jet126
Contributor
The original plan was as follows:
Tuesday 8/16 Blue Heron Bridge (BHB)
Wednesday 8/17 BHB morning dive, drive to west coast (Venice Beach)
Thursday 8/18 two tank dive w/ Aristakat Charters, drive home
Friday 8/19 two tank dive in Key Largo
SGJ had conflicts so we nixed Tuesday and Friday. This turned out to be just as well, since by Thursday night I was tired. I don't think I could have managed another day of driving and diving!
Wednesday 8/17 BHB (2 hours)
The jellyfish infestation was very bad. Our original dive plan was to do the west span, under the pilings. But the jellies were everywhere and in all levels of the water column. Every bit of exposed skin got stung. To escape the jellies we headed out to the sand, under the boats. Still a great dive as we saw octopi, a seahorse and the usual cast of BHB characters.
After the dive we dropped off tanks at Boynton Beach marina for fills while we showered at J's. We took 80 straight across to Fort Myers, rather than detour south to 75. It took approximately 3 1/2 hours. Not a bad drive.
We stayed at the Venice Beach Villas, recommended by Capt Jamie from Aristakat. It is a quaint, "old Florida" hotel. Central courtyard with two-story u-shaped building surrounding the parking lot. The room was clean, comfortable and included a little kitchenette & sleeper sofa in the living room. It was less than 10 minutes to the boat ramp.
Thursday 8/18 "The Boneyard", Venice Beach (two-tank charter)
We met the boat on Thursday around 7:00am. Aristakat is a nice little 6-pack catamaran, fast and easy to get in and out of. You're given a flag and must navigate your way back to the boat. $50 for two tank dive - you supply all your own gear. The departure was a 7:30 show, 8:00 go, but everyone was there and ready to leave by 7:30. The water was flat as glass and no jellies. We went to a very popular area called "The Boneyard." Max depth is 30 ft to the sand. The viz was 2-3 ft at the first drop, maybe 5 ft at the second. There was a lot of particulate in the water and the bottom is extremely silty. All you have to do is touch the bottom to silt everything up and drop viz to zero. It was a little spooky and it took the first dive to get used to things. All we found on the first dive were dugong ribs - which are everywhere. There is very little life; mostly sea stars, urchins, crabs and sea robins (oddly enough). We saw one turtle on our surface interval. All dives are 90 minutes or 500 psi, whichever comes first. By the second dive we were more comfortable with conditions and settled into hunting. We each found an approx 2" meg tooth, plus several other smaller shark teeth. It was fun, in an interesting way. There was a kid from Atlanta who has been doing this dive for years. He found some beautiful, pristine meg teeth, an intact antique rifle bullet and a 4" meg tooth, split in half, but still a very cool find. Just goes to show if you know what you are doing you can find amazing things on every dive. Capt Jamie said the best time of year for finding stuff is May or June. I will use them again.
Not too far outside of Venice we detoured to the Muscle Car Museum. A really fun worth-while little stop. If we had known they had a diner we would have eaten there rather than Subway.
The drive back was a little scary. We ran into band after band of horrible thunderstorms, so bad I could not see the road. I'm glad we were on 80 as there is very little traffic, but you drive through sugar cane fields for miles with no place to pull off. It made for some white-knuckle driving. We left Venice Beach around 1:30. By the time I dropped J off in Boynton and was pulling into my driveway it was almost 7:00pm. Luckily Tall Guy had made a big pot of chili, which hit the spot.
I ended up going into work on Friday since I wasn't diving. I'm happy with our little staycation. Having done it now, I would plan differently next time. The miles of driving was overly ambitious, combined with the hours of diving. Sometimes I wonder what my life would be like if I had a different hobby ... like stamp collecting ... nah, it'll never happen.
Next up: October Road Trip to Key Largo!
Tuesday 8/16 Blue Heron Bridge (BHB)
Wednesday 8/17 BHB morning dive, drive to west coast (Venice Beach)
Thursday 8/18 two tank dive w/ Aristakat Charters, drive home
Friday 8/19 two tank dive in Key Largo
SGJ had conflicts so we nixed Tuesday and Friday. This turned out to be just as well, since by Thursday night I was tired. I don't think I could have managed another day of driving and diving!
Wednesday 8/17 BHB (2 hours)
The jellyfish infestation was very bad. Our original dive plan was to do the west span, under the pilings. But the jellies were everywhere and in all levels of the water column. Every bit of exposed skin got stung. To escape the jellies we headed out to the sand, under the boats. Still a great dive as we saw octopi, a seahorse and the usual cast of BHB characters.
After the dive we dropped off tanks at Boynton Beach marina for fills while we showered at J's. We took 80 straight across to Fort Myers, rather than detour south to 75. It took approximately 3 1/2 hours. Not a bad drive.
We stayed at the Venice Beach Villas, recommended by Capt Jamie from Aristakat. It is a quaint, "old Florida" hotel. Central courtyard with two-story u-shaped building surrounding the parking lot. The room was clean, comfortable and included a little kitchenette & sleeper sofa in the living room. It was less than 10 minutes to the boat ramp.
Thursday 8/18 "The Boneyard", Venice Beach (two-tank charter)
We met the boat on Thursday around 7:00am. Aristakat is a nice little 6-pack catamaran, fast and easy to get in and out of. You're given a flag and must navigate your way back to the boat. $50 for two tank dive - you supply all your own gear. The departure was a 7:30 show, 8:00 go, but everyone was there and ready to leave by 7:30. The water was flat as glass and no jellies. We went to a very popular area called "The Boneyard." Max depth is 30 ft to the sand. The viz was 2-3 ft at the first drop, maybe 5 ft at the second. There was a lot of particulate in the water and the bottom is extremely silty. All you have to do is touch the bottom to silt everything up and drop viz to zero. It was a little spooky and it took the first dive to get used to things. All we found on the first dive were dugong ribs - which are everywhere. There is very little life; mostly sea stars, urchins, crabs and sea robins (oddly enough). We saw one turtle on our surface interval. All dives are 90 minutes or 500 psi, whichever comes first. By the second dive we were more comfortable with conditions and settled into hunting. We each found an approx 2" meg tooth, plus several other smaller shark teeth. It was fun, in an interesting way. There was a kid from Atlanta who has been doing this dive for years. He found some beautiful, pristine meg teeth, an intact antique rifle bullet and a 4" meg tooth, split in half, but still a very cool find. Just goes to show if you know what you are doing you can find amazing things on every dive. Capt Jamie said the best time of year for finding stuff is May or June. I will use them again.
Not too far outside of Venice we detoured to the Muscle Car Museum. A really fun worth-while little stop. If we had known they had a diner we would have eaten there rather than Subway.
The drive back was a little scary. We ran into band after band of horrible thunderstorms, so bad I could not see the road. I'm glad we were on 80 as there is very little traffic, but you drive through sugar cane fields for miles with no place to pull off. It made for some white-knuckle driving. We left Venice Beach around 1:30. By the time I dropped J off in Boynton and was pulling into my driveway it was almost 7:00pm. Luckily Tall Guy had made a big pot of chili, which hit the spot.
I ended up going into work on Friday since I wasn't diving. I'm happy with our little staycation. Having done it now, I would plan differently next time. The miles of driving was overly ambitious, combined with the hours of diving. Sometimes I wonder what my life would be like if I had a different hobby ... like stamp collecting ... nah, it'll never happen.
Next up: October Road Trip to Key Largo!
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. But it was fun in a new and interesting way. And I liked finding the toofuses!
