Lauderdale Diver

Lake Tigertail is a shore accessible fresh water dive site right next to the Bass Pro shop in Dania Beach, Florida. It’s a popular site for open water diver certification courses, especially when the ocean is too rough to go out. The water is a big greenish.

The main feature of this dive site is a 185' barge which has been twisted up by storms over the years to create great swim throughs. Other items at this site include a smaller barge, concrete culverts and I beams from Interstate 595 construction, an airplane wing, and a radio tower called the "jungle gym". Lots of big creature sightings here including Goliath Grouper, Manta Rays, Turtles, Cobia, Nurse Sharks, etc.

The Merci Jesus is a great wreck dive found off the coast of Florida, just north of Fort Lauderdale. It is normally visited by dive boat and not by shore diving. The Merci Jesus is 90’ long and 26’ wide, bow pointing south and the hull is upright.

This site is located at El Prado Park in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea. This dive site is excellent for divers and snorkelers alike. The beach access has fresh water showers, a garden hose, and a bench with cutouts for tanks. This site starts when you reach the swim buoy and continues East for about 100 yards.

The reef here runs parallel to the shoreline (north and south) and is a great shallow second dive when heading back from the deeper wreck dives of South Florida. The north end of the reef has some great habitat off to the west of the main ledge as well.

This is a true wreck off the coast of Lauderdale-by-the-Sea that’s over 100 years old, sinking in 1900. It was a 325-foot steamer sitting in only 15-30 feet of waters so this is a great snorkel as well as a dive.