Dive and drive in Florida

Hi guys,

I'm looking at maybe spending 4-5 days diving in florida during August. I'm hoping to dive the Oriskany up in Pensacola, and maybe some of the popular dive spots in Florida too in a sort of dive safari way.

Any one has any suggestions on 'must-go' dive spots in Florida? Operator recommendations are welcome too!

On the other hand, if you have any trips planned for the 29 July - August 4, and don't mind me tagging along, do let me know!

I'd like to do some diving here before flying home to Singapore!

Thanks in advance!

Hi guys,

 

I'm looking at maybe spending 4-5 days diving in florida during August. I'm hoping to dive the Oriskany up in Pensacola, and maybe some of the popular dive spots in Florida too in a sort of dive safari way.

 

Any one has any suggestions on 'must-go' dive spots in Florida? Operator recommendations are welcome too!

 

On the other hand, if you have any trips planned for the 29 July - August 4, and don't mind me tagging along, do let me know!

 

I'd like to do some diving here before flying home to Singapore!

 

Thanks in advance!

The Oriskany is a great dive, the only problem is it's an all day affair for a two tank dive and Pensacola is the opposite end of the state from South Florida and the Florida Keys. Florida is a long narrow state. With driving you will land up probably killing two days to dive the Oriskany. If you do decide that's what you want to do, you may consider staying up there and taking in some of the other wrecks and dive sites in the Pensacola area for a few days.

If I only had four days at that time of year I would spend it in the upper keys, Key Largo area, and as far south as Loue Key, possibly a day in West Palm Beach and Jupiter. Depends how much driving you want to do. If you are flying into Miami, I would definitely do the keys etc. If you are flying into Orlando or Tampa, then the Oriskany might make sense. If you are around on a Friday I might join you in Jupiter.

What about the Blue Heron bridge in West Palm? Its got insane critter life. The other day Eric, Julie and I were walking around a small harbor there and saw schools of baby flying fish the size of a pea and tiny baby trumpet fish. The whole area looks like a huge nursery.

That same day some people took photos of frog fish under the bridge.

Thanks for your replies, guys.

Yes, Oriskany is really quite out of the way. driving 9 hours each way from the main dive sites is making it difficult. Why couldn't they have sunk it somewhere closer?! Like off the shores of Singapore, perhaps..

I'm hoping to be able to dive at Jupiter, and maybe West Palm for 2-3 days, then drive down to the Keys. Is it worth making the trip down south?

how are conditions generally like? is it cold underwater? i haven't used a wetsuit in ages...thanks again for any tips!

oh yes, and any budget accommodation in the area? My plan was to use motels and coupons and hopefully keep it below $70/night so I'll have more money for diving. I'll be checking with reefphoto about renting a housing for my 5D as well because all my gear is back home.

Midsummer you should not need a wetsuit. I think it is worth at least a couple of days in the upper keys; if you like wrecks do the Spiegel Grove and the Duane in Key Largo.

You should find budget accommodations like Motel 6 and others around. In the Jupiter and West Palm areas avoid Riviera Beach for accomodations unless you are on Singer Island. If you want a small boat for diving in Key Largo contact Quiessance, they only do six packs. It's a busy time of year then and the other dive boats can be cattle boats. Ryan at Reef can probably steer you towards economy lodging in his area as well. A couple of days in West Palm / Jupiter and a couple of days in the upper Keys should be nice. Enjoy.

If it were me (and I've done over 900+ dives around Florida and dove in some of the really rarely dove, interesting spots -- so I can have a small opinion... -but probably not as much an opinion as others who have dove Florida even more..... )

In August I would book with Randy with Emerald Charters - Tequesta near Jupiter - book with ScubaWorks and hope the goliath grouper are aggregating and the currents will allow you to photo!

