??? diving in the Tampa area

[pdoege]

The reef lines near the coast are actually ancient seabeds.

Lots of cool stuff to be seen!

Fairly shallow too. You can stay down all day long!

I had a good time off of Tampa.

A bit north and a bit south also have some different dives. Sponges, sharks teeth, etc.

Not as pretty as the east coast, but it is not a bad place to dive.

Peter

 

[The Chairman]

is you had best do a dive with me while you are down here!!! I have not done much Gulf diving, so we can explore together.

 

[Knavey]

Ned DeLoach's "Diving Guide to Underwater Florida" lists these sites in the Tampa area. I highly recommend the book if you are looking to dive in Florida. Many refer to it as the Divers Bible down here.

1. Big Jack Hole
2. Gunsmoke
3. South Jack Wreck
4. South Jack Ledge
5. St. Pete Beach Reef
6. Twelve Foot Ledge
7. Ten Fathom Wreck/Tramp Steamer
8. Mexican Pride
9. Treasure Island Reef
10. Mecco's Barge/Betty Rose
11. Indian Shores Reef
12. Pinellas #1/Rube Allyn Artificial Reef
13. Mastadon Table Top
14. Blackthorn
15. Tug Sheridan
16. Tapble Top
17. The Caves
18. Clearwater Wreck
19. 'G' Marker Grounds
20. Clearwater Reef
21. Dunedin Reef
22. Cuda Rock
23. Masthead Ledge
24. Tarpon Springs Reef
25. Tugboat and Barge
26. Pasco County Reef Site 1, P & S Buoys
27. Pasco County Reef Site 2, C & O Buoys
28. Turtle Ledge
29. Meissner Crane

These are only the off shore dives in the area. There is another whole section for springs/freshwater dives.

 

[jbd]

to finally dive with you NetDoc.

To all you Florida Conch divers; I am planning on making a dive trip to the Tampa area in the early part of November. I'm hoping to hook up with Bob and Allison Matherly(Allison is a boat Captain and Bob was one of the instructors at my ITC). Would any of you be interested in diving a few days with me? I might even be able to drag some of the KyPP with me.

Knavey has a pretty impressive list of places to see.

 

[CBulla]

I haven't done any diving Tampa way. I'll tap on my wifes tank and see if she's up to anything like that. It may be to soon after our return from the Smokys... but you never know

 

[munkispank]

I would be interested in hooking up for some dives- I live in Tampa, but never dive here (get sick on the long boat rides) but I would be interested in knowing where you plan to go- some of the trips are close enough for me, and if I am sick- at least it attracts the fish!!!!

Jackie

 

[aue-mike]

There are some nice dives off Tampa Bay. There are quite a few simple wrecks and artificial reefs. If you like Hollywood-looking wrecks, the Sheridan is a nice tug in shallow water. While a lot of people like the Mexican Pride, there really is not much to it since it is a barge. My personal favorites are the Tramp Steamer and the Southjack Wreck, as they are both unidentified and are "natural" wrecks. The Bayronto, which is off Sarasota, is worth the hour drive south and is one of the best wreck dives on the west coast.
For beach dives, Venice is well-known for its shark teeth. Another cool dive just a bit farther, is the old Phosphate Dock at Boca Grande.
There is info on a lot of these wrecks on the AUE website

 

[CBulla]

NICE site, aue-mike! I happen to know of a vessel down 72 miles s-sw from Ft Myers that went down on December 4, 1982... I'll see if I can aquire the coordinates and share.

 

[aue-mike]

Interesting - know the name of the wreck?

Cheers,
Mike

 

[CBulla]

The vessels name was the "Wee Willie". It was my grandfathers vessel, a wooden 40' commercial fishing trawler.