Coral Reef Travel

You know something’s fishy when the locals keep the diving to themselves. Northeast Florida–from Jacksonville’s First Coast to Daytona’s Fast Coast–may be the last place you’d consider diving. Here’s why it should be your first stop, especially if you like big wrecks and even bigger fish.

Northeast Florida has always been the redheaded stepchild of Sunshine State diving. Locals love it, but out-of-towners either whiz by on I-95 headed for the Keys or turn west for the springs. If you’ve visited this part of the state, chances are it was to see St. Augustine, where you watched some of the nation’s oldest people slowly touring the nation’s oldest city. Maybe you practiced catch-and-release drinking on Daytona Beach during Spring Break or Speed Week, or caught a football game in Jacksonville.

You were here, but you didn’t dive. You should have.

Artificial Sweeteners

The ocean floor of Northeast Florida is littered with myriad ships, fighter planes, concrete culverts, bridges, an entire dry dock, even the press boxes from a football stadium. At one time or another, anything that might attract fish has been dragged, dropped or blown to the sandy bottom.

The result: hundreds of artificial reef sites, each one a sweet spot crowded with swarms of silversides, packs of pelagic hunters like amberjack and cobia, and some truly big snapper, grouper, flounder and Atlantic spadefish. The place is silly with lobster, too.

“It’s the encounters with the open-range pelagics that makes it very special–the cobia, king mackerel, tarpon, ‘cuda. There’s so many large fish,” says Ned DeLoach, local boy, naturalist and author of Diving Guide to Underwater Florida. “You haven’t seen it all until you’ve been stampeded by big amberjacks that rush into view through a vortex of swirling baitfish, part around you and then form a spiral above in your bubbles.”

Ready… Aim…Fire Up the Grill!

For those who enjoy seeking out unique and exciting marine life–then killing it–you’ll find kindred spirits in the Northeast Florida dive community. Bug hunting and spearfishing are favorite pastimes, and both artificial reefs and natural ledges provide plenty of prey for divers armed with sling-bands and tickle sticks.

If diving for your supper sounds like fun, you’ll have to abide by Florida’s regulations on bag limits, size restrictions, protected species and closed seasons, even though the fishing mainly takes place in federal waters.

• State law requires a fishing license for everyone on board between 16 and 65 unless the boat has a recreational vessel saltwater license. Licenses are available at any local bait shop or by calling (888) FISH FLORIDA.
• Lobster season is open from Aug. 6 to March 31, and for a mini-season on the last Wednesday and Thursday of July. Lobster divers must carry a gauge and measure the lobster’s carapace underwater. Lobsters must also remain intact until landed. During lobster season, local shops often plan full-day, three-tank, grab-a-lot trips to lobster sites located 40-plus miles offshore.
• It’s illegal to spear Nassau grouper, tarpon, pompano, jewfish, weakfish, snook, red drum, rays, sharks or ornamentals. And you can’t hunt with powerheads, bangsticks or rebreathers.

For complete rules and regulations, visit the Florida Division of Environmental Regulation web site at: www.dep.state.fl.us/marine, or call the Jacksonville office of the Florida Marine Patrol at (904) 270-2500.

Jacksonville:
Dive for the Border

Jacksonville (motto: “Relax, You’re Not in Georgia Anymore”) promotes its Atlantic Coast beaches as “Florida’s First Coast.” A few years ago, the city was rated one of the best places in the country to live for its combination of weather, culture and health care. Judging by the traffic, a lot of people read the article. It’s the largest city in the country–measured by square miles–and during the NFL season, Jacksonville Jaguars football is the local religion (meetings held Sundays at Alltel Stadium; bring your own foam finger).

Jacksonville also has an artificial reef program that’s responsible for more put-downs than Don Rickles. The guidebook Jaxspots, published by the Jacksonville Reef Research Team, lists 230 sites. A few of the favorites:

The Dives

Coppedge

Depth: 75 feet.
Skill Level: Novice to intermediate.
Ever since this 75-foot-long tug sank in 1988, it’s been under a cloud–of baitfish. “There’s no visibility on the wreck,” says Angelo Fiore of Meridian Divers, laughing. “You can’t see anything because there’s so many fish.” The shroud of silversides is a baitfish buffet for snapper, grouper, sea bass, cobia and barracuda. The wreck, located 22 miles offshore, is also crusty with sponges, tunicates and flowery bryozoans.

Drydock

Depth: 120 feet.
Skill Level: Intermediate to advanced.
Jacksonville’s mega-site covers an area 615 feet by 332 feet, and stands as tall as 60 feet off the bottom. Located 45 miles offshore, the reef is alive with big pelagics–integrated schools of amberjack and cobia.

East Fourteen

Depth: 85 feet.
Skill Level: Intermediate.
East Fourteen is a collection of several artificial reefs, including the old Gator Bowl press boxes. Many locals regret that the boxes were sent down unoccupied, but console themselves within the massive schools of Atlantic spadefish and amberjack that constantly do the wave around the site.

