of that trip as possible. We had great trips but they were very frantic....

Living in Atlanta, you have lots of choices!
1. NC is closeby and has wrecks and sharks. I would look into a trip there.
2. SE Florida coast does have decent diving but you are right that it isn't quite the same as Coz when not diving.
3. The Nekton liveaboards leave from Ft. Lauderdale for Bahamas in summer and those are great trips with 24-28 dives available! Cost a bit more than a trip to Cozumel, but they give you more bang for your buck.
4. Florida does have all those springs north of Orlando, too.

robin