St. Pete Beach Reef Dive

[russler01]

My dive buddy and I are looking to dive St Beach Reef. I just wanted to know who has done it and what they thought of it? Also is there anything we should be concerned about like strong currents?

Any info or experiences would be great... Hoping to do a lot more diving in St Pete in the near future.

Thanks

 

[RonFrank]

I've never dove that site. I assume you mean in FL?

In any event, you may want to get over to the other side, and dive some reefs over there. I was not aware there was any reef areas on the Gulf side?

 

[ericjespersen]

Map of Pinellas CountyArtificial Reefs

Above link gives location and info...

 

[russler01]

I am sure the east coast is better then the west coast in Florida but the boat is off St Pete and its to big to haul it over there... LOL

Thank you ericjespersen for the map and info. The more the information the better I think the dive can be. But do you know if there is any current there or if current is a common thing there. I would like to make sure we are completely ready when we get out there if we need to buy anything extra to deal with it. We will have a person on the boat to pick us up if needed.

 

[russler01]

Does anyone know if the Yellow Buoy still out there to look for?

 

[cldomson1]

I dive in the Gulf at least once a week. Current is usually minimal, unless full moon like last week. And you can check the tides to estimate the current. Incoming tide has better visibility, which is excellent right now.
On weekends, the artificials are full of fisherman. We drift dive while spearfishing and rarely move far with current unless we're working down a ledge.
There are some fun wreck dives too, better than the art reefs. You'll see goliath grouper almost every one, cuda, and lots of fish. And maybe a few sharks in the spring too.
Charlie

 

[russler01]

I dive in the Gulf at least once a week. Current is usually minimal, unless full moon like last week. And you can check the tides to estimate the current. Incoming tide has better visibility, which is excellent right now.
On weekends, the artificials are full of fisherman. We drift dive while spearfishing and rarely move far with current unless we're working down a ledge.
There are some fun wreck dives too, better than the art reefs. You'll see goliath grouper almost every one, cuda, and lots of fish. And maybe a few sharks in the spring too.
Charlie

Great to hear and thanks for the info. I hope the St Pete Beach one won't have to many fishers there. This dive is to get my Buddies feet wet again, this year so we wanted to do something small and easy and not far. Most likely we will be going more in the afternoon after 2 or so. Maybe most of this fishing will be gone by then and we will have it to ourselves. With any luck right...

We will try to get the second incoming tide so we get great water and again thanks for the info!