south florida dive sites

"JOF" wrote

> In my limited experience in SE Fla there's usually some current
> running and drift diving is the order of the day. Frankly, solo diving
> issues aside, I'd want someone remaining at the helm to keep the boat
> handy for whenever I decide to thumb the dive. But then I'm not the
> most adventurous soul, kind of a coward in fact. I'll leave that dead
> boat solo diving to the hairy chested amongst us.

As far as I know, most of your experience is from Pompano north. The
further south you go, the more likely you are to find low or now current
areas. Dead boat diving does not require hairy chests, just some planning
and common sense.

Lee

the ONLY guide to buy for Boca to fort lauderdale is the McAllister
guide... It is ONLY SFL, it has all the UPDATED GPS coordinates (NOT
converted Lorans) and best of all... it has 3 photos of LAND per spot to
match up once you are on the spot... 20 years of using this guide in SFL
and I usually hit the spot +- 20 ft. It is updated annually and they
do remove spots over the years to make room for new ones (so save your
old ones). Available at more dive stores in SFL. (BTW... there is a
snorkeling and beach version available.... you want the DIVE guide...)

ALSO... check this out.... If you are a bit of a techie boater and want
to find new spots (and old ones...) this is AMAZING....

http://www.floridanearshore.com/


daniel@uwcorp.net wrote:
> Does anyone know where I can find a GOOD list of south florida dive
> sites? I have my own boat docked in Pompano Beach and go down there at
> least twice a month. I purchased Ned Deloach's guide to Underwater
> Florida, but I haven't had much luck with it and it doesn't even cover
> half of the sites that I know are out there. At 4-6 dives per weekend
> I'm sure I'll run out of sites fairly quickly. I'm looking mainly for
> sites around the Hillsboro Inlet, but I may make the occaisonal trip up
> to around the boca or down around port everglades. If anyone also has
> any recommendations other than the below sites, I'm interested. Mostly
> looking for spearfishing/lobstering, but a good wreck dive or two would
> be nice. I've been on several of the local charters multiple times,
> I've dove the Sea Emperor/Caribbean/Ancient mariner/Berry patch,
> Nursery/Copenhangen(aka the balls) more times than I care to
> remember(at least 20) I've also dove the Tennacos, Hog Heaven, Jay
> Scutti, Rodeo 25, and Mercedes a few times.
>
> A few of the sites I am looking for coordinates for are:
> Abbey too
> Boca Artificial
> Capt Dan(I know this is listed in the book, but I had no luck finding
> the wreck at the listed coordinates)
> Crab Cove
> Finks Grouper Hole
> Horseshoe Reef
> Hillsboro Ledge(This is also in the book, but has the same printed
> coordinates as Opal Towers, typo?)
> Hydro Atlantic
> Jim Atria
> Miller Lite
> Moray Bend
> Pompano Trench
> Quallman Tugs
> Rebel
> RSB-1
>
> These are just ones I can think of, my book in on the boat, some may be
> already listed in the book.
>

On Wed, 16 Feb 2005 00:30:12 GMT, "Lee Bell"
<leebell@ix.remove.netcom.com> wrote:

>"JOF" wrote
>
>> Shouldn't the GPS place you right over the target if the coordinates
>> are right and the operator knows what he's doing?
>
>Some days are better than others. Any electronic navigation system is
>subject to variation. The variation with a good quality GPS and Wide Area
>Augmentation System (WAAS) is less than with a GPS alone, but it's not
>constant and it's almost never 0. I just turned on my WAAS GPS in the
>house. It's picking up sufficient signals to get a fix, but not a good one.
>It's ready + or - 163 feet. With variation like that, you could miss the
>Spiegel Grove. You don't have to miss a wreck by much in order to have
>trouble finding it.

And that's in yer nice long viz conditions that we don't always see up
here in the Great Lakes.

