Snorkeling and Free Dive North Captiva

[Thomas Kent]

Good morning SCUBA Board.

I'm an avid Michigan Diver and try to dive in the south at least once a year! Hope to hit Cozmel for a couple of days in May (without the wife and kids) The cold waters of Michigan become less desirable every year I age!

Anyways, I'm heading to North Captiva with the family and some friends for Spring Break. I'm renting a 28 foot boat for a couple of days and was looking for some good Snorkeling/Free Dive spots. Not going to drag my SCUBA gear as there are no places for air fills on the Island...or maybe there is but I cant seem to find it!

Was looking at Cayo Costa State Park, Redfish Barges Reef, Bowmans Beach and maybe Blind Pass Reef. Anyone have any experience with this area Snorkeling? I know there's lots of sand and shells, just trying to find some to the wildlife if possible. Any suggestions and/or opinions are great appreciate!

Thanks and keep it wet

Tom

 

[icy1155]

What sorts of things are you looking to see? I lived in Ft. Myers for 8 years, so I've checked out a few sites while I was there. Generally, the vis SUCKS. If you can catch it just right it is occasionally decent (10' is about as good as you can hope for). The Boca Grande phosphate docks hold lots of goliath grouper, but they also hold a lot of very large hammerheads too. If you dont mind running offshore, the ARC Radio Towers are a really nice dive. You could always rent gear... Dean's Dive Center was my go to place in the area. Other than the places you listed, I would also check out the Sanibel Reef. If the water is cooperating and you can actually see we saw some cool stuff there, from Goliath grouper to a school of redfish, snook and stingrays all in about 20' of water.

 

[Thomas Kent]

Thank you for your reply! Just looking for fish, stingrays, maybe dolphins. Would love to see some sharks as well, but "large" hammerheads might be a little much for the group I'm with. Depending on the weather I would go off shore, but would be limited to what the wives input is. Is Deans Dive Center in Ft Myers? I promised my wife no actual SCUBA, but could be tricked into it....

We'll also check out Sanibel Reef as well. Just really hoping for decent vis....but coming from Michigan diving I'm kind of accustomed to lower vis,....

Thanks

 

[icy1155]

You can keep an eye on the water clarity on the Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation (SCCF) website. They have a program called Recon that has a bunch of bouys around the island that collect water chemistry data. SCCF-RECON If you click on each site the two parameters that would be of interest are turbidity (how much sediment is in the water), Chlorophyll (How much algae is in the water) and FDom (How much tannins are in the water from the river).

If you are able to go offshore in the boat and can convince the wife to let you dive, the ARC radio towers are a really nice dive. Its three sections of a radio broadcasting tower mounted vertically on the bottom about 20-25 miles offshore in about 60' of water. There is always at least one goliath grouper hanging out as well as tons of other fish. More info (and coords) can be found on the county website - Artificial Reefs

 

[icy1155]

Sorry, I just realized I missed your question about the dive shop. Yes, Dean's Dive Center is in Ft. Myers. I didn't catch the part where it was N. Captiva that you were going to. For there, if you are taking the ferry, I think the closest dive shop will be in Cape Coral unless something changed recently. Brent over at Dean's is still a really good guy though, and if you want to do a dive trip I know he does them so it wouldn't hurt to give him a call and chat.

 

[Thomas Kent]

I'm totally missed your replay I apologize. Thank you so much for all the insight!; I really appreciate it.. I'm going to keep an eye on the conditions and go from there. Might even sneak away on afternoon to check out Deans.... Might not make any friends with my family, but for diving its always worth it. Have a good one and stay wet! Tom