Diving off west palm beach Fl?

[bj32482]

Anyone ever dive here? I am planning a three day dive trip with a friend. We are planning to go to Key Largo, but the hotels in this area seem much cheaper...we don't really care about the room because its just us two guys. Are there any good snorkeling sites off the beaches? Anyone recommend a dive operation?
Also we would like to keep the depth to no greater than 60' my buddy just got his c card
Thanks,
BJ

 

[keithbou30]

if you are making the trip i would say to go to the keys if never seen before. if this oil spil really hits those reefs if will be a very long time before they ever get back to normal. but there are some sites near west palm but try to go down south little farther water is a lot clearer

 

[Jarred1]

i live in west palm and i go fishing out of the boynton beach inlet, the reefs here that i know about are about 80-100 feet down.

 

[gregmoeck]

WPB is superb for drift diving. There are some great wrecks. You will need to go out with a dive boat. There are plenty in the area. I think its way better than the keys. More life, more eels, more turtles more everything because the gulf stream comes in real close to shore there. You can do a beach dive under a bridge for macro stuff off the blue heron bridge at Phil Foster Park , there are some youtube videos and the dive shops can help. I totally recommend west palm beach diving! Do the wreck with the rolls royce car that is next to the mercedes ship

 

[Baka Saru]

Im pretty sure the beaches in KW are closed bc of the oil. I just went snorkeling today at Red Reef Park in Boca off of palmetto and A1A if youre familiar with WPB. Its a man made reef but its really nice. Google it if youre interested.

 

[90GalFOWLR]

The only diving I have ever done has been off the palm beaches. The best operator in the area is Jim Abernathy scuba adventures. There are a decent number of wrecks in the area. LOTS of turtles. Tons of life. Palm beach from what I am told is the spot where the Gulf Stream comes closest to land in the U.S so there is alot of diverse life diving off of palm beach. It is kind of like a hidden gem. Because the gulf stream stream is so close it is all drift diving. Sometimes you can get drifiting pretty fast too!

Most diving is in the 60-80ft range but there are some deaper spots. I havent been down in 8 years (I will be in 1 month though) but 8 years ago visibility on a normal day was in the 50-75ft range and on a good day would hit 100ft. Temp is upper 70's to mid 80's

 

[Eric the half-bee]

WPB is superb for drift diving. There are some great wrecks. You will need to go out with a dive boat. There are plenty in the area. I think its way better than the keys. More life, more eels, more turtles more everything because the gulf stream comes in real close to shore there. You can do a beach dive under a bridge for macro stuff off the blue heron bridge at Phil Foster Park , there are some youtube videos and the dive shops can help. I totally recommend west palm beach diving! Do the wreck with the rolls royce car that is next to the mercedes ship

I 2nd the P. Foster park. We were there last Sat. and after a 6 year hiatus from diving, it was a great way to ease back in. I've only dove in quarries, fresh water and in Nassau, but we saw 6-7 octopi, 8-10 spiny lobsters, 2-3 morays, a skate, arrow crabs bigger than I've ever seen in a store, CB shrimp, tangs, angels, puffers, blennies, gobys, gorgonians and sponges galore in <15' depth. Go with the tide tables(high tide) however or visibility is not good. Definitely worth a dive again. There's also a nice dive center 15-20 miles north in Jupiter that dives daily(Jupiter Dive Center).

 

[chumcrazy]

Boynton Beach is a great place to dive 45-60FT. But for shallow water go down to pompano/ft. lauderdale beautiful reefs in 20-30ft. and you can get over an hour of dive time in on one tank.

 

[drew1]

Palm beach is a great diving location. When I lived in FL I made dozens of dives to palm beach. Our second dive of the day was always in the 40-60 foot range. Some really cool wrecks in 90-120 feet. As others have stated there is lots of life on the dives. Talk with a few of the dive operators out of WPB and make sure you get on a boat with like minds divers. I would definitely recommend the reefs out of WPB, but as mentioned Phil Foster park has some great diving too. You need to do that dive at slack high tide or it's really tough. There is a cool eagle ray that hangs around as will as tons of small stuff. It's a great dive to get wet on. Another fun dive is in the inlet, but again you need a boat and a slack high tide. Visibility on the reef is almost alway 30+ feet, and can get 100+ feet when conditions are right. Snorkling at Red Reef park is a fun way to spend a day at the beach.

 

[Trademark]

It's been a while but in 99 went diving off Springer Island ( I think that was the name) nice low key place to go> just make sure to get back on here to let us know about your trip

 

[drew1]

Singer Island is the same area. Just north of the inlet and where you end up if you pass Phil Foster park on the causeway.

 

[karp12]

This is a bit north but well worth it.. Great trips!!

http://oceanquestscuba.com/

 

[ataller]

Please, for your own sake, goto Boynton Beach and find Kevin at Underwater Explorers.

I guarantee you will have an amazing time with him. Best DM in the area by far. Check out his thread at s c u b a b o a r d