A Guide to Scuba Diving in Palm Beach County, Florida
If you have the chance to venture down Florida's A1A and visit Palm Beach County, get ready for good food and fun diving. Here's our guide to three days in the Palm Beaches:
Paul Morris/Morphoto.comPalm Beach County has plenty of big houses adorning the coast, but it also has big-time diving.
Don’t-Miss Dives:
Blue Heron Bridge This easy-access 12- to 20-foot dive is a renowned macro site with seahorses, pipefish, frogfish, batfish, stargazers and upwards of 100 species of nudibranchs.
Mizpah Wreck Corridor Composed of three wrecks lined up to form a 1,700- foot drift dive, this is one of the best wreck sites in Florida, and its depth doesn’t exceed 90 feet.
Juno Ledge Known for its dramatic profile and soft corals, Juno Ledge’s depth ranges between 68 and 92 feet, and it’s swimming with schooling game fish, moray eels and goliath grouper.
Scuba Divers Guide to the Palm Beaches
Average Water Temp: Mid-70s to low 80s through summer; fall and winter range from 68 to 72 degrees.
What to Wear: 3 mm wetsuit
Average Viz: 60 feet, but it can hit 100 feet during cooler months when rainfall is sparse.
When to Go: Year-round, and each season has its rewards. During spring, mating turtles, schooling sharks, and eagle ray, manta ray and swordfish sightings are at their best. In winter, larger fish move in, including sharks, grouper, jacks and other pelagics.
Kevin PalmerA young spotted eagle ray off the coast of Riviera Beach, Florida.
Delray Beach
Where to Stay: The Sundy House features 12 comfy guest cottages and suites tucked within an acre of tropical gardens.
Where to Eat: Try the Korean fried chicken at Max’s Social House before checking out the city’s downtown scene.
Where to Have Happy Hour: Pull up a seat right on the sugary sand for al fresco craft beers, wine and tropical cocktails at the tiki-style Sandbar.
Jupiter
Where to Stay: The Jupiter Waterfront Inn offers competitive rates with all types of watersport rentals nearby.
Where to Eat: The seafood/American/sushi- and oysterbar menu at U-Tiki Beach Waterfront Restaurant covers a lot of ground.
Where to Have Happy Hour: Dive Bar Restaurant buzzes with one of the best happy hours in town, complemented by its open-air bar and marina view.
West Palm Beach
Where to Stay: You won’t find a more happening, scenic and affordable downtown location than Hyatt Place West Palm Beach.
Where to Eat: On the city’s amusing main drag of Clematis Street, Hullabaloo lives up to its reputation as a hip farm-to-table Italian gastropub.
Where to Have Happy Hour: Smack dab in downtown, Southern Railway Taphouse offers more than 100 craft beers.
Dive Operators:
Scuba Center Delray scubacenterdelray.com
Jupiter Dive Center jupiterdivecenter.com
Jim Abernethy’s Scuba Adventures scuba-adventures.com
Want to go deeper? Check out our full feature on diving Palm Beach County diving.
