West Palm Beach Open Water Trip

This is a three-day, two-location trip designed for GT students to finish their Open Water certification with minimal interference with their academic schedules.

Remember that you must have Divers Alert Network (DAN) Dive Accident Insurance. I also highly recommend dive travel insurance, which can be purchased from DAN or Dive Assure.

• 5 dives (two dives at Blue Grotto, one dive at the Blue Heron Bridge, one 2-dive charter with Pura Vida Divers)
• 2 nights at the Seaspray Inn, right on the beach
• Log Book and Personal Training Record
• Tanks and weights
• All scuba equipment for GT Scuba students
• Discounted equipment rental for non-GT student divers:
  20% discount from Pura Vida Divers or weekend-long reg-BCD-wetsuit-bag package from Diver's Supply for $40

• 5 dives (two dives at Blue Grotto, one dive at the Blue Heron Bridge, one 2-dive charter with Pura Vida Divers)
• 2 nights at the Seaspray Inn, right on the beach
• Log Book and Personal Training Record
• Tanks and weights
• All scuba equipment for GT Scuba students
• Discounted equipment rental for non-GT student divers.

The coral reefs in south Florida are almost as nice as Key Largo's but tend to have more large marine life such as sea turtles, rays, and sharks. The gulf stream current runs close to the south Florida coast so almost all of the boat diving is drift diving, in which the boat drops divers at the south end of a dive site and picks them up wherever they drift to at the end of their dives. While the entry can seem rushed sometimes, the diving is relaxed. You just float in the current until you reach your bingo air, ascend, and the boat comes to pick you up -- no navigating, no fighting the current.

While the drift diving is great, perhaps West Palm Beach's greatest attraction is The Blue Heron Bridge. The Blue Heron Bridge offers an easy walk-in shore dive with no current (if you time the tides right) and amazing sea life. On an Open Water certification trip we do the first three certification dives at the Blue Heron Bridge and the last certification dive on a drift diving charter boat.

Water temperatures range from the mid 70s F in the winter months to the mid 80s F in the summer. I typically wear a full 5mm wetsuit from December through March and a full 3mm wetsuit the rest of the year. Many divers wear shorties or no wetsuit at all during the summer, some divers wear a hood during the winter.

• Open Water certification dives 1 and 2 at Blue Grotto in Williston, FL
• Arrive and check-in at Seaspray Inn on Singer Island, FL

• Morning: free to hang out on beach
• Early afternoon: Open Water certification dive 3 at Blue Heron Bridge
• Late afternoon: free for beach, dinner, etc.

• Morning: Two-dive boat charter for Open Water certification dive 4 and experience dive 1