A Day of Diving at Venice

[Dr. Jay]

mark3397 once bubbled...
....but I did hear all about sandy-chick on Monday from Alex.

You have no...idea....

My car smelt like the sea lion pens at Sea World on the way home.

Anyway...Matt and I were thinking of leaving Orlando around 8 a.m., which would put us in Venice around 10:30 or so. Does this sound good with you guys? The last time we hit Casperson Beach, but are there any "better" spots?

I'll probably be bringing the girlfriend and her friend along...they gotta do that tanning thing.

We were thinking of doing 1 dive for around 1 hr. and maybe filling the tanks (or just renting 2 others) for a possible second dive. Sound good for 2 dives? Mark...you could even bring your double AL 80's!...might want to leave the drysuit at home.

I'll send you guys a PM with my cell phone number if you like the trip idea.

Jason

P.S. - Any tips from locals on the hot spots of Venice Beach would be appreciated.

 

[ReefGuy]

Sorry, I can't make it this weekend. My other half has informed me of previous engagements :upset:

 

[Bishop]

Actually, I was informed last night as I was sitting on the rooftop of Prana drinking gin and tonic on a Wednesday night (Jesus, what was I thinking) that I have a full day of debauchery on Sat. 1/2 to Gasparilla pool party followed by a luau. Going to have to skip diving but I was talking with some people about going next weekend - I might be sober by then.

 

[Bishop]

Yeah, and I would have brought by double 80's and my 3mil shortie *grin*

 

[Wildbill]

Dr. Jay

I'm still on for Sat. if you guys still plan on coming down I would like to join ya'

I PM'd you with some other details and my cell phone number give me a call.

Wildbill

 

[JazzyM13]

Hey Dr. Jay,
Here's a new spot for you to try your fossil hunting if you haven't been there before. Brohard Beach is just before Caperson across from the golfcourse. Take the boardwalk on the left just as you enter the parking lot. When you get to the beach, make a right and walk about a 100 yds or so. Go straight into the water and my friend found a Wholly Mammoth molar in about 12 ft of water. This tooth was about 8 inches long and 4 inches thick. He just started digging in a clay bed and the tooth just appeared. He also found a tooth from a megalodon I believe in 18ft of water just a little further out.
I personally have only found a ton of Golfballs, well and some small fossils but that Mammoth tooth is worth about $400. That's a find!

Have fun, wish I could join you but I'll be doing a drift dive/snorkel down the Rainbow River with my dive club. Nice and relaxing.
Have a good dive.
Tootles,
Marta

 

[ReefGuy]

Unfortunately, Saturday is still out for me, but I have been given the green light for sunday.

 

[Dr. Jay]

Maybe next time.

Looks like we're a go for tomorrow. Meeting at Sharky's Restaurant (this one, I hope). We'll probably be leaving around 9:15 from Orlando. Hopefully weather shouldn't be too much of a problem. I've also got the buddy line, but I may or may not be short a bolt snap or two. Matt has got the flag.

I'll be bringing my other half with her friend and her two little cousins. They can do some beach hunting or something.

I figured we could try 2 different spots on the 2 tanks...maybe go to Scuba Quest or Florida West Scuba to get the tanks filled between dives.

Ok....time for bed.

 

[Knavey]

Well...

How did the dive go? Had to be better than the earlier posts.

Cindy and I were driving back from Ft. Lauderdale that morning. Should have stopped by but we had just finished a week of diving on the Rorqual.

23 dives for me...I think 22 for her. She decided that night diving was not her thing.

Will write up a trip report one of these days. We had a blast that is for sure.

 

[Wildbill]

Our day at Venice got off to a late start but I think we all had a great day. I met up with Dr. Jay and FallenMatt at a nearby Restaurant. We decided to try Brohard Beach as JazzyM13 had suggested. The water was calm and the viz was at about 15-18 feet which I believe is great for the area. Dr. Jay brought his better half and her nieces and another friend, all non-divers. FallenMatt brought his parents from Poland and they all spent their time hanging on the beach looking for shells and teeth.

Our first dive lasted about 1-1/2 hrs. We (or at least I was) were having to much fun to quit, My tank was way in the red I never took a tank of air that low before.(still had about 340 psi) But we just surfaced swam back to shore. We found what seemed to be very likely spots for teeth but did not find too many, I found only about 6-8 my first dive. Dr. Jay and FallenMatt had to get a re-fill so we left to get that done and grab a bite to eat. Dr. Jay's group wanted to go back home so they headed north and the three of us and Matt's folks went back for more. Oh Yea, during our meal break we had a typical FL downpour and lighting storm but by the time we got back to the beach it had ended and there was blue skies again.

Second time out we headed back to where we left off out near a reef. This time out we all found even less teeth I found 4 but the dive was still fun.

Well I'll let Dr. Jay or FallenMatt fill you in on anything that I had missed but we did not have anyone pulling on our flag rope only the boaters seemed to be real close at times.

Wildbill