florida diving

rick00001967 · 11-29-2006, 09:49 PM

anyone who has recommendations on good florida dive spots and shops pls let me know. we are going to be in florida jan 1-14/07. looking for info on three locations. flort lauderdale area, keys, and crystal river area(west coast). seem to be quite expensive there. hard to get shops to answer emails as well. any suggestions greatly appreciated. thx rick

MgicTwnger · 11-30-2006, 12:57 AM

I'll be in Tavernier (just south of Key Largo) next week diving with Conch Republic Divers for the second year in a row. They do a great job all around and will bend over backwards for their customers. The owner is even loaning me his own doubles. Can't ask for more than that.

dshepard · 12-01-2006, 11:58 AM

Lots of great diving all over Florida. Best destination depends largely on your experience. There are great wrecks off of the northern keys and off Ft Lauderdale, the good ones are advanced dives. Without knowing more I would recommend the Key Largo/Islamorada area. There are lots of good operators there, I like SeaDwellers at Mile marker 100 in Key Largo and Lady Cyana in Islamorada. SeaDwellers dives the shallow reefs near Pennekamp, Molasses Reef etc. Most dives are in the 30ft range and there is the Bendwood Wreck at 30-40ft. Their boat is docked at the Holiday Inn on the EAST side if the island so they get out there a little quicker than those on the WEST side. Lady Cyana will take you out to Duane and/or Bibb. These are sunken Coast Guard Cutters. These dives are deep with current and require advanced C-card with experience. Safe Diving.

rick00001967 · 01-16-2007, 05:48 PM

we dove in islamorada with keydives. very well run operation. we like to have guided dives and they provide that. a bit disapointed with the first dive. not much life. but the second spot inside the "santuary" was great. we saw a ray, lots of lobster, a few nurse sharks, a scorpion fish, a big green eel, and a ton of fish. if we go next time i am going to do more research ahead of time and make sure all my dives are in one of these "santuaries". rick

wreckvalle · 02-11-2007, 04:51 PM

Check out this website which has history and current condition of Florida Shipwrecks. The site has images and even a GPS location list.

http://www.shipwreckexpo.com/florida...sdirectory.htm