2026 Florida Lobster Mini Season Dive Charters

What to Expect

Stuart Scuba’s Mini Season trips are designed around one goal: getting certified divers into productive lobster territory safely and efficiently.

Your trip includes:

• A multi-dive boat trip off the South Florida coast
• An experienced captain and professional dive crew
• Access to offshore reefs and lobster habitat
• Drift-diving logistics and surface support
• Individual boat seats and limited private-charter availability

Dive locations are selected based on ocean conditions, visibility, current, safety and where the captain believes the best diving opportunities will be that day. Specific sites and depths cannot be guaranteed.

Who Can Join?

These trips are for certified scuba divers who are comfortable diving from a boat in open-ocean conditions.

Mini Season can include current, limited visibility, task loading and a large number of boats and divers on the water. Divers should have good buoyancy, be comfortable making controlled ascents and be capable of safely managing their own lobster-hunting equipment.

This is a lobster dive charter—not an entry-level scuba lesson. Divers who need a refresher, private guide or additional training should contact Stuart Scuba before booking.

What Divers Need to Bring

Each lobster hunter is responsible for arriving with the required equipment, licenses and permits.

Divers should bring:

• Scuba certification card
• Valid Florida saltwater fishing license, unless legally exempt
• Florida spiny lobster permit, unless legally exempt
• Lobster measuring gauge
• Tickle stick or legal lobster snare
• Lobster bag
• Dive flag or surface marker equipment as required
• Complete scuba equipment
• Tanks and weights, unless arranged separately
• Cutting device
• Dive computer

Stuart Scuba carries lobster gauges, tickle sticks, snares, lobster bags, dive equipment and other Mini Season essentials. Tank fills, Nitrox and rental equipment may also be available when arranged in advance.

2026 Florida Lobster Mini Season Limits

For the waters off West Palm Beach and most areas outside Monroe County and Biscayne National Park, the Mini Season daily bag limit is:

12 legal-size spiny lobsters per person, per day

The possession limit while on the water is equal to the daily bag limit.

Off the water, possession is limited to:

• One daily bag limit on July 29, 2026
• Two daily bag limits on July 30, 2026

Every person counted toward the bag limit must be properly licensed or legally exempt and must actively participate in harvesting lobster.

Minimum Legal Lobster Size

A Florida spiny lobster must have a carapace length greater than three inches.

The lobster must be measured while it is still in the water. Every harvester must possess and use a lobster measuring gauge. Lobsters that do not meet the legal minimum size must be released immediately.

Egg-bearing lobsters may not be harvested or possessed.

Lobsters must be landed whole, and divers may not use equipment that punctures, penetrates or crushes the lobster’s shell or flesh.

Responsible Lobster Diving

Mini Season is exciting, but safety comes first.

Divers should maintain awareness of their depth, gas supply, current, buddy or dive team, boat traffic and surrounding reef. Do not damage coral while reaching into holes, dragging equipment or securing a lobster bag.

No lobster is worth an uncontrolled ascent, missed safety stop, low-on-air emergency or damaged reef.

All divers are responsible for understanding and following current Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission regulations. Rules may change, and additional restrictions can apply in certain areas.

Reserve Your Mini Season Boat Trip

Mini Season seats are extremely limited, and both days can sell out quickly.

Reserve an individual seat or contact Stuart Scuba to ask about private-charter availability.

Call Stuart Scuba at 772-600-8288 to reserve your 2026 Florida Lobster Mini Season dive trip.