Rabbit’s Lair

Depth: 75 feet.
Skill Level: Novice to intermediate.
Fuzzy bunnies are rare, but spiny lobsters are plentiful on this series of natural limestone ledges located 15 miles offshore. A similar site is Southeast 16-17, a broad expanse of natural structures with ledges and large sandy potholes cut out of flat rock bottom. Both sites are also popular with spearfishermen going out after grouper, flounder and snapper.

St. Augustine:
Old Town and the Sea

St. Augustine is old. Really old. Even by Old World standards. It was settled way back in 1565 by the Spanish and then fought over by the French, British, troops from Georgia and South Carolina, the U.S. Army and the Confederate Army. Finally, everyone decided to stop fighting and just retire here.

St. Augustine lies between Jacksonville and Daytona, about an hour’s drive from each, and makes a great base to dive the Northeast Florida coast. The town provides plenty to do for any age, diver and non-diver alike. It’s a busy tourist and college town with great architecture and a funky local population. It has wonderfully walkable streets filled with history (check out the oldest wooden schoolhouse held together with anchor chain), cool stores, bars (try Ann O’Malley’s Irish Pub, Scarlett O’Hara’s and Tradewinds), and restaurants aplenty.

Just outside town itself, the Alligator Farm is a big draw. The farm recently suffered a loss when its star attraction Gomek, the allegedly man-eating saltwater crocodile suddenly died (food poisoning?). The farm hit on a way to maintain Gomek’s box office appeal–they stuffed him. He remains on display in all his lifelike glory, just like Trigger and Lenin.

You have to go way out of town to find the best attractions–dive sites like:

The Dives

Intruder Reef

Depth: 100 feet.
Skill Level: Intermediate.
Located 22 miles offshore, this jumble of 33 A-6 Intruder attack jets is rather Truk Lagoonish, only these 45-foot-long jets are not relics. They were flown to Jacksonville a few years ago to be refurbished, but some gung-ho DOD guys decided they’d rather have bright shiny new planes instead. The Intruders were stripped down, decommissioned and given a new mission–attracting schools of baitfish and the jacks that eat them.

Dorothy Louise Barge

Depth: 80 feet.
Skill Level: Novice to intermediate.
Dorothy Louise–local divers affectionately call her “D.L.”–is a 175-foot-long steel barge with over 15 feet of relief off the bottom. Among Augustine sites, this is one of the largest artificial reefs and though it is heavily fished, attracts an unending flow of marine life. There is no penetration into the wreck but the amberjacks, resident jewfish and pterodactyl-sized stingrays down in the sand provide plenty of interest.

Daytona Beach:
Motor Heads and Lobster Tails

Daytona is the last Florida town to host Spring Break the old-fashioned way. Last year, Caligula was overheard saying, “This is really getting outta hand, folks.” Bike Week is more of the same madness, just with an older, hairier, Harley crowd. Speed Week is a family-oriented bash–kinda like a big ole Southern picnic complete with cars going 200 miles an hour around the yard and everyone wearing NASCAR caps.

“Diving off Daytona is primarily wreck diving. Volusia County has come on strong with their artificial reef program in the last four or five years,” says Jerry Berndt, whose Discover Diving shop has been there for 11. “They’ve dropped planes, ships–we’ve got them from 80 feet long to over 440.”

Two of the best wreck dives are part of the same artificial reef area about 11 miles out of Ponce de Leon Inlet called–quite poetically, I think, for a government job–Port Authority Reef Site #3.

The Dives

Mindanao

Depth: 100 feet.
Skill Level: Intermediate.
This 446-foot long Liberty ship was made diver-safe and set down more than 18 years ago. A violent storm broke the Mindanao in half three years ago but the two pieces remain on even keel and a debris field spans the 60-foot split making the dive site even larger. The break in the wreck is a good place to penetrate. Properly trained divers can follow a sunlit passage some 100 feet inside the wreck, then ascend through the cargo hatch. Outside, amberjack, barracuda and spadefish school around the wreck while summertime tropicals like angelfish hang low darting in and out of the structure.

Rio Yuma

Depth: 90 feet.
Skill Level: Intermediate to advanced.
This 217-foot freighter was sunk four years ago and remains intact except for her bow, which was tweaked about 20 degrees off kilter by the explosive manner of her sinking. Wire bundles, hanging cables and stray lines inside the wreck make her a risky penetration dive, but one safe spot is the passageway that wraps around the aftercastle. Here you can swim the deck with open water alongside the entire time.

Turtle Mound

Depth: 70 feet.
Skill Level: Novice.
This natural reef, located 22 miles offshore, is popular with spearfishermen and bug hunters alike for its encrusted limestone ledges. The ledges rise to almost cavernous height, sheltering spiny lobster and plenty of snapper.

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