Dive Review of Emerald Charters/Best Western Intracoastal Inn in
The Continental USA/Jupiter, Florida

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Emerald Charters/Best Western Intracoastal Inn: "Great Shark Diving with Emerald Charters", May, 2017, by Richard J Lunsford Jr, KY, US ( Contributor 14 reports with 12 Helpful votes). Report 9586.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Spent a mixed activities week with family in Jupiter, FL 4-29-17 - 5-7-17, based out of Best Western Intracoastal Inn (good, clean budget hotel with nice included breakfast and adjacent boardwalk across the water to a marina, another branch behind the hotel). Drove about 1/2 mile to Scuba Works (where you book Emerald trips & get rental gear), then about 1/2 mile to board Emerald's boat for 3 tank/day shark feed diving trip. Rough seas with intermittent big swells cut day one down to 1 dive; did all 3 2 other days. Good, affable crew. Yes, you do most things for yourself, but they usually took tanks to/from the boat in a cart. Got my 3 100 cf steel rental tanks from Scuba Works; big fills, nitrox mix was good (usually 1 32 & 2 35-36%). Nitrox is required on Emerald trips. If you dive multiple days, ask Scuba Works about a discount on weight rental, as it may otherwise be cheaper to buy them. Over the course of 7 dives, I saw & was in close proximity with 3 tiger sharks, 2 silkie sharks, some nurse sharks, uncounted lemon and bull sharks, 1 loggerhead sea turtle and some goliath grouper. Dives ran about 36 to 49 minutes long, max. depths were about 71 to 101 feet deep, average depths 46 to 65 feet deep. 2 Of the 3 tigers were close to 10 feet long or so. Be mindful which species are seen is seasonal. None I saw got aggressive with anyone. Having a tiger shark swimming amongst your group close-by during slow mid-water ascent didn't command overt fear, but called for healthy respect. It's a great time when you're ready for it. Read up on Emerald Dive Charter trip reports and make sure that's you. More extensive trip report & topic discussion at Scuba Board: [scubaboard.com link]
Websites	Emerald Charters Best Western Intracoastal Inn
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Bonaire (> 150 dives), Key Largo (20 dives), Jupiter, Fl (10 dives), Belize via live-aboard (26 dives), Caymans via live-aboard (25 dives), North Carolina (9 dives), California Channel Islands (24 dives), several on Caribbean cruise stops.
Closest Airport	Palm Beach International; I used Ft. Lauderdale Hollywood	Getting There	Flew to Ft. Lauderdale, rented an SUV for family (luggage), drove to Jupiter.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	choppy
Water Temp	74-76°F / 23-24°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	30-50 Ft/ 9-15 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	Must wear full wetsuit (if bald or long hair also a hood) and gloves. Avoid substantial amounts of bright colors. Nitrox required. Must have an SMB (good practice ocean diving anyway, especially drift).
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	There's a mat for cameras, not a table. If you go out on a day with big swells, that'll start to make sense. Feeding brings sharks in very close for photos I can hardly imagine in a non-feeding situation.

Subscriber's Comments

By report author: Richard J Lunsford Jr in KY, US at May 19, 2017 20:53 EST

Quick note: Haven't been able to fix this. I intended to rate 1 dot for beginners; don't go. You need good buoyancy control, the ability to watch the leader for direction and pay attention to some sharks, especially the tiger sharks, and a decent comfort level for being in the water with large sharks. To work your way up for this sort of trip, I recommend a trip to Morehead City, North Carolina, diving off-shore wrecks with Olympus Dive Center. The sand tiger sharks weren't quite as large, quite was close and weren't baited in.

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Dive Review of Emerald Charters/Best Western Intracoastal Inn in The Continental USA/Jupiter, Florida

Emerald Charters/Best Western Intracoastal Inn: "Great Shark Diving with Emerald Charters", May, 2017,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subscriber's Comments

Dive Review of Emerald Charters/Best Western Intracoastal Inn in
The Continental USA/Jupiter, Florida