Southeast Florida dive sites
The Southeast Florida dive sites in Viziato lie off the Atlantic coast of Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties. Florida’s Coral Reef extends over 350 nautical miles from the St. Lucie Inlet in Martin County to the Dry Tortugas, and this coast lies along its northern part.1
Viziato pins more than 850 well-known boat dive sites on its map. Seventeen of them are on this coast, from Jupiter in the north to Key Biscayne in the south: five off Palm Beach County, six off Broward County and six off Miami-Dade County. Fifteen are wrecks or other artificial reefs listed in the artificial reef deployment records of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC);2 Emerald Reef and Fowey Rocks are natural reefs. The Florida Keys have a page of their own.
Sites are grouped by the stretch of coast they lie off and listed from north to south. Depths and lengths are as given in the sources at the end of the page; meters are converted from feet and rounded.
Palm Beach County
All five Palm Beach County sites are wreck dives, from Jupiter south to Boca Raton. The Zion Train and the Mizpah are both on drift dives that pass several wrecks, described under Drift dives.
| Site | Location | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Zion Train | Off Jupiter | Small freighter with its bow broken off by a hurricane; the first wreck on the Jupiter Wreck Trek drift dive.3 |
| Mizpah | Off Singer Island | Built in 1926 as a private yacht and later the Navy patrol yacht USS Mizpah; sunk as an artificial reef in 1968 in 90 to 110 ft (27 to 34 m) of water.4 One of the wrecks on the Corridor Wreck Trek.5 |
| MV Castor | Off Boynton Beach | Cargo ship that carried timber, sunk in 2001; the main deck is at 90 ft (27 m) and the bottom at 110 ft (34 m). Goliath groupers gather on it between August and October.6 |
| Hydro Atlantic | Off Boca Raton | Seagoing dredge built for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1905. It sank in 1987 and lies in 173 ft (53 m) of water, a technical dive.7,8 |
| Sea Emperor | Off Boca Raton | Former hopper barge loaded with large concrete culverts, in 55 to 70 ft (17 to 21 m) of water.9 |
Broward County
Broward County has six of the sites, from Deerfield Beach to Hallandale Beach. Three are Fort Lauderdale wreck dives: the Rebel, the Jay Scutti and the Mercedes I.
| Site | Location | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Ancient Mariner | Off Deerfield Beach | 165 ft (50 m) Coast Guard cutter launched in 1934 and sunk as an artificial reef in 1991, in 50 to 70 ft (15 to 21 m) of water.10 |
| Lady Luck | Off Pompano Beach | 324 ft (99 m) former tanker sunk in 2016 and fitted with casino-themed displays. It sits in 131 ft (40 m) of water with its deck at 105 ft (32 m).11 |
| Rebel | Off Fort Lauderdale | Dutch freighter sunk in 1985, in 78 to 111 ft (24 to 34 m) of water.12 |
| Jay Scutti | Off Fort Lauderdale | Tugboat that once assisted oil tankers in Aruba, placed as an artificial reef in 1986; the usual start of the Lauderdale Wreck Trek drift dive.13 |
| Mercedes I | Off Fort Lauderdale | 194 ft (59 m) freighter that a storm drove ashore at Palm Beach in November 1984. It was sunk in March 1985 and lies in 97 ft (30 m) of water.14 |
| Tenneco Towers | Off Hallandale Beach | Five former oil production platforms placed as an artificial reef in 1985.15 |
Miami-Dade County
Miami-Dade County has six of the sites. Five lie off Key Biscayne, and Fowey Rocks is in Biscayne National Park. Two are natural reefs: Emerald Reef and Fowey Rocks.
