Living in Florida, we are lucky to have a lot of shore diving options available to us and we’ve been doing quite a lot of that. Some of our favorite spots are the Blue Heron Bridge and Lauderdale-by-the-Sea. It had been a while that we’d been on a dive boat, and we finally had a chance to do some boat diving with the Lady Go Diver in Pompano. It was a pleasure and it reminded us about how much fun boat diving can be.
First off, going during the week was great because there were only a couple of other divers on the boat along with a small group of snorkelers. Because of the snorkelers, we did two shallow dive spots but that was just fine by us too. We had recently had our gear serviced, so it was a good way to take it for a trial run.
Showing up directly at the boat in the morning was nice, and the divemaster came out to help us load up our tanks and gear. We then headed out on the long intracoastal ride passing by numerous Florida mansions to get out into the open water for our diving. Seas were flat, and the captain was welcoming us to Lake Atlantic with a smile. No waves to be seen at all except for the wake of the boat!
The itinerary of the day was the SS Copenhagen Shipwreck in Lauderdale-by-the Sea and Nursery Reef off Pompano Beach, known for its nurse sharks. Both, near the Hillsboro Inlet. Visibility was great, and the water was almost 80 degrees in late May. The crew was easy going letting us get a full hour per dive. It was nice to see the rocky drop-offs with the further parts of the reef. It was also great to see a wreck, we had not been wreck diving in ages!
A few pluses about boat diving:
- The boat drops you right on top of the dive spot. No swimming out from shore
- You gear up and drop in. No long walk back and forth with you gear
- You get two dives, albeit shorter, and two spots to explore
- Access to wrecks, and access to deeper and further parts of the reef
- A dive briefing about the site
- People looking out for you in case of any issues
- Snacks and drinks
- No need to rinse off any sand
Here in Florida, you usually don’t get a divemaster guiding the dive unless you pay extra for a private guide. This surprised us when we first started diving here and we were lost without someone to lead us around. Now that we are used to it, we enjoy the freedom of diving at our own pace. We even get annoyed at having to follow a reef-rocket guide that swims for 45 minutes and never stops to see the small stuff which we love.
If you’ve not been out on a boat recently, here’s a small refresher on boat diving etiquette:
- Get there early or on time, the boats must time their exit through the drawbridges and tides
- Bring only what you need, even when the boat is not full you don’t want stuff strung all around the boat
- Set up quickly and keep your stuff tucked away so others don’t trip on it
- Make sure to bungee in your tank after setup
- Listen to the dive briefing and the safety briefing, even if you’ve heard it before, be a good example!
- Do a good equipment check, take a few breaths, and inflate before jumping in to avoid (possibly dangerous) surprises
- Don’t rinse your mask in the camera bucket
- Respect the time limit the captain or divemaster give you for the dive, even if you have lots of air left!
- Be sure to get permission from the crew before getting back on the boat
- After your dive, go back to your seat and watch out for other divers boarding with their heavy gear
- No throwing anything (even fruit peels) into the water unless the dive crew says it’s ok (and even then!)
- Remember to tip the crew generously, especially if they’ve gone above and beyond with helping with your gear, or with briefing or guiding
While we loved going out with the boat, we have grown accustomed to our shore dive sites and can’t say we’d give these up. We’ve gotten to know the sites and the creatures. We know where some of them live, and we go visit them regularly. It’s like going back to a familiar neighborhood.
We did buy several dive vouchers at the shop so we will definitely be going out again. We intend to make the most of both shore diving and wreck diving.
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