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Scuba Forum / General / April 2007Jacksonville Florida
How's the diving? Any good, bad, or indifferent dive shops? My wife's co-worker wants to know. > How's the diving? > Any good, bad, or indifferent dive shops? > My wife's co-worker wants to know. I lived there for 7 years and didn't dive locally even once. I don't even know anyone that did. I suppose there is diving somewhere around there, but I can't recall hearing anything about it, positive or negative. Lee > How's the diving? > > Any good, bad, or indifferent dive shops? > > My wife's co-worker wants to know. I've been told more than once that there -is- no diving there. Someone here, Jerome's Sockpuppet, IIRC, may have first hand information. Scott McFadden would, if anyone knew where he was lately. sjm1582002@yahoo.com ? On Apr 2, 4:42 pm, "Douglas W \"Popeye\" Frederick" <Pop...@finalprotectivefire.com> wrote: > <bra...@axxent.ca> wrote in message > [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > Scott McFadden would, if anyone knew where he was lately. All the off shore stuff requires a boat to reach. The coast line is pretty much sandy sand sand land, with extra sand, and a sand bottom, with a little extra sand thrown in for good measure. There is some interesting freshwater diving (skin and scuba) to be had in some of the semi-local fresh water springs. A one or two hour drive will take you to Ginnie Springs or Blue Springs State Park. You might try contacting the Jax Reef Research Team and see if they are doing anything. http://www.jaxrrt.org/ They do some interesting things, and can probably find the best local dives. But the reality is, there ain't much. > I've been told more than once that there -is- no diving there. You heard right -- there is NO diving off NE Florida. No abundant grouper and oodles of flounder. No big lobsters. No wrecks. Nothing. Stay away. ;>) Actually, this is perhaps the last good spot left in Florida to dive. Great diving, awesome marine life, and in many areas you have the whole ocean to yourself. Just got back from diving out of St. Mary's (faster/easier to get in and out of than Mayport) on a wreck we identified less than 2 years ago (featured in WRECK DIVING MAGAZINE). Recovered china, bottles, the wooden helm wheel, a clock, silverware, portholes, etc. I added some pics to the AUE website at http://uwex.us Cheers, Mike >How's the diving? > >Any good, bad, or indifferent dive shops? > >My wife's co-worker wants to know. My trusty De Loach's Underwater Florida Guide book lists about 19 sites off of Jacksonville and JAX Beach, but as others have said, I cannot at all attest to them. I could tell you a bit about the "surface" area as I have family living near there. My mother was born in Jacksonville, and her older sister still lives in the old family house in St. Marys, Georgia (less than 1hr away, and the 2nd oldest incorporated city in the USA, next to St. Augustine) where they grew up. I wouldn't dive near St. Marys though..... You might encounter some aquatic life you wouldn't want to deal with .... specifically the species "Submarinus Tridentus" (aka. The "Kings Bay Naval Base").... ____________________________________________ Regards, Arnold Visit my Travel Photo Website: http://www.mag3.biz/travel_photos/home_page.html Absolutely 100% SPAM free!!!! HONEST!!! :-) How much of a drive is it to West Palm Beach? 4 hrs.  SignaturePopeye "Best thing for him, really, his therapy was going nowhere." -Dr. Hannibal Lector. www.finalprotectivefire.com > How much of a drive is it to West Palm Beach? > How much of a drive is it to West Palm Beach? About an hour from Ft. Lauderdale. About 2.5 hours from Key Largo, give or take a bit. Lee > How much of a drive is it to West Palm Beach? 280 miles from the I-10/I-35 intersection to the I-35/FL-704 intersection, following I-35 the entire way... On Apr 2, 1:23 pm, bra...@axxent.ca wrote: > How's the diving? > > Any good, bad, or indifferent dive shops? > > My wife's co-worker wants to know. I tried several times to catch a ride out of jacksonville. There are 2 or 3 shops that say they run charters, but I have never caught them when they are actually doing it. The Gulf Stream is farther offshore there, and AFAIK the diving is mostly on artificial reef and whatever other structure they can find to shoot fish on. As doug said, WPB is 4 hours down I-95. Ginnie Springs, Devil's Den and some other springs are less than 2 hours. Crystal River is also doable. > Ginnie Springs, Devil's Den and some other springs are less than 2 hours. > Crystal River is also > doable. Crystal River's only worth doing if it's winter and the manatees are around. Rainbow River, in the same general area, is an interesting drift dive. Lee > Crystal River's only worth doing if it's winter and the manatees are around. > Rainbow River, in the same general area, is an interesting drift dive. True, but I've seen manatees every time I've been there, even in the summer - there just sren't that many there then. All of the springs get boring pretty fast for OW divers, but they are wet and not too far from Jax. Jupiter would be the first nice salty place you come to going down I-95. >> Crystal River's only worth doing if it's winter and the manatees are >> around. >> Rainbow River, in the same general area, is an interesting drift dive. > True, but I've seen manatees every time I've been there, even in the > summer - there just sren't that many there then. All of the springs > get boring pretty fast for OW divers, but they are wet and not too far > from Jax. Jupiter would be the first nice salty place you come to > going down I-95. King Springs is interesting enough to dive once or twice if you happen to be in the area, but I don't think I'd travel for it. Your luck with the manatees has been better than mine. There have been times when we failed to find them even in the winter. Not only does warm water elsewhere tend to draw them out of the Crystal