| Site | Location | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Biscayne Wreck | Off Key Biscayne | 120 ft (37 m) freighter once used to carry bananas from Central America, in 55 ft (17 m) of water near Neptune Memorial Reef.16 |
| Neptune Memorial Reef | Off Key Biscayne | Underwater memorial reef, opened in 2007 and laid out with roads, benches and statues.17 |
| Orion | Off Key Biscayne | Steel-hulled tugboat sunk as an artificial reef in 1981; Hurricane Andrew tore off its wheelhouse.16 The wheelhouse lies beside the hull, and the wreck’s average depth is 95 ft (29 m).18 |
| Emerald Reef | Off Key Biscayne | Three natural patch reefs with extensive relief, in 15 to 26 ft (5 to 8 m) of water, with county mooring buoys.19 |
| Ultra Freeze | Off Key Biscayne | 195 ft (59 m) steel-hulled freighter with 45 ft (14 m) of its superstructure still in place.16 |
| Fowey Rocks | Biscayne National Park | Reef at the Fowey Rocks Light, a lighthouse completed in 1878 about seven miles southeast of Cape Florida on Key Biscayne.20 |
Drift dives
Three of the sites are on drift dives that visit several wrecks in one dive:
- Jupiter Wreck Trek. Off Jupiter, the drift runs north from the Zion Train past the Miss Jenny, an upside-down barge, to the Esso Bonaire, which sits upright in 90 ft (27 m) of water.3
- Corridor Wreck Trek. The Corridor drift includes the Mizpah, the Ana Cecilia, the patrol craft PC 1174 and the Amaryllis.5
- Lauderdale Wreck Trek. Off Fort Lauderdale, the dive boat usually ties up to the Jay Scutti, and the drift continues to the Tracy and the Merci Jesus, in 65 to 72 ft (20 to 22 m) of water.13
South Florida visibility from day to day
Water clarity varies naturally with tides, storms, wind patterns and changes in sunlight, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.21 This page therefore gives no visibility figures for these sites.
Viziato recalculates its forecast every morning for about 3.6 million points of ocean, and every site above is pinned on the map. The free map gives today’s conditions at any point, rated from Very Poor to Outstanding on the visibility scale, and the daily Top 10 lists the ten clearest of the included dive sites with their visibility figures. Viziato Pro adds the exact visibility in feet or meters, the full 9-day forecast and visibility alerts; the yearly plan starts with a one-week free trial for accounts that have not used one before. The trial becomes a paid yearly subscription unless it is canceled at least 24 hours before it ends.
The home page has a saved snapshot of the map for South Florida and the Bahamas, which is not a live forecast. Forecasts are estimates for informational use and are not for navigation or safety decisions.
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The home page describes the features, how the forecast is made and the plans. Viziato also has a guide to the visibility scale and a page on Florida Keys dive sites.
Sources
- Florida Department of Environmental Protection. “Coral Reef Conservation Program.” floridadep.gov/rcp/coral
- Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Artificial reef locations and deployment records (spreadsheet as of May 7, 2026). myfwc.com/fishing/saltwater/artificial-reefs/locate/
- PADI. Wreck Trek dive site, Jupiter. padi.com/dive-site/united-states-of-america-usa/wreck-trek/
- Wikipedia. “USS Mizpah.” en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Mizpah
- Force-E Scuba Centers. Corridor Wreck Trek. force-e.com/go-diving/boat-dive-sites/corridor-wreck-trek/
- Force-E Scuba Centers. MV Castor wreck. force-e.com/go-diving/boat-dive-sites/mv-castor-wreck/
- Force-E Scuba Centers. Hydro Atlantic wreck. force-e.com/go-diving/boat-dive-sites/hydro-atlantic-wreck/
- SouthFloridaDiving.com. Hydro Atlantic. southfloridadiving.com/dive-sites/technical/hydro-atlantic/
- Force-E Scuba Centers. Sea Emperor wreck. force-e.com/go-diving/boat-dive-sites/sea-emperor-wreck/
- SouthFloridaDiving.com. Ancient Mariner. southfloridadiving.com/dive-sites/recreational/ancient-mariner/
- Force-E Scuba Centers. Lady Luck wreck. force-e.com/go-diving/boat-dive-sites/lady-luck-wreck/
- SouthFloridaDiving.com. Rebel. southfloridadiving.com/dive-sites/advanced-open-water/rebel/
- Force-E Scuba Centers. Wreck Trek Lauderdale. force-e.com/go-diving/boat-dive-sites/wreck-trek-lauderdale/
- SouthFloridaDiving.com. Mercedes I. southfloridadiving.com/dive-sites/advanced-open-water/mercedes-i/
- Sea Experience, Fort Lauderdale. South Florida wrecks. seaxp.com/south-florida-wrecks/
- Diver’s Paradise, Key Biscayne. Dive sites. diversparadise.miami/divesites/
- Wikipedia. “Neptune Memorial Reef.” en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neptune_Memorial_Reef
- Florida Scuba Diving. The Orion wreck, Miami. florida-scubadiving.com/the-orion-wreck-miami-florida/
- Miami-Dade County. Emerald Reef mooring buoys. miamidade.gov/environment/buoy/emerald.asp
- Wikipedia. “Fowey Rocks Light.” en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fowey_Rocks_Light
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “Indicators: Water Clarity.” epa.gov/national-aquatic-resource-surveys/indicators-water-clarity
Sources accessed October 4, 2026. The site names and locations are those in the Viziato app’s dive-site list.