Red Reef Park

[dadummy]

Hello there,

went to snorkel a new spot today, Red Reef Park in Boca Raton.. They are out of thier flippin minds, didn't make it past the parking lot. We arrived at 4:15 pm, the lot attendant said 18 dollars. HUH? 18 dollars for one day, we'll be turning around.
So, we drove up to gulfstream, parked for free and snorkeled a couple hours.

 

[beaker99]

I know what you mean. It's getting to the point in Boca Raton that you can't do anything in that town without it costing a fortune. Not that Boca was every cheap. In the late 70's there was an old coast guard station on the north side of the inlet where you could park free and snorkel to your hearts delight. Now you can't stop anywhere near the inlet.
If you want to check out a neat inlet go up to Jupiter light house inlet. If you can catch an in coming tide it can be excellent.

 

[thor32766]

that is just crazy!!!

 

[DaveG99]

i lived in boca back in the late 80's. I think it was free then or maybe $4-$5. $18 is nuts! Its weird drivign through Boca on US1 and seeing townhouse signs advertising "Starting at $750,000" Like thats some great deal...HAHAHA I have no clue how normal people can live down there. If you want a free place to snorkel near boca go down to deerfeild beach. Pretty good reef off shore. Also lauderdale by the sea is good from what I hear.

 

[dadummy]

thanks for the replies,
yup, I am a normal people, if the market ever takes off again, I'm out!! incoming tide at jupiter inlet, keep that in mind, and planning the next trip down to commercial blvd, I believe that is lauderdale by the sea,
us normal people have to work for a living so it's hard to find the time to live the life of the prestigious, however scuba certifications seem to be the discussion at the dinner table, can't wait

thanks again

 

[luminary]

That's insane...I don't remember ever paying to go to any of the beach/parks down there when I lived on that coast.

I never really thought Lauderdale by the Sea was all that great of a snorkel spot.

Some decent stuff up towards the northern end of PBC. I used to do shore dives off the Breakers hotel. Some of the ledges were within snorkeling depths. DuBois park off the Jupiter inlet was always a lot of fun. There's a small brackish lagoon inland that has a little feeder stream that goes out to the inlet. You can just float down the stream and snorkel the whole way. The first time I ever saw an octopus in the wild was there.

 

[luminary]

Dubois park...Man, the erosion there has been horrible since I was over there. From the aerial view, it doesnt look like there's a whole lot of stuff in the stream anymore. It's about twice as wide as I remember it being.

 

[DaveG99]

also peanut island and ocean reef park in west palm beach. Great spots. If I were that close to the keys I would just drive down to largo. Its the best.

 

[luminary]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7853322#post7853322 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DaveG99
If I were that close to the keys I would just drive down to largo. Its the best.

For snorkeling too? Don't get me wrong, I spend the 6 hours to drive down there to dive whenever I can...but I never really thought of it as all that great a snorkel spot. Are there places off the beach to snorkel? Heck, I can't even think of where there is beach access...Otherwise you're talking a $50 charter to snorkel a reef that's in 30+ feet of water.

 

[DaveG99]

Yes...you can snorkel at john pennekamp park. Theres also a couple spots in islamorada that you can snorkel off the beach.

 

[thor32766]

yeah there are spots around there quite a bit.