USFpsychDiver
Contributor
I used to live in Tucson, now in Tampa. Lake Pleasant is pretty meh -- a murky lake dive -- better than no diving at all, but not much. I was not terribly impressed with Puerto Penasco/Rocky Point. However, one of my favorite dives was out of San Carlos, diving with the seals & sea lions at Seal Island -- lots of them there, and very friendly -- my daughter and I had a mom and her pup swim with us for about 20 minutes, close enough to touch (we didn't) -- great fun. Folks do drive to San Diego for diving from Phoenix (about the same distance as to San Carlos) but I never tried it.
In Florida, Venice Beach dives (closest to Bradenton) are low visibility, finding fossils by touch (I have found a nice Mako tooth). Some days aren't too bad out of Clearwater, but it is an hour out by boat to get 30 - 40' deep, and tends to be poor visibility. There are always the Keys, 5 hours away. I prefer drift dives out of Jupiter/West Palm beach -- not much in the way of corals, but lots of big fish, sharks, goliath grouper, turtles, etc. And there's the famous Blue Heron Bridge shore dive in that neighborhood.
In Florida, Venice Beach dives (closest to Bradenton) are low visibility, finding fossils by touch (I have found a nice Mako tooth). Some days aren't too bad out of Clearwater, but it is an hour out by boat to get 30 - 40' deep, and tends to be poor visibility. There are always the Keys, 5 hours away. I prefer drift dives out of Jupiter/West Palm beach -- not much in the way of corals, but lots of big fish, sharks, goliath grouper, turtles, etc. And there's the famous Blue Heron Bridge shore dive in that neighborhood.
