Palm Beach, Florida

Walt Stearns · Issue 94, Jan/Feb 2017 · pp. 54–65

Products mentioned: Canon 7D Mark II, Nauticam housing, Tokina 10-17mm lens, Sea & Sea YS-250 strobes, Nikon D300, Nikon D200, Subal housing

When divers think of big animal destinations their minds often turn to distant corners of the world such as the Galapagos, Azores, Silver Banks or Cocos Island. But there’s another location that, while not as exotic, is rapidly gaining recognition as a mecca for big animal encounters. I know this place well, because I call these waters home. Florida’s Palm Beach County is best known as a winter home of the mega-rich. But just offshore of the beachside mansions, another world awaits, and it is populated by an impressive cast of outsized marine life. Those with only a passing knowledge of the diving scene may make statements such as “Oh yeah, you do a lot of drift diving there.” But while the technique of drift diving is certainly the means by which area reefs and wrecks are explored, it is not by any means the primary attraction. What makes the Palm Beach area so compelling is the marine …