Dive Review of South Florida Diving Headquarters in
The Continental USA

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South Florida Diving Headquarters, Oct, 2011, by Carol Sommers, IL, US ( Sr. Reviewer 8 reports with 6 Helpful votes). Report 6292.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations	N/A	Food	N/A
Service and Attitude	N/A	Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	I was diving with a beginner friend (17 dives) and now she feels very experienced. October has changeable weather and at times we got back onto the boat in 4 foot swells. Whenever possible this company goes out and even phoned us to let us know a dive was going out despite the rain. Wind and choppy seas are what determines whether a dive is possible or not. Wrecks were visited by going down a tied-on line and at one site (Captain Dan) the current (tide going out) was so strong I wrapped myself around the line with the current to my back so my regulator stayed in and arms wouldn't be pulled out at the sockets. The wreck (at 100 feet) was the best I ever saw even though there weren't many fish except a magnificent midnight parrot. The current on it was minimal. Non-wreck dives were drifts. A calmer dive was Sunkist on the third reef where we floated with a mild current and saw a large school of spadefish. Grouper Bend had trunkfish, fireworms, a spotted drum and highhat among others. The Aqua Zoo wreck provided a five-foot long goliath grouper (highlight of trip) and a same-size barracuda, a swimming moray, and another massive one with his body half in the wreck. Some other species seen over a period of 12 dives were Spanish hogfish, rock beauties, porcupine fish, honeycomb filefish, French Angels, porkfish, black margates, queen angels, scrawled filefish, spotted trunkfish, spotted moray, scorpionfish, lobsters (there were hunters with us since it was the season), balloonfish, lizardfish, viper moray and a massive Florida horse conch. One problem is that unless you attach your own reel to it, it takes a long time to unwind the cord from your dive flag and if there is a strong current, you may not end up where you should be on the bottom. On one dive I was given a small tank (67) because an earlier research group had used up all the tanks. When I complained that I had to shorten my dive, the owner did not charge me for the dive. If you plan to do a two-tank morning dived followed by the two-tank afternoon one, you will need to stay by the dock. There's a restaurant nearby, but bringing a pack lunch is better. We were pretty exhausted at the end of that day; somehow, diving constantly on a liveaboard is easier than land-based. With 16 pounds of integrated weights and being a senior citizen, the crew was very helpful in helping me up the ladder by pulling on the tank. Passing up weights or floating a bc is much too difficult for all concerned when the water is rough. An advantage of unpredictable weather is that there were no crowds and although they usually only go out with a 4-person minimum, the day that the other couple was a no-show day they took out the two of us,(especially since we had missed dives due to weather.) When picking us up from drift dives, the boat was expertly manoeuvered to put the ladder right in front of us. It certainly was a fun way to use up a timeshare week.
Websites	South Florida Diving Headquarters
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Bahamas, Belize, Bonaire, Curacao, Cozumel, Cayman Islands, Grenada, North Carolina, Sea of Cortez, Lake Michigan, Yap, Palau, The Great Barrier Reef
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	windy	Seas	calm, choppy, currents, no currents
Water Temp	72-81°F / 22-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	20-50 Ft/ 6-15 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	There were time limits on deep dives, but on the reef you were given a flag and you dived your own profile and they picked you up when you surfaced.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter	N/A	Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

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Dive Review of South Florida Diving Headquarters in The Continental USA

South Florida Diving Headquarters, Oct, 2011,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of South Florida Diving Headquarters in
The Continental USA