Palm Beach & Jupiter · United States · Reef · Drift
Breakers Reef
A King Neptune statue set down in the late 1970s marks the north end
Area photo: Dough4872 · CC BY-SA 4.0
The inshore ledge off Palm Beach, a coral reef in 13 to 18 m made up of miles of continuous ledges, undercuts, crevices and patch reefs with turtles, rays and eels working them. It is the shallow, forgiving end of this coast's drift diving, flown on the Gulf Stream like every other site here.
Where it is and how deep
26.7250° N, 80.0250° WApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
You roll in on the crew's signal and drop straight onto the reef: the top of the ledge sits at about 13 m and the sand at its foot at 18 m. There is no anchor line and nothing to swim back to. The reef runs as a near-continuous line of ledges, undercuts, crevices and patch reefs, so the whole dive is spent flying along that edge with the current while the boat tracks your bubbles from the surface.
The north section is where the landmarks are. A King Neptune statue about 2.4 m tall, put down in the late 1970s, rests at 18 m in the sand at the end of the reef with tropical fish massed around it. Off the north end on the offshore side is Lopadas, a 22 m dive into deep undercuts and crevices where moray eels sit back in the gaps and rays, turtles, spiny lobster and barracuda work the edges. Soft and hard corals cover the rock along the whole ledge, with angelfish and parrotfish over the top and macro life down in the cracks.
Marine life and season
- Sea turtles
- Reef fish swarms
- Macro critters
- Barracuda
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Good |
Season follows Palm Beach & Jupiter: Lemon sharks aggregate Jan–Mar and goliath grouper spawn Aug–Sep; the Gulf Stream keeps visibility high year-round.
Know before you go
- The Gulf Stream sets the pace and there is nothing to hold on to, so carry a marker buoy and deploy it before you surface — the boat collects divers wherever they come up.
Dive videos
Breakers Reef Scuba Diving · Shawn McCall on YouTube
Bull Sharks on Breakers Reef · Carter Honesty on YouTube
Questions divers ask
How deep is Breakers Reef?+
The reef top sits at about 13 m and the sand at its foot at 18 m, so the main line of the reef stays well inside recreational limits. Lopadas, off the north end on the offshore side, is deeper at about 22 m.
Sources
- South Florida Reef Dive Sites (45-60ft) — Pura Vida Divers
- Deep Reef Diving Sites in South Florida — Pura Vida Divers
In The Logbook
- Drift diving: how to read and ride a currentDrift & current · 8 min read
More dive sites in Palm Beach & Jupiter
Muck & macro
Over 100 nudibranch and sea slug species in under 8 m of water
Reef
Schooling gamefish and goliath grouper over a sharply cut ledge
Reef
Lemon sharks stage on this reef ledge by the dozens each January and February
Wreck
A 1926 patrol yacht scuttled here in 1968, dived on the current
Twin ledges from 20 and 26 m (65 and 85 feet), ending in a circular bowl
Similar dives elsewhere
Thirty-two mooring buoys along one spur-and-groove reef
Fields of coral drifted to 18 m with goliath grouper and sharks
Reef
Anglin Pier Ledge
Fort Lauderdale · United States
A single shoreward ledge in 15–18 m, drifted after the wrecks
A gentle drift over coral and sand to 18 m