Then I would dive BHB that is fairly nearby with someone who knows the spot. It often takes a few days to "find" things there and you don't have days to kill. Since I had a couple of days to kill to just search and practice at BHB I located things I wanted to photo and then took a friend back with me. On one dive amongst lots of fish, etc. we found and photoed 2 striated frogfish, 2 longsnout seahorses, 5 pipefish of various species, a northern stargazer (the most handsome stargazer in the world in my humble opinion), 3 pairs of mating common octos including a pair that had been together for a week and it seems the "affair" had cooled somewhat..... , several atlantic longarm octos out hunting (that's our version of the mimic octo), unusual small nudibranchs and a strange small seahare that rode on one of the seahorses and two species of searobins plus lots of baby fish. Not bad at all to practice macro!!!! This is a free dive with security in the park but you need to be out by sunset (no more night dives there). And the security is needed as one day we dove it we couldn't exit the park by our usual right turn (because the bridge was closed above the park because of a shooting) and we took the long scenic way around through Singer Island and the park. Don't have accomos near the bridge but the Phil Foster Park at BHB is safe itself now because of the security. I made friends with the rangers and they are pretty cool and watched me, etc.

Of course if there is a hurricane or tropical system all bets are off!!!

Good Luck! Carol

PS I wear a 5mm wetsuit there all year long including the bridge and Jupiter - but then that's how you get nice long dives now and limit air consumption isn't it?? By staying warm - but of course judge for yourself -- not toooo warm....

seagrant, thanks for the comprehensive information! you're really making me feel the need to breathe compressed air and squint through little viewfinders.

loftus, thanks for the info on accommodation and dive sites. at least now i know where to look! hopefully i'll be able to get space on the boats.

Hey Carol,

You're giving away all those special, unique and most of all - secret spots! You better watch out Drew will be on to you about this...

I would definitely recommend Emerald Charters for Big Fish, and hiring a guide from JASA for Blue Heron Bridge. Ask for Laz.

My favorite reef diving in fl is in Boynton Beach. I used to drive to the upper keys a lot when I first moved here, but now I don't. Boynton is 30min from my front door and fishier.

My favorite op called Underwater Explorers. This is a big 6 pack, with a captain, and the owner Kevin working the deck. Kevin still likes to dive, so you might even be able to convince him to carry the flag for you.

http://www.diveboyntonbeach.com/

Hey Carol,

You're giving away all those special, unique and most of all - secret spots! You better watch out Drew will be on to you about this...

Ahhh, not a secret in Florida. It is just that the really unusual stuff is hard to locate and does move around - especially with the daily thunderstorms starting more and more the water salinity changes and some creatures tend to move around more and are harder to find.

But yes, as Ryan says hire Laz!! He knows the place certainly better than I. I just find stuff cause I know the place a bit and spend a lot of bottom time looking!!

Yes there are fish collectors that are impacting the place and Graham there is a petition on WP that lists way more fish than I did!! I think what is there is known now and the answer now is to get people to sign the petition and talk to the authorities if they see suspicious activity. I don't know much about the situation but the Rangers told me that commercial fish collecting is not legal but collecting for your "home aquarium" is and they have guys now that come 4 days a week "to collect for their home aquarium". The Rangers aren't stupid and are monitoring those guys - they even called Fish and Wildlife in while I was there. Problem is the laws are not in their favor as all they can ticket the collectors for is violating a county ordinance as they told me - not a stricter state penalty. So push should be to get lots of sigs on the petition and push for tougher laws against collecting.

The Rangers did ask me for pics of the rarer creatures so they have a better idea of what they are trying to protect. I'll do this as at this point it isn't a secret and it is important now to get as much support behind protecting the unique life as possible.

Best, Carol

If in Florida I'd think you'd want to go for at least one freshwater spring/cavern/indian river dive as well...plenty to be had all up and down the western coastline. Check out Dive Training mag's map for sites:

http://www.dtmag.com/dive-usa/se.html

I've done only a couple and picked by proximity to where I was staying for a weekend, certainly not the 'best' though I bet. Water in the springs is usually 72 degrees or so, a 3 mil full is okay but a 5 mil is probably more comfortable. And if you do this dive after a saltwater one, consider it your gear rinse.