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Dive Review of Multiple in
The Continental USA/Florida East Coast

Multiple: "Jupiter, W. Palm Beach, & Boyton Beach, FL", May, 2021,

by David Marchese, PA, US (Sr. Contributor Sr. Contributor 20 reports with 27 Helpful votes). Report 11532.

Photos Submitted with this Report


Click on an image to see an enlarged version and captions

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

Accommodations N/A Food N/A
Service and Attitude 4 stars Environmental Sensitivity N/A
Dive Operation 4 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 4 stars
Beginners 5 stars
Advanced 3 stars
Comments We had 3 international trips cancelled due to covid and were anxious to get in the water again. With many foreign destinations still closed to tourism, we decided to try Florida based on Craig Wood's recent reports in UC - Thanks Craig!. We dove 2 Days with Jupiter Dive Center (Jupiter), 2 days with Pura Vida Divers (West Palm Beach), and 1 day with Starfish Scuba (Boyton Beach). We did two dives each day.

The diving exceeded our expectations! As soon as we hit the water and looked around, I thought, "Wow! I can't believe it". The visibility was between 50 and 75', and the water was between 79-81 degrees at all sites. Hard corals were scarce to nonexistent, but the reefs were covered with sponges and soft corals. The sites at Boyton were covered with healthy barrel sponges that looked just like the egg cases from Alien. :-) Overall fish density was great. There were large schools of snappers, pork fish, and jacks; and parrots, triggers, angels, barracuda, etc. in between. We weren't really looking for small stuff, but we did see a spotted drum, many eels, garden eels, jaw fish, etc.

There was "big stuff" too on every dive. We saw at least one (usually 3-4) loggerhead turtles on every dive, one hawksbill, nurse sharks, bull sharks, lemon sharks, and even one hammerhead. None of the sharks got close enough for good photos. We also saw a 7' Goliath grouper at Jupiter - the largest we've ever seen.

All dives were drift dives. The water was 70-90' deep at Jupiter and about 60' at West Palm and Boyton. With Jupiter and Pura Vida, there was a guide in the water, but Starfish just let us go alone. Starfish required us to drag a dive flag the whole time. This would have been an annoyance if my wife and I were both photographers, but it wasn't a huge deal for my non-photographer wife to drag it.

The current was mild at all sites, and the waves were in the 2-3' range. I guess we got lucky with the weather. The three areas were different enough to warrant diving them all. We liked the Boyton area the best, but all were quite enjoyable.

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience Over 1000 dives
Where else diving Caymans, Turks & Caicos, Bay Islands, Bahamas, Fiji, Saba, Maldives, California, Revillagigedo, Cozumel, Midway, Kona, Galapagos, Panama, Palau, Tahiti, Cocos, Malpelo, Tonga, PNG, Komodo, Sulawesi, Holbox, Solomon Islands, Belize, Komodo, Raja Ampat, Wakitobi, Alor, Marquesas, GBR
Closest Airport West Palm Beach Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny Seas choppy
Water Temp 79-81°F / 26-27°C Wetsuit Thickness 5
Water Visibility 50-75 Ft/ 15-23 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions 45 min. dive time at Jupiter sites; 60 min. at W Palm Beach and Boyton
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

Sharks Lots Mantas None
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 3 stars Tropical Fish 4 stars
Small Critters N/A Large Fish 4 stars
Large Pelagics 4 stars

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

Subject Matter 4 stars Boat Facilities 3 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 4 stars Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments Each boat had a fresh water tank for cameras, albeit fairly small. I was the only one onboard with a full DSLR rig so it worked. All boats required me to do a giant stride with my rig. Doing so backwards and holding the rig close to my body worked wel.
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Subscriber's Comments

By Craig A Wood in PA, US at Jun 14, 2021 14:18 EST  
Nice report David
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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