Last week, my brother was visiting and as an avid diver himself we were keen to take him out to explore some the local dive spots. Unfortunately, we had a distant hurricane “Hermine” stirring up the ocean and wind and waves were bad enough to interfere with our plans.
One good thing that did come out of our attempts to get in the water was that we discovered a new dive shop that had opened just a few minutes from our house! We were happy to find them in our backyard, and even though it did not work out with my brother, we were quick to get out on a dive with them as soon as the weather improved.
Just a few more words on Portofino Divers Academy They opened up just a couple of months ago, and the shop is spotless and very convenient. The free covered parking upstairs is great and valet parking is also available when diving. The dock is just behind the shop, so a quick walk to the boat and you are off to explore some excellent reefs and wrecks.
Update: Unfortunately, Portofino Divers Academy is closed.
C-One Wreck
Our dives consisted of the C-One—a 120-foot tugboat that was sunk in 1990. The vessel is at about 60-70 feet of depth and is in one piece with lots of growth and full of sea life. The fact that it’s tilting over at almost 45 degrees makes for many interesting photos. Our visibility was about 40-50 feet so a little hard to get the whole tug into a good shot but it was a great view and a great dive.
On the reef
Our second dive was to a reef just outside Sunny Isles from where we could see lots of the familiar buildings just in front of our view from home. Literally diving in our backyard!
The reef is probably a half to a mile out from shore and was in about 25-30 feet of water. Lobsters, a walking conch, shrimps, and many colorful fish including a cute puffer fish just made us feel so lucky to be living here in South Florida. We will definitely be back to do more diving!
Check out this great resource we found for local dive sites and descriptions. You can select the dive type and level of difficulty.
We’re also actively using a book for local dive spots that lists many shore dives across Florida with instructions to reach them: Diving Guide to Underwater Florida, 11th Edition by Ned DeLoach
Happy and safe diving!
See our post: Reef Diving in South Florida