Best place to take kids in Florida?

[Jon]

I'm looking for a nice place to take my kids snorkeling in the ocean. I would normally just drag them down to Cozumel- since it's so cheap- but my wife won't let me. My daughter has a life-threatening peanut/tree nut allergy and my wife doesn't want to take her out of the country- especially to a place where the cooks don't speak English.

California would be nice, but too cold for the rest of the family, so I'm looking at Florida. I know that they would enjoy the whole "manatee thing" in the north, but I'm more interested in taking them on a reef some where.

The only places I've dove down there are the wrecks off of West Palm and Miami. Is there anything that's close to shore (to prevent sea sickness) and still shallow enough to see something, but not beat to crap?? I want this to be a good trip to get them hooked for the future. Shore dives would be great, but I realize this isn't Bonaire

BTW: Time of year doesn't matter as we can work around most anything. If I found the ideal place we would be back multiple times.

Thanks,

Jon

 

[cdavis]

Hi Jon,

Obviously the Bahamas on my boat. Hmm, that will take some planning. The cook speaks english.

On a more immediate note, there are lots of shallow coral garden type places off Ellliot Key, just south of Miami, but they require a boat. I can give coordinates for those. I'm pretty sure the same stuff can be found between Key West and Marathon, some of it within reach of shore. The big reefs, Looe, Sambo, etc, should be great, but vis is iffy and they require a boat. Check with some of the Keys members, maybe jtkwest, and see what they know.

Connor

 

[Jon]

Thanks Connor,

Do you think things would be better to the north, off of Key Largo, or further south- like Key West? Boat rides and dive charters are fine, as long as the ride isn't too long. Looking for a decent island/resort to stay for a week with two kids under 10.

Jon

 

[cdavis]

Its been so long since I've done much in the Keys, I'm not a good source of detail.

Sounds like what you want is coral gardens in 5 to 10 ft with some access to more advanced heads in 20 ft and a trip or two to a big reef on the outside. I don't think you will find a dive boat operation that will do the shallower stuff where your kids need to start. Consider the Key Largo/Pennekamp area and renting a 17 ft boat. A chart, a GPS, and a little advice and you would be in business. There is lots of the kind of thing you are looking for, the vis is decent, sometimes great and the distances are short, 5 miles is a long run. There are many dive boat operations in that area. Too many of them are of the "cattle boat" variety, but they provide variety.

I know zero about where to stay.

Connor

 

[Jon]

Thanks,

That gives me a point to start from.

Could I do this trip with kids in winter, or should it be done in summer?

Jon

 

[cdavis]

summer, absolutely. Before hurricane season, say July1-15 window for the best weather. June is sometimes too windy and May usually is. Other possibility would be late October.

Winter is often too rough and the vis is crap much of the time. If you catch it right, winter can be the best, but your odds are bad.

Connor

 

[twentytwomonk]

Jon, if you decide to do the manatee thing, there are a couple springs to hit in central Florida as well, so you could get multiple dives in a bunch of places. Let me know if you guys make it down. If you're close enough, I'd love to get in the water with you if you don't mind having strangers around.

 

[Jon]

I was talking this over with my wife and there's no way she's going anywhere near Florida in the summer time- so that might knock out going to the Keys. Summertime if for trips out west to the mountains or up to Canada.

That means the northern springs and rivers might make for a better trip in the Winter time- especially over Christmas break. I guess that means Crystal River, Ginnie Springs, and other places like that.

I've dove West Palm in December before, but all of that was on Scuba and seemed to deep for kids to try snorkeling on a reef. The water was also a bit chillier than they could handle, but now that they make 7mm kid's wetsuits that wouldn't be the deal killer that it once would have been.

Key West might work in winter,but I worry about the weather. I guess that's why we always ran trips to West Palm in the winter at dive shops I used to work at- less chance of the trip getting blown out becuase the bottom dropped off closer to shore and the mid range depths made it easier to escape the swell.

If I'm wrong on any of this please let me know. I'm still open to other ideas. I would also invite other freedivers to join us on any manatee diving adventures.

Jon

 

[cdavis]

For manatees, Crystal River is very good. A boat and getting out early helps a lot. Several other water/manatee oriented places in easy driving range. If I'm not covered up with company, plan on doing the Mud Puddle with me. From Crystal River, it takes less than a day.

Ginnie is gorgeous and lots of area for the kids and not too far from Crystal River.

Connor

 

[Speara]

for manatees...I would recommend Blue Springs State Park in Orange City...by far the most manatees and fish I have ever seen in a spring in my 10yrs in Fla...great for the kids, no boat necessary as there are docks with stairs right down into the water...and you can also dive the spring hole yourself if you want, which is open to about 90' before angling off into the cave

 

[Speara]

PS - Blue Springs is closed Nov 15 - Mar 15, fyi