Tampa Bay area Divers, Part 2.

[Missdirected]

Hi Guys .
My name is Duncan and I will be doing a tooth dive with the florida west scuba school
on the 6th of may (a fair bit off I know).I will be in town for some time either side of that date.I was wondering as I am basically a tourist (though would love to settle in Florida)all be it for 5 weeks. Is it just a :locals only: diving when it comes to beach dives or are all welcome ,I would need to hire tanks and weights,bit heavy for air travel.
I am travelling alone and would like to meet up with some like minded divers whilst in Florida.
Not sure if I have put this right or not but with out trying one never knows.
Thanks

Hiya Duncan - nice to meet you. What area are you going to be in?

 

[DiveBandit]

It was good to meet you, Dave. We'll have to do it again soon. You disappeared too soon, several of us had dinner together.

I wish I could have stayed, I had prior comitments to attend to. Next time though.

 

[DiveBandit]

Duncan, We go out all the time. Add us to your buddy list and when your in town give us a PM. I look forward to meeting you.

 

[eandiver]

Went out Saturday April 1st.
1st stop, The Army tanks again. Saw some neat aquatic life but MissD and Eric take first place for most impressive find with a $300.00 anchor. 2nd place goes to Louis who found 2 more tanks bringing the total tanks we've been able to find to 4. Vis was top to bottom, and 45+ horizontal. Water was probably 70+ and air was 81F.

2nd stop, Veterans reef. First I'd like to thank the diver and his non-diving friend in the center console without a dive flag who tried to tell me the barges were 100 yards away from him (turns out he was right over them). I have some choice words for you, and I'd like to remind you of the concept of Buddies, & dive flags, but I'll simply say April fools, you had me for a minute there. Once we found the barges in 45 feet of water, the vis was again top to bottom, and 45+ Horizontal. The barges were fanatstic. lots of fish, Eandiver pointed out a mamoth Goliath Grouper. I would like to think that I missed the op to take its picture because we stirred up the silt, but I think I was just too much in awe to push the shutter button. That thing was bigger than my son! Also worth noteing the abundance of very neat shells at the site.

Pics are my son at one of the tanks he found, and the inside of the barges. I'll post the rest in my photo gallery as soon as I can

Ean, MissD, your turn.

Pretty much what he said........nice flat seas going and coming, perfect vis, lotsa fish, nice new (slightly used) anchor and great people........except the two morons spearfishing.

Looks like some more panels have fallen off the barges so the inside view is better. A couple nice 200 - 300 pound goliaths and a couple juveniles too.

 

[duncan1958]

Thanks for the welcome guys.My travel plans are as follows; arrive in Miami 26th of april chill out for the day then get wet on friday possibly with splashdown have heard good words from this board about them,nothing booked yet.Have some friends who live in Del Ray beach who I have not seen for 7 years (the last time I was here) so must catch up with them,shark tooth dive as mentioned and I am booked for IDC from 10th may till pretty much end of may down at the keys.Have an uncle in the Maderia beach area so will stop with him for a while,which is the Tampa area so I keen to get as much diving as possible whilst I am there.

 

[frogman_5]

Hi Duncan,

Have the first weekend in May free. Drop me a line and I'll be happy to take you out.

You did bring a couple bottle of Rioja with you, right? Hey I may be a heathen mick, but I'm a heathen mick with taste!eyebrow

Rich

 

[Missdirected]

Thanks for the welcome guys.My travel plans are as follows; arrive in Miami 26th of april chill out for the day then get wet on friday possibly with splashdown have heard good words from this board about them,nothing booked yet.Have some friends who live in Del Ray beach who I have not seen for 7 years (the last time I was here) so must catch up with them,shark tooth dive as mentioned and I am booked for IDC from 10th may till pretty much end of may down at the keys.Have an uncle in the Maderia beach area so will stop with him for a while,which is the Tampa area so I keen to get as much diving as possible whilst I am there.

Splashdown is a great choice. Remind me as we get closer and I can be there.

 

[duncan1958]

Hi Duncan,

Have the first weekend in May free. Drop me a line and I'll be happy to take you out.

You did bring a couple bottle of Rioja with you, right?

Thanks for invite will keep in touch ,sat the 6th tooth diving with florida west ,sunday 7th free,infact free most days except sat 6th.will have to see how my luggage weight goes regards rioja,i only get 20 kilos allowance to uk from spain.

 

[duncan1958]

Splashdown is a great choice. Remind me as we get closer and I can be there.

Will have better idea where i am going to be exactly in a few weeks time ,trying to vist friends ,dive ,go to universal studios ,vist more friends ,its all in the planing . will contact when time is nearer.
allready i dont want to leave and i have not arrived yet.

 

[DiveBandit]

Looks like a few Scubaboarders are getting together this coming Sunday at Venice beach. I'll be heading down myself as I'm looking to top my all time high harvest of 1 tooth. Anybody else free that day.

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=136207