City Guide

In 1981, the U.S. government began a wide-scale project designed to increase the number of habitats available to marine organisms. One of the program's major accomplishments has been the creation of nearby artificial reefs, which have attracted all kinds of tropical plants, fish, and animals. In addition, Biscayne National Park offers a protected marine environment just south of downtown.

Several dive shops around the city offer organized weekend outings, either to the reefs or to one of over a dozen old shipwrecks around Miami's shores. Check "Divers" in the Yellow Pages for rental equipment and for a full list of undersea tour operators.

Diver's Paradise of Key Biscayne, 4000 Crandon Blvd. (tel. 305/361-3483), offers one dive expedition per day during the week and two per day on the weekends to the more than 30 wrecks and artificial reefs off the coast of Miami Beach and Key Biscayne. You can take a 3-day certification course for $399, which includes all the dives and gear. If you already have your C-card, a dive trip costs about $90 if you need equipment and $45 if you bring your own gear. It's open Tuesday through Friday from 10am to 6pm and Saturday and Sunday from 8am to 6pm. Call ahead for times and locations of dives. For snorkeling, they will also set you up with equipment and maps on where to see the best underwater sights. Rental for mask, fins, and snorkel is $45.

South Beach Divers, 850 Washington Ave., Miami Beach (tel. 305/531-6110; www.southbeachdivers.com), will also be happy to tell you where to go under the sea and will provide you with scuba rental equipment as well for $40. You can rent snorkel gear for $15. They also do dive trips to Key Largo three times a week and do dives off Miami on Sundays at $100 for a two-tank dive.

Miami's Best Dive Bar -- In May 2000, Jose Cuervo Tequila company celebrated Cinco de Mayo -- or, as their clever marketing staff deemed it, Sinko de Mayo -- by submerging an actual $45,000 full-size margarita bar and six stools about 200 yards offshore from Ocean Drive and 3rd Street. Known as the Jose Cuervo Underwater Bar, the bar is 8 feet high and made of concrete and steel, lying 20 feet below the ocean's surface. Now an official artificial reef, it's one of South Beach's coolest -- and most hidden -- wreck-reational watering holes.

City Guide

Miami FL Tourism: Scuba Diving

Scuba Diving

Miami Travel & Vacation Deals

Miami Travel Deals