Dive reports with beach/weather conditions

[Dive4LifeSW]

Went out on Sunday (1/24/10). Service Park area... around 10am. waves were about knee/waist high... wanted to try it. Worst dive conditions I had been in... Had a D8 light with me, couldn't even cut 3 inches into water. I can dive viz 1 ft... didn't even have that. At about 1/4 mile off when I dropped down it was pitch black. If anyone hears of the possibility of better viz, please post... looks like off season is still on for beach diving.

 

[Texas Torpedo]

Site Location: Sharkey's
Date / Time: January 26, 2010 - 9am-11am
Water Temp: 61 Degrees
Vizibility: Almost None - 1" Max
Surf: 2-4'
Presence of drift algae: None Observed

I was out there earlier today for the first time and unfortunately the conditions were not good other than the pretty weather. No charters were running so I decided to try the beach off Sharkey's and the viz was non existent. I swam out approximately 100 yards past the pier and dropped down. I could barely see the OLED screen on my X1 dive computer if I put it up next to my mask.. No way I could use my compass. I tried feeling my way around but after a while I decided to blow it off.

I hope to visit again in the future when conditions are better. Sounds like a lot of fun and I'd love to find a Meg tooth of any size.

David

 

[Aristakat]

We'll made our first dive of 2010 to attemp to take advantage of the last two days of East winds and see what has been stirred up in the boneyard. We'll lots of silt hanging on bottom made a cloudy mess if you hit bottom and also made most spots tuff to hunt. We covered a couple of spots looked good when you would find areas of no silt. Found some megs, old medicine btl, sharks teeth. Highlight of the day was a 4 1/4 megladon tooth with coral on top cool find for sure. We only did 1hr first dive, second dive only maybe 20 mintues got cold and called it. So these finds were one tank dive not our best day but off to a good start considering vis,silt, and weather

Site Location: Bone yard
Date / Time: January 29, 2010 - 9am-1pm
Water Temp: 61 Degrees on surface 55' on bottom
Vizibility: - 2"-4" (correction: 2-4 feet, not inches)
Surf: 1-2
lots of silt covering bottom which made it tuff hunting but still did okay

 

[Steve Thacker]

Today, Sat. March 6th, we had our first two beach divers try and dive Venice Beach. It has been about a month since anyone from here has tried it. We informed them that there would probably be zero vis but they reported a good.........six inches. They were happy to dive despite the vis. When the vis clears up, we will let everyone know. When it does get clear, I am sure some killer teeth will be recovered.

.........the Adventure Continues

 

[Relic1]

Dove off Service Park Today.
Temp 59 vis 2 feet 5 or 6 shark teeth (small) 1 mammoth tooth bottom time 62 mins
heavy dusting of white silt very irriatating (covered everything).
Lots of sand very little cleared bottom.
Good dive did not find it to cold
still hate the walk and swim out

 

[Steve Thacker]

Today's boat dive had 4-5 feet of vis with water temps in the high 50s. Some nice teeth were found but there is lots of silt from the winter storms.

......the Adventure Continues

 

[Dive4LifeSW]

Did 3 dives today:
Service Park
Pier (Sharkey's)
Alhambra (the blocks)

Hit about 4 ft viz on average (3-5).
Water temp: 58
No real wind to speak of (maybe E/NE most of day)
Waves: ankles

The silt made finding teeth hard... nothing major to speak of (maybe 200 small ones and 2 broken megs (one would have been 5+ )

Also, side note: The cold snap really did do the fish in... fish count way down (even with viz).

 

[Rickelpickel]

Well,..... I went out of Venice inlet this morning around 9 am. ish. first dive was the M-15... there was like 3-5' of vis on bottom maybe 5-10' on the top... Oh and i almost forgot their was definitely a thermocline.... I regestered 61 on the surface and the bottom was 56. thats at 36' .... Then we went over to the boneyard and attempted a tooth dive.... :mooner: naaaa... didn't happen there was like 5" of viz if any.... this was all during the incoming tide. when the tide changed we were at snake island on the inside of the jetty, and the water was just the worst BROWN i've ever seen.... latterly like a coffee.. 1/2 cream no sugar... oohh well.. try again next weekend.....

 

[dlscozz]

I met up with “Benutzer” at Alhambra for his first Florida dive. We did four short dives at various depths from 17 to 24 feet with the same results. Worst vis I have seen in Venice ever. There was a cloud of silt from the bottom going up 2-3 feet where the amount of light actually changed when you entered it. I could not even see the numbers on the compass when holding it to my mask. We found three manatee bones by touch but that was it. I guess I can log that as a night dive…..lol

Site: Alhambra
Beach Dive
Water Temp: 63-64
Depths : 17-24’
Visibility: zero
Date/Time: March 27, 2010 11:00-1:00

 

[NorthPortDiver]

Well it wasn't Venice Beach but I'll post a my dive report here anyhow. I hit Siesta Key for some spear fishing in the Pass. The water was cold but felt fine in my 3mm full suit. Viz was about as close to 0 as you can get without making a night dive with no light. Lots of snot in the water but the lack of sunlight is what really killed the viz. Needless to say no fish speared today but I had a great time navigating the rocks and swimming with the dolphins. Thunderstorm finally chased us out of the water around 2pm. I'm not disappointed about not getting any fish because I was just glad to be back in the water again. One sad not tho my diver down flag died today somehow they shock cord on my gun got tangled up on the bouy and when I dropped down I pulled the bouy off the shaft which in turn pulled the flag off. I realized something was wrong when the shaft came down on top of me. I saved the shaft and the bouy but couldn't find the flag. Luckily we had a spare.

Site: Siesta Key
Temp: mid 60's
Depth: 20' - 25'
Viz: 0" - 6"
Time: 11:00am until 2:00pm