Florida dilemma

[Dave White]

Planning on going to Orlando in May with the family to take our little one to see Disney World....afterwards we plan a few days at a beach resort. Of course this will be an ideal opportunity to get a dive or 2 in.

Does anyone have much experience of diving in Florida?.....the best options I can see are either Clearwater/St Pete's area (Tampa bay) or heading the opposite direction to the east coast is Daytona. I realise that the best diving is right down in the keys or Rivirea beach from web research, but these will be too far away from Orlando.

So really deciding between Tampa Bay or Daytona areas...any feedback would be really helpful prior to booking.

Cheers everyone.

[Eddie Clamp]

Planning on going to Orlando in May with the family to take our little one to see Disney World....afterwards we plan a few days at a beach resort. Of course this will be an ideal opportunity to get a dive or 2 in.

Does anyone have much experience of diving in Florida?.....the best options I can see are either Clearwater/St Pete's area (Tampa bay) or heading the opposite direction to the east coast is Daytona. I realise that the best diving is right down in the keys or Rivirea beach from web research, but these will be too far away from Orlando.

So really deciding between Tampa Bay or Daytona areas...any feedback would be really helpful prior to booking.

Cheers everyone.

Looked at Florida BSAC Travel reports and to my surprise found this:

1st August 06 USA - Florida Mum's Big Surprise - Dive Quest by Alison Boler

Most visitors to Disney World view the Living Seas through the 56 large glass windows which surround the tank. However, I knew that it is possible to arrange to dive in the tank itself. Disney run several dive/snorkel "Adventures" but the one that appealed most is called DiveQuest and allows qualified divers to spend around 45 minutes diving inside the Living Seas Aquarium. It costs USD 140 which includes a 3 hour programme built around the actual dive, all dive equipment, a special certificate and a t shirt to mark the experience. SSI and NAUI divers get a 10% reduction on this price. Divers must be 10 years old to dive in the tank and divers under the age of 14 must be diving with their parent or legal guardian. You must be open water certified.
http://www.bsac.com/diverreports.asp?itemid=559&itemTitle=USA+%2D+Florida+Mum%27s+Big+Surprise+%2D +Dive+Quest&section=1241&sectionTitle=Americas

Anyone know if this is still open to divers/snorkelers?

More Florida reports (not all valid) at:
http://www.bsac.com/findit.asp?cat=tripreports&section=0001000100150047&view=list&glat=&glng=&gzoom=&keyword=Florida&submit.x=53&submit.y=9

[HelmGuy]

We did Dive Quest a couple of years ago. It was my partner and my own first dive as a qualified ocean diver! And we loved it. Obviously many people will think diving in a glorified fish tank is a bit lame compared with diving in the sea but it was a great experience and very fun. A very easy dive as they basically did everything for us and the only piece of my own gear I was allowed to use was my mask.

[Alison Boler]

Hi
We've done a lot of diving around Florida and I have several reports on the website. I would heartily recommend the dive in the Living Seas exhibit in Epcot which is still running. You can book it in advance and you don't need a ticket to the park to take part. The nice thing is that the divers are very visible to people visiting the aquarium and also the restaurant below it. I would think your child would get a big kick from seeing you actually taking part in the Disney experience - you can get right up to the glass and wave etc. Its a great experience as a dive too.
Other than that: imo the diving on the Gulf side ie Tampa is not very good. Visibility on that side is pretty poor and you have to go quite a long way out to really get anything decent. It is much better on the east (atlantic) coast. I haven't dived as far north as Daytona. I have dived a lot around West Palm Beach, Boca Raton and south in Fort Lauderdale and I would rate the diving there as very very good. Bit too far maybe from Orlando for you though. The other thing you could consider is to go north of Orlando to the Crystal Springs area and try diving in the fresh water springs. They are quite an experience - you don't need to be specially qualified to dive in the springs themselves, just cannot enter any of the caves obviously. The water is gin clear and its warm. There are quite a lot to choose from - see my reports. Also out on the coast at Crystal River, you can snorkel with the manatees. They are generally a winter visitor but I believe some of them now stay there year round. Its fantastic and non snorkellers can go along too and see them. Lots of operators. Again I have a report on that with pictures. My kids were enthralled to see these big gentle creatures up close.
Hope this helps. Have a great time
Allie

[Richard Whitcombe]

Orlando for diving (you could do living seas in Epcot for a one-off) id suggest going north to the springs as opposed to the gulf coast. Gulf diving isnt great. There is more atlantic side but you're a bit too north from where you'll be.