River, windy conditions and a choppy surface in the river seems to move them out as well. When we're willing to motor around a bit and, having scoped out the various places they seem to congregate, we usually find at least one or two also, but once or twice, we've been completely skunked. You do what you can and take your chances. I think I remember reading about some decent diving in the Cocoa area, but I may have been dreaming. Ft. Pierce used to be known for large lobster. Other than that, my experience starts somewhere around West Palm and runs south. Lee > Your luck with the manatees has been better than mine. There have been > times when we failed to find them even in the winter. Not only does warm [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > but once or twice, we've been completely skunked. You do what you can and > take your chances. I went there once a month for about a year, as that is where I was first certified and where we took students during my DM internship. We always saw something, but we were there for the entire weekend and motored all over the bay, rivers and other holes. > I think I remember reading about some decent diving in the Cocoa area, but > I may have been dreaming. Ft. Pierce used to be known for large lobster. > Other than that, my experience starts somewhere around West Palm and runs > south. There's also some diving out of the Daytona area (big lobsters in deeper water). The Gulf Stream gets farther away from the coastline north of Jupiter, so the best diving is from Jupiter south. >>Ginnie Springs, Devil's Den and some other springs are less than 2 hours. >>Crystal River is also [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > Lee Popcorn springs on the river bottom. If you don't mind a dive profile that looks like a saw blade it is OK. Please indicate whether or not you saw a post from Dan Bracuk thanking everyone for answering. I'm having ISP issues. > Please indicate whether or not you saw a post from Dan Bracuk thanking > everyone for answering. I'm having ISP issues. Nope. Nothing. Zero. Zilch. > Please indicate whether or not you saw a post from Dan Bracuk thanking > everyone for answering. I'm having ISP issues. Those of us reading your mind were pleased with your thought and consideration. YW in advance. > Please indicate whether or not you saw a post from Dan Bracuk thanking > everyone for answering. I'm having ISP issues. I thought I did. >> Please indicate whether or not you saw a post from Dan Bracuk thanking >> everyone for answering. I'm having ISP issues. > > I thought I did. No, I checked, it was just a hallucination. > > I thought I did. > > No, I checked, it was just a hallucination. <cough> Don't forget; You are in Canada. The favorite excuse of one particular Canadian to *not* answer a direct question, after he has painted himself into a corner, is to claim ISP problems. Perhaps we have been wrong for like ten years. Or, this person is simply the lying sac we deduced. "Scott" <pugetsounddiver@gmail.com> muttered: > The favorite excuse of one particular Canadian to *not* answer > a direct question, after he has painted himself into a corner, > is to claim ISP problems. What's your excuse, pussy? On Apr 6, 4:31 pm, "Douglas W \"Popeye\" Frederick" <Pop...@finalprotectivefire.com> wrote: > I thought I did. For quite some time, you were the only person who could not see me. It would make sense this time if you were the only person who could. > On Apr 6, 4:31 pm, "Douglas W \"Popeye\" Frederick" > <Pop...@finalprotectivefire.com> wrote: [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > For quite some time, you were the only person who could not see me. > It would make sense this time if you were the only person who could. I've always been "different"... > Please indicate whether or not you saw a post from Dan Bracuk thanking > everyone for answering. I'm having ISP issues. nope Signature“TAANSTAFL” ____________________________________________________________________________ "A prudent man foresees the difficulties ahead and prepares for them; The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences." - Proverbs 22:3 ____________________________________________________________________________ > Please indicate whether or not you saw a post from Dan Bracuk thanking > everyone for answering. I'm having ISP issues. I saw a number of posts from you in this thread, but not the one where you thanked everyone. Are you sure it is ISP issues and not a case of Oldtimers? > I saw a number of posts from you in this thread, but not the one where you > thanked everyone. > Are you sure it is ISP issues and not a case of Oldtimers? If the author is Dan Bracuk, I am sending through my ISP and nobody can see it. If the author is bracuk@axxent.ca, I am sending through google groups and it's much more visible. On Apr 7, 6:30 am, bra...@axxent.ca wrote: > > I saw a number of posts from you in this thread, but not the one where you > > thanked everyone. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > can see it. If the author is bra...@axxent.ca, I am sending through > google groups and it's much more visible. I switched to google groups just so I could see your posts. It made me nervous that someone could talk about me behind my back without my knowing. > On Apr 7, 6:30 am, bra...@axxent.ca wrote: > [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > me nervous that someone could talk about me behind my back without my > knowing. Greg - you weren't in the Solomons last week were you My nephew just started a job in Kwajalein I thought he may have been affected - but the tsunami was well to the south We have been talking behind your back - I might add! > We have been talking behind your back - I might add!- You must been talking to yourself again. I've been here. >>We have been talking behind your back - I might add!- > > You must been talking to yourself again. I've been here. Oh, my bad! |
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