Sarasota Diving

[RhodeDiver]

I am going to be in Sarasota for the weekend and I would like to do some diving. Can anyone recommend a shop or a dive boat to go out on? thanks.

 

[pasadenatim]

I get down to Sarasota each year for spring training baseball and tried to get out on the gulf side dive ops a few times. Haven't had much luck with the weather and not enough divers to go out. (I've just tried weekdays though). I've enjoyed just getting up early and driving across the state to West Palm Beach. There are alot of dive ops and I've never been dissapointed. Great drift diving with lots of marine life. It's a full day though with the roughly 3 hr drive each way. Leaving for Sarasota on Sunday, and diving on Monday out of West Palm.

 

[cbm369]

Drive down to Venice, go Meg tooth diving.
Aristakat is a good one to dive with.

 

[drbill]

Have been going to Sarasota since the late 50s because my grandparents, parents and sister have had homes there over the years. I never tried diving based out of there as it seemed the dive boats had to travel long distances to get to water deep enough for a decent dive. Was down at Venice for one shark tooth dive with ScubaBoard folks but I stayed high and dry. Pete (the Chirman, aka Net Doc) got over 700 shark teeth that day.

 

[Wicket]

I agree with @drbill long boat rides and most go from Bradenton. Did a fossil dive once and that was enough for me. Vis was and is terrible most of the time. We used Megalodon out of Venice and would recommend if you want to go.

 

[RhodeDiver]

Well thanks for the input everyone. I think I am going to skip diving this trip and do a little fishing. The water down there is probably a little to warm for me anyhow.

 

[Trigger-F]

There's a small patch reef called Spanish Rocks on Holmes Beach/Anna Maria Island a bit north of Sarasota(shore dive), about 4 blocks in size. This site used to be quite rewarding and provided inexpensive diving but the county replenished the beach sand in 2013 and ever since the visibility is very low(5-10 feet)(though it's usually better this time of the year). I'd take this over looking for shark teeth in the sand. Other than that, the better reefs are way out in the gulf, 15-30 miles out. The water is not warm right now, maybe upper 60's/low 70's...

Here's a vid of that little patch reef..