Jacksonville Area Diving

• What's diving like in the Jacksonville area?
• Where I can I book a public dive boat?
• What are the current dive conditions offshore Jacksonville?

What's diving like in the Jacksonville area?

Few divers think of Jacksonville when they think of great Florida diving. But the diving here is often surprisingly good. We think it is one of the better kept secrets around. The area water is rich with nutrients. This does meaning that average visibilities are lower than the average visibility in South Florida or the Florida Keys. But it also means richer sea life in greater abundance.

In today's Florida Keys diving, a school of even 100 fish bigger than juveniles has become unusual. Offshore Jacksonville, it is still not uncommon to see schools of thousands of grunts or baitfish which can totally obscure a wreck from 30 feet away.

A newly-placed wreck in Miami or farther south may have been down for years; yet you can still easily read painted letters on the hull. A wreck which has been down half that length of time in Jacksonville often has its painted signs completely obscured by inches of thick growth. And thick growth is food for the ecosystem.

As with any ocean location, storms or unseasonable thermoclines can trash the temperatures or take visibility down to zero. But typical area summer visibilities range from 40 to 100 feet with bottom temps in the low 80's at sport diving depths. Typical winter visibilities might be more like 15 to 40 feet with bottom temps in the 50's.

The St. Johns River exits into the ocean at the Mayport Jetties on the southeast side of Jacksonville; carrying with it a dark brown natural, tannin-stained color and its associated poor visibility. This staining limits typical visibilities within a few miles of shore. The point where this ends varies. Sometimes the 'viz is Ok as close in as 5 miles out. But by 9 miles out the visibilities are unaffected by that issue.

There is a great deal of diving variety within sport diving depths. Dive spots offshore Jax are grouped in broad roughly rectangular areas named "quandrants". In the nearer-shore area quadrants like "9-Mile", depths typically vary from 68 to 85 feet on the sand. Shallower basic training depths in the 60 foot range can be found on the upper decks and bridges of some wrecks.

The very productive hunting areas more like 15 to 20 miles offshore typically range from 90 to 120 or more feet in depth. Jacksonville diving extends all the way to the Gulf Stream (whose track varies from 60 to 90 miles or so offshore) at which depths range from 120+ feet to as deep as you care to go.

Currents are not unusual offshore. It's usually a good idea to keep your discipline in coming back up the anchor line. Carrying a safety sausage or similar signaling device is pretty much standard here since currents are common and the public dive boats are usually tied in or anchored. Thus if you miss the anchor line and the boat, they cannot pull up to come get you until the rest of their divers are back on the boat; by which time you may have drifted far enough away that a safety sausage is very helpful.

The Jacksonville area has some natural limestone offshore ledges. Fortunately it also has a very active artificial reef building program. The annual Greater Jacksonville Kingfish Tournament brings millions of dollars of spending to the area each year. (The tournament has had to cap the number of entries at 1,000 boats each of the last few years)!

The tournament's impact on the local economy has helped maintain shared goals of reef building between the city, the local sportfishing club, and area divers. The city and the Jacksonville Offshore Sport Fishing Club typically arrange for the reef material and the funding for transporting it offshore. Volunteer divers of the Jacksonville Reef Research Team (a volunteer group originally founded by our dive club) perform the underwater engineering surveys required for reef permitting by the EPA.

As a result, there are large numbers of dive sites offshore Jacksonville. Until a few years ago, the 615 feet long old Dry Docks reef was the largest offshore artificial reef on the Eastern coast of the United States. (The Spiegel Grove and, I believe, one or two other recent placements are now longer).

The web site of the TISIRI organization, a group promoting offshore reef development and usage, has a number of photos and videos from offshore Jacksonville and nearby (their site includes reef areas from the St. Augustine and Flagler areas).

If your tastes run to fresh water diving, there are large numbers of inland spring dives within a 2 to 3 hour drive from the area.

Where I can I book a public dive boat?

Here are the public dive boats we know of which are currently running the Jacksonville area. We'll be glad to list more if anyone will bring them to our attention.

Legal disclaimer: We receive no consideration of any kind for mentioning any of these operations and explicitly do not warrant these businesses, their competency, or any related opinions or information (prices, times, etc.) in any way. Our descriptions below are only updated occaisonally and will not always reflect those sites' current content.

We are merely letting you know we've heard these options exist so you can research them for yourself. (Our apologies for having to put you through reading this disclaimer; but the scourge of some tort lawyers forces everyone these days to defend themselves in advance).

• One current public dive boat option we're aware of involves chartering a whole boat as a group of up to 4 divers. The St. Augustine dive shop "The Dive Source" is located at 2450 Florida SR 16, #2 near the twin off-price malls near the intersection of I-95 and 16. They operate a pair of 26-foot Grady White power catamarans; each running twin gas outboards. The shop provides a Dive Master.

  For local area dives out to 30 miles offshore, the cost is $900 for the divers for up to 3-tank diving. Two rental tanks of air or Nitrox are included if required and a 3rd tank is available for an additional charge. Trips out to 60 miles offshore cost $1,200 for the same up-to-4 divers. All divers are required to hold either Advanced or Open Water certs. All snorkelers are required to hold a Level 1 Free Driver cert.

  Their boats do not leave from one specific marina. They instead trailer the boats to a marina that works for the objectives of the divers chartering the trip. For example many of their offshore St. Augustine trips leave from St. Augustine's City Marina but they do offer leaving from a Jacksonville marina if the charterers want that option. They can also work out costs for dives off of South Florida or even the West Coast of Florida. For more information call The Dive Source at (904) 829-3483.

• We recently became aware of an operation called "Florida Man Fishing Charters". They handle both fishing and diving charters. Their web site says when their boat is configured for diving, it has room for over 25 tanks and an over-sized dive ladder. The boat is equipped with a large cabin containing a full, private head. For more information check their website or call (813) 246-3474.

  We intend to get up with this operation next week and will add boat details and typical dive costs to this write-up.

• Another operation is called "Due East Chartering Service" run by Capt. Randy Marshall.
  We're not aware of him having a regular website yet but he can be reached on FaceBook.
  
  You can call him at (904) 866-2592. We'll attempt to contact Capt. Randy soon and will post details as soon as they are available.

• The website of the local dive operation "NatuticalDivers" says the boat is equipped with a spacious climate-controlled cabin, sleeping bunks, a galley with pizza oven, flybridge with bean bag loungers, a bathroom, and deck seating.
  
  A basic 3-tank dive offshore Jax is $225 per diver. Tanks are NOT provided in that cost.
  
  Because of the challenging conditions offshore Jacksonville, all divers must be Advanced Open Water Divers with NITROX certifications and will need to bring their own dive gear and tanks.
  
  Student divers are not permitted on their charters unless they are Advanced Open Water Diver students with a NITROX certification and are accompanied by a certified dive instructor.
  
  The boat offers a diver lift - no more climbing a ladder. It has a 750lb capacity and offers easier access to the deck after a dive.
  
  Each charter includes access to the entire vessel and amenities, a marine rescue GPS unit, snacks, non-alcoholic beverages, and lunch. For more information check their website or call (813) 246-3474.