Beach Diving in South Florida
SOUTH FLORIDA’S BEACH DIVING
Enjoy beach diving in South Florida and Palm Beach County! Scuba dive and snorkel from our beaches and discover the best diving Florida has to offer. For safety purpose, when you go, please remember that you must use a Dive flag and float and please do not go alone. Below is a short list of good shore diving sites. You can get more sites and information by visiting Pura Vida Divers on Singer Island. Have fun!
Singer Island and Riviera Beach Vicinity
Phil Foster Park/ Blue Heron Bridge Dive
(Our number one pick!)
Nowhere will you find more critters than this dive site! A photographers dream! Frogfish, seahorses, starfish, garden eels…you name it, it’s there! Depths range from 5 to 20 feet maximum. “I consider this one of the most exotic shore dives in the United States,” says Ned DeLoach, Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF) founder and President of New World Publications. “…just under the seafloor and around the pilings is a prolific community of sea life including many species of fishes and invertebrates seldom seen anywhere else,” adds DeLoach.
The entrance to the park is on the East side of the Blue Heron Boulevard Bridge just as you exit Singer Island from our store. The park offers plenty of parking, fresh water showers, restroom facilities, picnic tables, and even a playground for the non-diving youngsters.
Enter the water under the bridge via the small beach on the west side of the bank. There are two options:
Either swim to the right and go back under the large western bridge from south to north. Continue past the bridge to the foundation of the old bridge. There are old concrete columns that lie just north of the old bridge foundation.
Or…
Swim to the left outside of the swim zone and head toward the east bridge where there are several small sunken boats along your journey as well as some sunken dock debris.
AREA CAUTIONS: Do not swim too far to the west or south into the boat channel. Don’t go west of the fourth set of bridge columns. Be considerate to fisherman on the bridges. There are strong currents except at Slack Tides.
Come to our store and receive a free tide chart highlighting the best times to dive as well as a map highlighting the dive site.
Singer Island Mitigation Reefs
Submerged just offshore from the beach in front of our shop is an amazing mitigation reef. Piles of limestone boulders surrounded by sandy channels creates fantastic habitat for fish and marine critters alike. On a calm, flat ocean day, this site is fun for diving, snorkeling and tooka’ing. Depths range from 5-25ft max. The Ocean Mall on Singer Island offers plenty of parking and restroom facilities. Stop by our shop for directions, a dive flag, air fills/rentals and anything else you might need!
Ocean Reef Park
If the seas are calm, this is a great place to dive or snorkel. Nearshore rocky outcroppings begin just in front of the park and continue to the North for several miles. It’s a great place for fish to aggregate and turtles frequently swim thru the area, especially in the summer. Depths range from 5-20 feet max.
The entrance to the park is on the east side of North Ocean Drive just a few blocks to the north of our shop on Singer Island. The park offers plenty of parking and restroom facilities. Please come by our shop if you need to rent or purchase a dive flag or if you need directions.
Palm Beach Vicinity
Worth Avenue Pier Debris on Palm Beach
If the seas are calm, this is a great little site to dive or snorkel. Tons of tropical fish cluster around the debris and sea turtles frequently swim through this site in the summer months. Depths range from 8 to 20 feet max.
The debris from the old pier is spread across the bottom in a west to east direction directly in line with the Worth Av. street sign. The eastern edge of the pier reveals a patch reef and ledges that run North and South.
