Great Florida Shore Dives

[Wendy]

Ummmm, hello. tide table aren't exactly difficult to come by (free copy from SeaTow at most dive shops in the area), prehaps your thinking of a different part of Phil Foster's. there's one place in particular that divers go in at, about 400 feet away from THE LIFEGAURD station. I would suggest he come along with one of the SB groups for his first time out, however..... it isn't exactly rocket science when you look at the layout of the park, ffs jumping off the back of a boat and trying to get back on is much harder than this dive. Thanks ever so much for your great concerns, I don't think your giving this guy enough credit as a diver.

QUOTE=jriderski]Oh!!! I'm Sorry, did he say only 20 dives. I guess you answered your own question.

But, being the nice person you are, I'm confident you'll supply the tide tables and when to start the dive and which way to go so the tide will get him back to the starting point.

Let me thank you for providing this info to him in advance.

Joe

[/QUOTE]


And also the link for Blue Heron that was provided (www.wadespage.com) also has a link to the tide tables and has good info on how to run the dive, when to enter, where, etc.

 

[kjunheart]

There are good dive tables that can be accessed through NOAA. It is accurate and used by a lot of fishermen and divers in our area.

http://co-ops.nos.noaa.gov/tide_pred.html

Have fun!

PS Wendy, I like that site!

 

[purduepete007]

I have been looking through the posts and it looks like Sarasota (Venice) and Vero Beach have tons of great shore dives. Are these for the beginner (under 20 dives) or should I be looking for better areas? I have dove Blue Springs and Alexander Springs, but wanted to get back into the Ocean without having for for out $50+ for every dive on a boat.

So to the group, where would you send your friends to do a shore dive day trip?

Rob

Venice Beach - I've dove it probably close to 20 times because my dive buddies are poor, and it's cheap. It is worth doing at least once to get some sharks teeth. It's possible to come up with over 100 on one dive, as max depth is only around 25ft, you can stay down for at least an hour if your not an ASD(air sucking dog). There are some culverts that were sunk farther out near the pear by the airport, but it's a long swim out to them, but there is some fish on them. Best time of year is spring. Before the seaweed crap gets growing, or in the fall after it has died off. Ootherwise visibility is 5ft. Spring and fall your looking at 15-20ft. vis.

Vero Beach - Don't have as much experiance here that I do in Venice. I've only done 2 dives here, but they weren't bad. There is a wreck of some kind, but I didn't find it. What I did find is some small reefs and some Lobsters. Again it's probably worth doing at least once.

Erik