Our Story
Deerfield Beach's dive shop since 1986. For four decades, Dixie Divers, now DXDivers, has been teaching, outfitting and diving with South Florida divers from right here in Deerfield Beach.
Where it all started
Dixie Divers first opened its doors in Fort Pierce, Florida, in 1976 as part of a franchise. The Deerfield Beach shop followed in 1986, in the Cove Shopping Plaza. When the franchise wound down, a handful of stores carried on independently, and Deerfield Beach was one of them.
Built around great training
Education has always come first here. The shop focused on PADI training and earned its rating as a PADI Five-Star Dive Center, then as a PADI Five-Star Instructor Development Center, so you can learn to dive with us and go all the way to becoming an instructor.
Our boat, the Lady Go Diver
In late 2004 the Lady Go Diver became our dive boat. She's a Newton 46-foot Dive Special with custom fittings, including a Coast Guard-approved railing that lets you head up to the bow and ride out front on the way to the dive site.
Today DXDivers is the only dive shop in South Florida with a classroom, on-site pool and dive boat all in one place, so you can go from your first pool session to the reef with one team.
DID YOU KNOW?
Dixie Divers helped open the door to Nitrox for recreational diving. In December 1999, we became the first dive shop granted a permanent OSHA variance to teach and guide on Nitrox. Before that, federal rules made it nearly impossible for dive shops to offer it. In 2004, OSHA wrote the Dixie Divers terms into federal regulations for the whole industry. That paved the way for Nitrox to become the everyday choice it is for divers today.
Read the 1999 Dixie Divers variance (Federal Register)
Read OSHA's 2004 rule based on the Dixie Divers variance
Protecting the reef we dive
Ocean conservation is one of our core values. In 2004 we held the first Annual Pier Cleanup, when the 24/7 Deerfield Beach Fishing Pier closed for 4 hours so divers could clear fishing line, lead weights, lures and other litter from the reef below.
The event helped put Deerfield Beach on the map as a dive destination. It has since grown into a weekend-long event, with the pier closed for nearly 24 hours, including a special night dive the evening before the main cleanup.
GUINNESS WORLD RECORD HOLDERS
In June 2019, Dixie Divers coordinated the Largest Underwater Clean-up and brought a Guinness World Records title home to Deerfield Beach.
633 divers walked into the ocean, gathered debris from under the pier and loaded it into buckets hanging off the pier. Volunteers on the pier hauled the heavy buckets up, and by the end of the day 1,465 pounds of trash had been pulled out of the ocean.
What we collected:
- 1,046 lb of lead (more than half a ton)
- 161 lb of fishing line
- 104 lb of metal
- 52 lb of wood
- 102 lb of miscellaneous debris
Total: 1,465 pounds of debris.
Dive with us
The Annual Pier Cleanup still takes place every June in Deerfield Beach, alongside events like Trashy Fridays and our Lionfish Derby. Come join us.
Visit us at 455 South Federal Highway, Deerfield Beach, FL 33441, or call (954) 420-0009.