[Dave White]

Thanks very much Eddie, Allie, Helm & Richard.

Just had a quick browse and the Epcot divequest is still very much alive and kicking for 175 dollars so I will do that one, may also look into one of the manatee tours as that sounds pretty interesting too.

By the sounds of it if we end up doing a few days on the beach Daytona would be the better option compared to Clearwater and a dive may be possible there too.

Hopefully have some pics to post later in the year.

Thanks again everyone - appreciate your help.

[Eddie Clamp]

Thanks very much Eddie, Allie, Helm & Richard.

Just had a quick browse and the Epcot divequest is still very much alive and kicking for 175 dollars so I will do that one, may also look into one of the manatee tours as that sounds pretty interesting too.

By the sounds of it if we end up doing a few days on the beach Daytona would be the better option compared to Clearwater and a dive may be possible there too.

Hopefully have some pics to post later in the year.

Thanks again everyone - appreciate your help.

Hi Dave

Glad to be of some assistance. I know boss Allie has been there so passed on link. If you have time after return do consider doing a write-up for the travel club with a few jpeg photos - surface or u/w. Dying to know what that aquarium dive is like - although I, personally, am very unlikely to visit Florida in the near future :)

Best wishes!

[Richard Whitcombe]

The aquarium dive is ok as a one-off for fun.

Yes there are lots of fish in there (you get 45 mins, max depth is about 6m) but its mostly fun "playing" with the people stood the other side of the glass.

You're not allowed your own gear except a mask if you have one. Its all setup with shortie suits, weight integrated BCDs (really really heavy!) which you sit down, get kitted up and fall in. The first 20 mins is following a guide and the last spent looking around on your own.

They do frown on you taking mask off, reg out and pretending to be a corpse floating past the glass though.....

Sounds like the price has gone up since i did it but its nice, you get to see a bit behind the scenes of how the living seas works (the back part of disney tourists don't go to. no tourists allowed), get some decent environmental briefings and so on.

[Dave White]

They do frown on you taking mask off, reg out and pretending to be a corpse floating past the glass though......

Haha....I soooo need to try this now Richard :D

[Eddie Clamp]

Haha....I soooo need to try this now Richard :D

Oh pretty please, please, please, please get a photo of the event if u do do it. Not that I would advise you to do it, of course :p

[Dave White]

Will see what I can do Eddie....my greatest obstacle will be getting the better half to take a photo of it whilst she is stood with my 4 yr old daughter in the restaurant.

Hey just an after thought....sharks know when you are only playing dead right :D

[Dave White]

Also out on the coast at Crystal River, you can snorkel with the manatees. They are generally a winter visitor but I believe some of them now stay there year round. Its fantastic and non snorkellers can go along too and see them. Lots of operators. Again I have a report on that with pictures. My kids were enthralled to see these big gentle creatures up close.
Hope this helps. Have a great time
Allie

Thank you very much for all of your help Allie....I read through your reports and definitely plan to do the epcot divequest experience. I am not sure whether I will be able to talk my better half (or my daughter) into another day devoted to my hobby as neither are very fussed with the water - my daughter is also only just turned 4. Do you think that it would be suitable and they may still enjoy it?...the probability is that they won't be able to or won't want to enter the water themselves.

[Richard Whitcombe]

Dive Quest thing times are afternoon/early evening (you can choose). Best option is go round the theme park in the day as you would anyway (EPCOT is one of the better ones) then you leave them in the park and go to dive - you have to "leave" the park to go there as the entrance is just outside the main ticket booths.

They can go into the living seas aquarium at the time you're due in to watch through the glass. Although due to the aircon if they're in there a while it gets cold for them.

[Dave White]

Thanks Richard,
the Epcot dive is a definite was Crystal river that may not work out....reading back I realise how unclear my message was sorry.