Tampa/Clearwater Dive Charters

[john738]

Hi all,
Newbie from the Jax area and would appreciate information on local dive charters and recent conditions in Tampa/Clearwater. Myself, wife and kids all dive but have been mostly doing OW spring dives only. Everyone's getting tired of that and we want to get in some ocean diving. Thinking of coming down this weekend and doing a dive, just sightseeing, no spearfishing. I know there are some shallow dive spots in the 35 - 50 foot range from what I've read off Clearwater area that would be good easy dives to get everyone on.
So the plan is to load the crew up and drive down Saturday morning and do a boat dive in the afternoon. Can anyone provide recommendations for a good charter boat offering afternoon dives at reasonable rates, I'm sure the price of gas is affecting them like crazy also but I'm paying for 5 and need to keep costs down? Also, what kind of conditions/viz can I expect? Thanks all in advance for any info you can provide.

 

[bandit1980ta]

Captian ty is the one most use. I use a different guy, but we will be out on his boat Sat. morning.....The bad part about here is not too much for the spur of the moment trips.

 

[K Mejean]

[GOOGLE][/GOOGLE]

Captian ty is the one most use. I use a different guy, but we will be out on his boat Sat. morning.....The bad part about here is not too much for the spur of the moment trips.

Capt. Ty is booked until like Sept. He is very popular lately. I might be interested in your new guy. I am looking to do a charter next month on some shallow stuff so I can take the Mrs. along. Something in the 45' range.

 

[bandit1980ta]

Ok, sounds good to me. I pretty much try to plan on 6-7 divers to fill his boat. He likes to keep it around the six-pack to cover fuel and stuff. I am trying to start using him more and doing some spearing. Let me know a date, and we can start trying to fill the boat.

 

[K Mejean]

[GOOGLE][/GOOGLE]

Ok, sounds good to me. I pretty much try to plan on 6-7 divers to fill his boat. He likes to keep it around the six-pack to cover fuel and stuff. I am trying to start using him more and doing some spearing. Let me know a date, and we can start trying to fill the boat.

Cool. I will get with the boss lady and see when she wants to go. Then we can put something together. How much are his 2 tank trips?

 

[bandit1980ta]

Cool. I will get with the boss lady and see when she wants to go. Then we can put something together. How much are his 2 tank trips?

It depends on how far out, but the Blackthorn was going to be $85. The cool part is it is a 35ft Contender center console with twin 250's. The last time out, I got out of the water 14 miles out and 31 min later, we were standing on the dock. According to the surface timer on the computer. Sat we are changing from the Blackthorn to a couple of sites about 20 miles or so out to shoot fish So it should be around 85 also. The gas prices are sucking right now.

 

[Missdirected]

Bandit is pimping out Mike LOL. GDR - his name is Captain Mike. Number is 813.390.2583 - works out of Divers Supply.

Slight hi-jack: Bandit I think that guy from last night was expecting caribbean type diving.

 

[bandit1980ta]

Bandit is pimping out Mike LOL. GDR - his name is Captain Mike. Number is 813.390.2583 - works out of Divers Supply.

Slight hi-jack: Bandit I think that guy from last night was expecting caribbean type diving.

Thats ok Miss "D" You missed an awsome day. here are a few pics.

Viz could have been better about 20ft, but it was a great trip. Ohh and Miss "D" Mike did get the big hog of the day award lol.

 

[john738]

Hi, thanks for the info, we wound up booking a dive out of Daytona with SeaDogs but it unfortunately got cancelled due to no viz. I appreciate the fact that they won't go if they think the dive won't be a good one though. Again thanks for the info.

 

[InstructorMike]

Tanks-A-Lot Dive Charter is the ONLY Coast Guard Certified Dive boat in the Tampa Bay area.
Nice boat to dive off of. I have been taking my students on it for years.

Lots of room and easy ladder. Lots of dive sites from 35-60 feet