Diving with ricordea and zooanthids in Florida

[RogueAgent94]

I'm curious, do you guys go diving with scuba gear or just snorkeling?

 

[billsreef]

Both

 

[RogueAgent94]

So if I were to go snorkeling within an hour or two of Gainesville, where would you suggest I try?

 

[billsreef]

If anything, try the beaches on the Atlantic side. Though I expect you'd really need to come down south a good ways.

 

[RogueAgent94]

Thanks! I've been doing some research but I won't be trying any dives till later February.

How far down south would you think I'd need to go?

 

[huricaneredbone]

Pompano beach has gorgeous reefs. I havent heard too many stories of good finds further north than that...

 

[sail33]

please tell me where to find these - i want to go today!

Check the date of the thread. You might want to start a new one.

 

[RogueAgent94]

Pompano beach has gorgeous reefs. I havent heard too many stories of good finds further north than that...

Hmm... that's about five hours away from me. I suppose I could do that for ricordea :spin2:.

And that's a fairly good place for free diving/snorkeling?

 

[billsreef]

The shallow inner reef from around Pompano and south thru Miami runs a couple hundred yard swim out from the beach. Much of it is around 15' deep or so.

 

[huricaneredbone]

Hmm... that's about five hours away from me. I suppose I could do that for ricordea :spin2:.

And that's a fairly good place for free diving/snorkeling?

If your going to drive that distance in search of ricordea i would suggest tacking another 2 hours on and making your way down to the keys. Ricordea are found in the pompano region but are not as common. THey are far more common down in the keys areas but you need to head to the reefs by boat, while you can swim to them at pompano-miami beach...

 

[huricaneredbone]

These are a few corals I have found/collected locally in the last month.

 

[huricaneredbone]

couple more gems ive found

 

[blackthunda77]

Nice finds. Hit me up next time bro!

 

[huricaneredbone]

I will next time, ive gotten in the habit of going alone cuz people are a pain in the butt to organize. Im headin out of town for a week but ill hit u up when i get back.

 

[RogueAgent94]

Wow those look great!

 

[sleeri]

great corals!

 

[justadivebum]

I think a trip to FLorida for some diving is in order

 

[justadivebum]

couple more gems ive found

Very jealous. I want to head down this spring now and go Zoa hunting!

 

[huricaneredbone]

It is quite a rush when you find a colony of awesome ones. So many people dont even see them cause they are sometimes really small. I have some purple hornet lookalike i will post next week. Im out of town so i cant take a picture

 

[Overgrown]

Nice. Wish i could collect Wild stuff around my neck of the woods. I dive the Channel Islands a lot and its a much more eerie vibe than kicking over coral reef.