Forty-seven miles of beaches stretching from Highland Beach and Boca Raton to Jupiter and Tequesta make The Palm Beaches a haven for water lovers, but for scuba divers and snorkellers, the real treasure is what lies beneath.
As the closest place in North America to the Gulf Stream Current – an oceanic conveyor belt of warm, clear water from the Gulf of Mexico – The Palm Beaches are home to a unique abundance of sea life including sea turtles, tropical fish, sailfish, goliath grouper, dolphins, sharks and even whale sharks.
While scuba diving and snorkelling in The Palm Beaches is a year-round sport, your chances of spotting certain species are higher depending on the season. The spring and summer months welcome more sea turtles – particularly loggerhead, hawksbill, green and leatherback – as they hail for The Palm Beaches’ shores to nest. Goliath groupers, widely known in the diving community as the “puppies of Poseidon,” are hard to miss in their spawning season of late summer to fall. Sharks are more prevalent from mid-January to mid-March, throughout the state of Florida, when they migrate to escape the north’s frigid temperatures and follow schools of fish. Lucky for divers and snorkellers, sightings are not limited to seasonality. With tropical temperatures and greater visibility, you’re almost always guaranteed to see a plethora of tropical fish and the occasional sea turtle and manta ray.
Divers from across the nation looking to up their chances of a shark encounter can do so in The Palm Beaches, particularly off the coast of Jupiter. These waters are a hot spot for the docile yet playful lemon shark and often other friendly species such as nurse and blacktip reef shark. On rarer occasions, you may catch a glimpse of the skittish hammerhead (a bucket-list sighting for any diver) as well as bull and tiger sharks. Lemon sharks, described as the “puppies” of the species by local divers, make for a great entry-level experience for new shark divers.
Blue Heron Bridge at Phil Foster Park – Revered as one of the world’s best diving sites, Blue Heron Bridge proves you don’t have to search far and wide for breathtaking underwater encounters. The shore dive site, which includes an Underwater Snorkeling Trail, spans only two acres yet features an incredibly high diversity of aquatic species such as seahorses, pipefish and octopuses, spotted rays, sea robins, flying gurnards, frogfish, starfish and 100-plus species of nudibranchs. Depths along the trail are roughly six to 10 feet, with the deepest being a little more than 20 feet under the bridge, making it ideal for both divers and snorkelers to easily spot marine life. Because of its location in the protected Lake Worth Lagoon, Blue Heron Bridge is accessible even when conditions aren’t suitable for an ocean dive.
Goliath Grouper Aggregation – August through September marks the Goliath Grouper Aggregation that attracts divers from all over the world to Palm Beach County, every year. Weighing as much as 660 pounds and measuring at up to eight feet long, these gentle giants migrate by the hundreds to spawn around the area’s reefs and wrecks. The Palm Beaches’ waters are the last known aggregation site of goliath groupers. Popular aggregation sites include the Jupiter Wreck Trek and M/V Castor, among other wrecks.
Coral Reefs – Natural coral formations off the coast of The Palm Beaches make up what is the Florida Reef Tract, the continental
United States’ only living barrier coral reef and the third largest in the world. To protect natural reefs from overuse and create a more widespread sanctuary for marinelife, the county’s Environmental Resources Management (ERM) team has constructed artificial reefs by deploying more than 55 vessels, 100,000 tons of concrete and 133,000 tons of limestone boulders. The Palm Beaches’ natural and artificial reef systems protect and foster a diverse marine environment – where tropical fish prevail – while also opening more opportunities for divers and snorkellers to witness these natural wonders.
M/V Castor
Sunken as an artificial reef off Boynton Beach in 2001, the M/V Castor has become one of South Florida’s most popular wreck dives. The main attraction of this 258-foot-long ship in 110 feet of water is a school of resident goliath grouper that lives on the wreck year-round. It’s not uncommon to see 20 or 30 grouper on the wreck at any time of year.
M/V Ana Cecilia
The Ana Cecilia, a 170-foot Halter Marine general cargo ship built in 1972, was sunk 1.25 miles off the Lake Worth Inlet in 85 feet of water in July 2016 as part of the ERM’s artificial reef system project. The ship once was used to smuggle millions of dollars worth of cocaine out of Miami, and has now become a popular dive site for all levels to spot goliath grouper and myriad tropical fish.
Jupiter Wreck Trek
One mile north of Jupiter Inlet, three shipwrecks comprise what is known as the Jupiter Wreck Trek. The Zion Train’s aft section, Miss Jenny and Esso Bonaire III offer divers an underwater history lesson as well as the chance to spot goliath grouper, sharks and an array of tropical fish.
Prefer shallower adventures, fit for the entire family? We have the perfect choice for you. A private guided snorkelling tour with lessons included. Click here for more information.