Deeper Diving Spots From Shore In SE Florida?

[ricki]

This is reposted from Deeper Blue:

Originally Posted by Sasselhoff

I have a business trip to Miami to do an Alumni function at the Marlins/Philly's on Friday the 18th. I get a free hotel on Friday night and the car is paid through Sunday morning.

I'm taking my little brother (not that little, he's 22 and can handle 40ft) hand my good buddy who don't do much free diving and are more into snorkeling. What are some good places that they they could handle (under 30ft), while still having something fun for me (60+)?

And most importantly, it has to be within beach swim...we don't have the funds for a boat rental. But, as the post mentions, we have to drive back to Daytona Beach...so anything from Miami to DB is good. But I'd prefer some good stuff in Miami, because I can do some extra work and get another night of hotel paid for and just dive more the next day if it rocks.

If this is in the wrong thread, my bad...thus is the shortcoming of an FNG. Ya'll can flog me later.

Cheers,
Joe

Hello Joe,

Sorry but there are no 30 ft. plus ledges that I know about within ready swimming distance of shore particularly for new divers in that area. There are few enough 30 ft. ledges in SE Florida come to think of it at distance from shore as well. You can hit a lot of reef areas from about 10 to 30 ft. of water within a 1/2 mile of shore off Ft. Lauderdale. You will probably not want to hit reefs off the guarded sections of beach due to lifeguard restrictions unless you have the required kit along with you. Otherwise there are some nice sections of reef around the Commercial Pier. Further north off Deerfield, there are some sugarloaf-like reefs in around 45 ft. of water. The current can be strong out there and it might be too much for your brother. You can easily end up a long distance down current and up the coast here. You will need a divers flag and float in any of these areas otherwise I think it is a $60. fine or worse a possible boat impact in this high rec boat traffic area. There are still other options, quite a few. I'll see if I can upload some details and images on some nearshore wrecks later on today in the area. Why not just book with a dive boat, it is far less costly than chartering your own boat rental? They may or may not hit reefs that cross all the depth ranges you listed.

I'll go off on some reef zonation and bathymetry below that may or may not be of interest but some operative depths and distances do appear there. I grew up in Ft. Lauderdale and spent most of my time on reefs in northern Broward County and southern Palm Beach Country, so most of the comments will be directed to those areas. It's on my mind anyway so here goes.

Off Ft. Lauderdale, there are three reef terraces, the First Reef starting as close as 100 ft. offshore and extending to around 1/4 mile. Depths on this terrace range from 8 ft. to about 15 ft. The first reef is largely of beach rock, Sabellariid worm rock and algae accretions. There are some scattered reef building corals, hermatypes but the other sources of rock are more prevalent. There are some small ledges and sand bottomed "pothole" solution features in portions of this reef.

There is an intervening sand filled lagoon going out to the Second Reef starting around 3/8 mile to a bit more than 1/2 mile. This was back when the terraces formed barrier reefs of sorts. Depths on the second terrace range typically from around 15 ft. to 30 ft. This reef was historically formed from reef building corals similar to those that thrived along the Florida Reef Tract in the Keys. That is until a broad (global?) die off of staghorn and elkhorn (Acropora) corals in the mid 1980's. These corals, aside from some staghorn areas that actually seem to be doing better these days (warmer water?). In the case of Broward County reefs the loss of viable Acropora reef mass died off perhaps around 10,000 years BP with sea level rising, along with more turbid, cooler waters. In recent times some of the more robust hermatypic corals and crustose algae have taken up primary reef building along the second terrace. There is a fairly uniform seaward facing ledge in about 15 to 20 ft. along one section of the terrace, with other deeper ledges and "pothole" features, spurs and groves outside this inner ledge.

There is a second sand filled lagoon taking you out to the Third Reef at around 3/4 to 1 1/4 mile. This reef typically ranges from 45 to 90 ft.. It shares historical and contemporary formation characteristics with the second terrace. Although given greater water depths current reef forming coral activity may be lesser than present on the second terrace. There are spur and grove features along the outside of this reef, walls on the outer side on the order or 5 to 15 ft. Up off Jupiter I recall they may exceed that slightly but that is way north and in a high current environment as a rule. There are quite a few artificial reefs in and beyond the outer reaches of the Third Reef.

These distances and depths are variable along the coast as you proceed from South Miami up through Central West Palm Beach. As a rule of thumb, the further north you go, the closer to shore they come within limits. That is until around Central West Palm Beach when the shelf begins to widen as the coastline recedes to the west up towards Georgia. The deeper reaches fall further from shore as you proceed northward from Palm Beach County usually well beyond ready beach diving. The first reef vanishes, from the ocean anyway, at Hillsboro Inlet where it goes inland, underlying the north inlet jetty and the coastal dune northward. So, north of Hillsboro Inlet it might be said that there are two primary reef terraces. Also, there is usually more current due to a narrower coastal shelf and with the Florida Current coming all the much closer to the shoreline as a result.

So, there are quite a few generalities presented above which naturally come with exceptions in some areas. Still, it is an interesting reef system and area worth exploring. Add in the wrecks and you have a lot of prospects to checkout.

Last edited by ricki; 4 Hours Ago at 10:02.

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