Sarasota / Tampa / Venice area Top 10 Dive Sites?

[CMOST]

Clint,

There are quite a few shore dive locations in Venice. I didn't see them mentioned, and on top of that you can always look for shark teeth at these sites. You can get to all of them off Harbor dr. If you plan on going post something and I'm sure you will get some fellow divers to join in!

 

[suprasteve]

WW2 sub halfway to the middle grounds (or whats left of it).

never heard of this one, how far north or south of Bradenton is it, and what's the depth? Or possibly a PM of coordinates, if it's not too bold to ask?

 

[DiveBandit]

Tug Orange - intact and in 40'. Great beginner dive. Great tech dive if you penetrate.

Tug Sheridan - intact and in 80'. Great AOW dive. Great tech dive if you penetrate.

Veteran's Reef - 3 barges in a triangle layout sitting in 47'. 4th barge about 100 to 200 yards south of the 3 barges. Nice dive for OW, AOW, and techies who want to do swim throughs, although some of the barges are starting to collapse. There are also ledges a few 100 yards due west of the site, but you have to look reeeeal close at your sonar to find the 2' reliefs.

Pasco tanks - bunch of M60 army tanks in 30' feet of water, all intact. Great OW, AOW dives. The great thing about this site is that if you find one tank you can find them all as they are all within 50 to 75 feet of one another.

 

[IceCube]

If you are trying for shore diving sites in the Tampa/Sarasota area, you'll be lucky to get 10 total!

The ones that I know about:

Hudson Grotto, Hudson, FL: Fresh water, tannic, 5-8ft vis, $15. This is an old sink hole, depths to 110+. You need lights for this dive, and there's a hydrogen sulfide layer at ~ 70' which makes it very dark. Lines at 30' & 60' around perimeter of sink. Takes 12-15 minutes to make a leisurely circuit aroung the perimeter.

Spanish Rocks, Anna Maria Island: Salt water. Vis 0-20', free. Shore dive, depths to ~ 20'. Nice small rock ledge/reef, fair amount of life.

Sugar Barge (AKA The Regina), Anna Maria Island: Salt water. Vis 0-20', free. Shore dive, depths to ~20'. Bouy markes spot ~ 50- 100 yds off shore. A triangle shaped chunk of metal the size of a Volkswagon. You can actually snorkel this as well, due to shallow depths, minimal things to see.

South End of Skyway Bridge, East Side. Salt Water. Vis 0-20', free. Depths to ~20'. Park at rest area on south end, diving area around breakwater.

Fred Howard Park, Tarpon Springs. Salt water siphon hole/cave dive, Vis 0-20', free. Depths to 60+, Advanced dive due to siphon and cave and vis. Couple hundred yards offshore from 2nd bridge on Causeway leading to beach. Causeway currently closed for repairs, makes it a much longer swim/wade.

I wish I knew about some of these. I have some suggestions as to places not to go. I was just recently visited Tampa. I asked a LDS about some good places to dive and the two I got were total busts.

First I was told to go to a small artificial lagoon on the east end of the Gandy bridge next to the Marine Reserve center. The was only knee to waist deep. A local laughed at me when he saw me pull out my scuba gear. The LDS stated that when the tide comes in, it should be about 8-10ft deep.

2nd I was told to go to North Beach at Fort Desoto park and the viz would be great. The viz was crap due to the strong current at one section. Almost everywhere there were "No Swimming" warning signs everywhere due to dangerous currents.

After driving around, multiple tolls, suiting up and down, I ended up returning my full tanks and rented gear. That was money well wasted and 5 hours of my life gone forever.

Anyways, just don't go to those places. The West-end of the Gandy bridge looked promising, but I didn't get a chance to check it out.

 

[eandiver]

Which LDS told you Ft.Desoto's north beach? That's a very dangerous place to even swim.

Tampa/St.Petersburg have no dive spots in the bay it's self that are even remotely considered good dives. The only place I could recomend is the curved break water at the south rest area at the Sunshine Skyway bridge. On the outside edge 17' to 20' depth depending on the tide and vis is usually crap but there was lots of life among the rocks. The only thing to watch out for is the fishermen and cut fishing line.

 

[Chad Carney]

Hello friends, I am getting ready to write a blog article about the areas top 10 dive sites. I was just wondering if anyone would be willing to help with your favorite suggestions.

Clint,

Top 10 dives and shore dives are sort of an oxymoron for the west coast of Florida... unless you define your selection criteria to areas other than structure, visibility, marine life and sometimes even history.

Here was my recreational wrecks list in 2001: The top 10 - on the gulf bottom Series: DOWN UNDER

I'd have to add the South County site since the Orange Tug and 3 barges were put down there along with tons of pipes, slabs, junction boxes and light poles.

The Blackthorn, Sheridan & Seafood Barge can all be done as one Wreck Trek dive, so I'm not over my 10.

Distance and depth create another list altogether: If unrestricted on the west coast I'd have to expand the list to: the Holsten (Flour wreck), Gwalia (Middle Grounds Wreck), North West Middle Grounds, Elbow, Baja California, Roatan Express, Long Island, Green Banana Sink, Stoney Point Ferry... and the trio of the Blackthorn, Sheridan & Seafood Barge would remain. You can view the 3 wrecks layout here Florida Skin Diver
(The Misener Crane would be my alternate because it's so unique to find a monster crane underwater.)

Sorry not a shore dive among them.

Chad

 

[BlueWaterBrad]

Sarasota county has an extensive artificial reef setup (SRQ reefs--->http://www.reefball.com/map/sarasotareefbrochure/reef.pdf. My favortite would have to be Lynn Silvertooth. I did my checkout dives there and logged numerous hours at this 2.2 million sq. ft. area. Tons to see. Site consists mostly of old bridge decks from the old Ringling bridge they turn into a fixed span. Many reef balls with lots of life. PM if you would like more details. (Boat access, 1.5 miles West from Lido beach)

As "CMOST" posted eariler, Venice sites are awesome as well. All are shore dives with easy access.

 

[rboozer]

Chad thanks for pointing out your web site. You have coordinates for many locations I don't have. I checked out many of the sites I have visited and the numbers are right on. I am looking forward to checking out the pipe line mitigation reefs. I am pretty sure I visited one of them with ScubaQuest and it was a great dive. Managed to get 28" and 30" gags on that dive.

 

[Chad Carney]

Chad thanks for pointing out your web site. You have coordinates for many locations I don't have. I checked out many of the sites I have visited and the numbers are right on. I am looking forward to checking out the pipe line mitigation reefs. I am pretty sure I visited one of them with ScubaQuest and it was a great dive. Managed to get 28" and 30" gags on that dive.

Glad to help. I'm adding more sections all the time.

Of the Pipeline mitigation sites, I like the rock fields the best. They had good fish almost instantly, the reef modules have gotten better but the fish still seem to be small comparatively.

Chad

 

[rboozer]

I have been trying the locate this spot for a while now. I thought it was closer to the Peaks. This all makes sense now. I remember on the same day we also visited the Sulfur Barge. It looks like it is close by.

You ever do middle grounds trips? Definitly would like to dive there sometime in the near future.