>> When we used the GPS
>> in Mexico I was quite impressed with how they'd find the target, then
>> drive upcurrent a bit and tell us when and how to hit the water. In a
>> stiff current we went in with empty bcd's and got down fast. They
>> positioned us perfectly for the current, depth and distance. All we
>> had to do was drop and flare when we hit the wreck. It was pretty neat
>> stuff.
>
>Doing that consistently implies a lot of experience and, unfortunately, a
>lot of misses. Anybody can do it if there's no current. It's damned hard
>to do in areas where currents at the surface may not be the same as those
>below the surface.
>
These guys do this every day, unless the port gets closed. And you're
right.

I've seen them get fooled by counter currents. I nearly blew a gasket
defending the honour of us old guys on one of those dives. Nasty
little Mexican DM just chugged away into a howling gale as if there
was nothing wrong. I was sneaking down into every shelter I could find
to save energy. Of the seven who started the dive only 3 of us lasted
the entire 40 minutes or so. I was the oldest on the dive, by a fair
bit. I was also the quietest on board heading in. I was still trying
to catch my breath. I still tipped the DM, even though he didn't even
pretend to look winded, the little bastard.

JF

"Grumman-581" wrote

> "Lee Bell" wrote ...
>> As far as I know, most of your experience is from Pompano north. The
>> further south you go, the more likely you are to find low or now current
>> areas.

> That was not my experience when I towed my boat down there in November...
> It
> made for a rather rapid drift dive...

If you were in the Fort Lauderdale area and south and could not find
someplace with little or no current, you probably weren't looking for it.

Sometimes, some sites have current. Sometimes, they don't. Times and sites
with no current are a more common occurrence south of Pompano than they are
to the north. If you're looking for an anchored, dead boat dive, you have
to continue looking until you find it.

Lee

"Lee Bell" wrote ...
> If you were in the Fort Lauderdale area and south and could not find
> someplace with little or no current, you probably weren't looking for it.

I was at Looe Reef... Not sure if it was the current or just the winds...
Either way, I had a rather fast drift dive...

> Sometimes, some sites have current. Sometimes, they don't. Times and
sites
> with no current are a more common occurrence south of Pompano than they
are
> to the north. If you're looking for an anchored, dead boat dive, you have
> to continue looking until you find it.

I was more in a situation of trying to make a dive that I had set out to do
irregardless of what the weather and currents decided to do to me...
Sometimes, you aren't all that successful no matter how determined you were
when you initially launched your boat... <grin>

Grumman-581 wrote:
>
> "Lee Bell" wrote ...
> > As far as I know, most of your experience is from Pompano north. The
> > further south you go, the more likely you are to find low or now current
> > areas.
>
> That was not my experience when I towed my boat down there in November... It
> made for a rather rapid drift dive...

(t i d e s )?

"Grumman-581" wrote

> I was at Looe Reef... Not sure if it was the current or just the winds...
> Either way, I had a rather fast drift dive...

Interesting. I don't reacall much current at Looe Key, but I suppose it
varies with where you are. I prefer the patch reefs along one side to the
deeper comb structure. I've been there a half dozen times and don't ever
recall a strong current.

Lee

"Lee Bell" wrote ...
> Interesting. I don't reacall much current at Looe Key, but I suppose it
> varies with where you are. I prefer the patch reefs along one side to the
> deeper comb structure. I've been there a half dozen times and don't ever
> recall a strong current.

Probably just the high winds...

Grumman-581 wrote:
>
> "Crownfield" wrote ...
> > (t i d e s )?
>
> Could have had something to do with it... The winds were kind of high
> also...

tides act below the waterline, and winds act on the effective 'sail'
above the waterline. the resulting vector can be less than obvious.

"Crownfield" wrote ...
> tides act below the waterline, and winds act on the effective 'sail'
> above the waterline. the resulting vector can be less than obvious.

If it had just been tides, the line that I had attached between me and the
boat would have probably dropped down at a more vertical angle... As it was,
it was at a very shallow angle... Any shallower and I would have had to
consider waterskiing instead... <grin> As such, I suspect that the wind was
carrying the boat fairly rapidly and I was being dragged along in the
process...