All hunting does not have to be done on land. You can also hunt for lobster, fish, pictures and a good time underwater as well.

These pictures were taken last summer when my wife and I were in Fort Lauderdale snorkeling off of the beach. We used one of the disposable cameras, and it did a pretty good job. It has been sitting in my car since then, and while I was in town the other day, I finally got it developed. So I thought that I would share a few of the shots here.

The neat thing about diving in Fort Lauderdale is that you do not need a boat or air tanks. You can literally just swim a couple of hundred yards off of the beach to one of the reefs and see some amazing things. And while having an air tank would allow you to stay under longer, since it is only 10-20 feet deep, you don’t really need one. Plus it is a great workout!

The reef runs parallel to the beach, so once you get out to the reef, you can just swim along with the current until you are ready to get out. Then you swim back to the beach and walk back to you car. It truly is one of the easiest and neatest dives I can recommend. And depending on the experience of the diver and their physical fitness level, there is a reef for you.

There are generally 3 reef lines that you can reach from the beach. The first one is only about 75 yards offshore. This is the easiest and the closest, so it is perfect for beginners. The average depth is normally about 8 feet, so you don’t have to work very hard to get down, and since it is so shallow, you don’t even have to… you can swim along and see pretty good. This is perfect for beginning divers!

The second reef is about 200 yards offshore and tends to be a much better dive. However since it is a longer swim with an average depth of 15 feet, it tends to be a little tougher for those not comfortable in the water. You can still see lots of stuff right from the surface, so being able to dive down is not mandatory, but it helps when you want to get a closer look at some of the coral or what’s under it (notice the lobster hiding). Expect to see lots of sea fans, tropical fish, sea turtles, tarpon and nurse sharks.

Then you come to the holy grail of beach diving, the third reef. Unless you have a boat, this one is not recommended for inexperienced beach divers due to the difficulty and the distance. It is about 700 yards offshore and averages 20-25 feet deep, so it is definitely not for the weak at heart since you must first swim all of the way out there. Then once there, to really enjoy it, you must be able to dive down to truly see the wall of corals and the abundance of sea life that live in and around them. But if it is clear (and it normally is), you can still see from the top, so it is not a wasted trip even if you can’t get down. Here you can expect to see an even greater abundance of tropical fish, lobster and grouper as well a more diverse landscape of corals.

The best way to do this dive is to tie a raft to your dive flag so that you have something to hang on to while you rest. Like I said, it is a pretty good swim (usually against the current) to get that far off the beach, so if you have a cramp or something, a raft really comes in handy. And since the life guards can’t see you if you have a problem, you are on your own.

Diving in Ft. Lauderdale is truly one of my favorite underwater excursions due to the cost - nothing. You don’t need any special gear, just a mask, snorkel and fins. Most people already have those, and you can rent them from a local dive shop if you don’t. And if you live anywhere in Florida, you can do this dive on a day trip, so no lodging is needed. However if you have just a few bucks, you can get a basic room right on the beach strip for around $75 and walk to the beach to dive. And by staying, you can then go a little more hardcore by doing a night dive! There is truly nothing like swimming offshore hundreds of yards in to the black night to see the reefs come alive after dark…

I may have to do another post on this!

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