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Diving off of Ft. Pierce, FL

	Diving off of Ft. Pierce, FL
Author: d2reid Posted: 23-May-05 IP: Logged	Diving out Ft. Pierce is a little different from the areas south of here. The water is not so clear, it is often cooler, and it is a good run out to a ledge. 16 miles, 80ft. Why would you want to dive here? Large lobsters and numerous Mangrove Snapper, and the occasional legal size grouper. If you want pretty, don't dive here.     Reply | Report to Moderator
Author: rifraf Posted: 26-May-05 IP: Logged	You can't beat Miami or Key Largo if you're into wreck diving.     Reply | Report to Moderator
Author: d2reid Posted: 30-May-05 IP: Logged	Key Largo is way cool, Benwood, Speigal Grove, Not to mention all the clear water reefs. My verdict is still out on the Miami area. We just spent Memorial Day Weekend "exploring" the Miami, Biscayne Bay, Fowey Rocks, and the area designated around the 25.42, 80.2. We use Deloaches book a lot, in this case the numbers where not correct. The water was warm at 79 degrees, the visibility was 20 feet after you got through the "pea soup" layer. About the same that we found up north, or over on the west coast, not nearly as good as we find in the Palm Beach area. Maybe it was just a bad time. Ok, enough mine is better than yours. It's not, but it may be as good. We had a really good trip. We camped at Larry and Penny Thompson park off of Eureka in Miami. Saturday we went out of Black Pearl Boat ramp. Sunday we went out of Matheson Hammock. Whenever you are in a new area that you don't know you do a lot of driving around. I burned 60 gallons of fuel in 2 days. We had 8 dives total, 2 each day per couple. We didn't find the Spirit of Miami, we didn't find the Pegasus, we did find a barge, and we did find a freighter, name unknown. The best part was the patch reefs. They were everywhere. When we got frustrated not finding the wrecks from Deloaches book we simply jumped down on some patch reef and had a good time. Unexpectadly we found large Mutton Snapper and a Gag Grouper that would easily tip the 30lb scale in 30 feet of water in an area that had no interesting marking on the chart, just hard bottom. So If you like wreck diving had you tried the Mizpah on Palm Beach?     Reply | Report to Moderator
Author: downtime27 Posted: 11-Aug-05 IP: Logged	lots of wrecks and structures in the Florida panhandle at Panama City Beach. The water temp is 85 and the viz is 30-40'.     Reply | Report to Moderator
Author: scubagirls Posted: 19-Nov-05 IP: Logged	Some of the best wreck diving is in the Boca Raton and Deerfield Beach area. The Ancient Mariner is a must see.     Reply | Report to Moderator
Author: cudachaser Posted: 29-Jan-06 IP: Logged	There are also the nearshore reefs (beachdives) that become quite enjoyable in the summer...lotsa life, shallow 5 to 20ft deep, 30ft visibilities on good days and warmer than the off-shore stuff Joe     Reply | Report to Moderator
Author: d2reid Posted: 29-Jan-06 IP: Logged	Shallow stuff off of Ft. Peirce is good diving. But it can also be really bad diving. You have to pick your times carefully. If there is any kind of swell or surge your visibility drops to less than zero. Ever been sea sick under water, I have. Just north of Ft. Peirce Inlet in 20 feet of water. Dropped on some nice rocks. Visiblity 3 inches. Surge was cool, you didn't know you where going back and forth until you saw the bottom. 3" in front of your face. That tumbled my gyros. To see the bottom moving back and forth. I have caught plenty of lobster there. But of 15 dives, only 3 have been enjoyable. Absolutely wonderful when it's calm and clear. Mostly muck diving.....     Reply | Report to Moderator
Author: scubagirls Posted: 16-Feb-06 IP: Logged	Getting sick underwater is not fun. We were diving off of Boynton Beach and the seas were probably about 4 ft. On the way out to the first dive site (The Nursery), the conch fritters in my belly began having a battle with the 4 ft seas. to soothe my stomach, I was one of the first into the water. Not even five minutes into the dive, I began to feed the fish. I had to swim away each time I hurled because schools of fish began feeding off my recycled conch fritters. Thank goodness that my sickness didn't last long underwater, however, I continued my feeding of the fish up in the land of unlimited air. Last time I had conch fritters before a dive ... that'll teach me!     Reply | Report to Moderator
Author: ponfonio Posted: 06-Mar-08 IP: Logged	Hi. I was thinking to make a week-end dive vacation in Fort Pierce. When is the best moment of the year to do that?.(clear water, I mean..) Ponfonio.     Reply | Report to Moderator
Author: bugjuice Posted: 25-Jun-08 IP: Logged	The best diving is in the summer when there are no tropical weather systems close. but it can still be hit and miss. If you get ten feet of vis then it is a good day. You can shallow water dive from the beach. In most areas the onshore reef is only about 150 yards from the beach.     Reply | Report to Moderator
Author: NAKNIPE Posted: 15-Jul-08 IP: Logged	i am looking to dive around the ft pierce area. i live in orlando and was wondering if anyone had some suggestions of where to find great shore dives that might include a few peeks of lobsters. also i am open for sugguestions any place else with-in reasonable driving distance, i.e.; 1-3 hrs. thank you for any information.     Reply | Report to Moderator