Venice Boat Trip

[Brad B]

When conditions get right at Venice I would like to bring my boat over and hunt some of the areas off the beach for fossils/teeth. Unfortunately I have no idea as to where the better spots are off the beach.If any of you guys know where to go I will gladly trade you a boat ride for some local knowlege. I have GPs and Loran but my depthfinder is on the fritz, if that matters. I am an experienced low vis diver(river artifacts and spearing) and would love to find a big tooth. If your interested post here and we can get something set up.

 

[ReefGuy]

I'm interested, and will be verifying the local conditions on Sunday, hopefully . The most productive area would probably be the boneyard, approx 2/3 mile offshore, in about 21' of water.

 

[fossilhunter]

When conditions get right at Venice I would like to bring my boat over and hunt some of the areas off the beach for fossils/teeth. Unfortunately I have no idea as to where the better spots are off the beach.If any of you guys know where to go I will gladly trade you a boat ride for some local knowlege. I have GPs and Loran but my depthfinder is on the fritz, if that matters. I am an experienced low vis diver(river artifacts and spearing) and would love to find a big tooth. If your interested post here and we can get something set up.

I would love to go. I've been out there over the past few months on 6 or so dives offshore where ReefGuy mentioned and found some nice teeth. Others with me found even nicer ones. See the link below for my finds. They are definitely out there. Frances apparently has stirred things up a bit, although I haven't been out yet since all these hurricanes came through.

 

[Brad B]

Do you guys know where the best place to put in would be and roughly how far you have to run from there to get to the hunt sites. I definitely want to be there when the water cleans up.

 

[2TH DIVR]

There are 2 launches in the area. One is at the old train depot in venice, just before the Venice Ave. bridge. The other is in Nokomis, on Casey Key.
they are both about 2 miles from the fossil beds.

 

[Brad B]

Thanks for the info. Short runs are the best runs. Can anyone suggest a place in Venice either with a slip or big enough/reasonably secure parking lot to accomodate the boat/trailer to spend the nite.I will be coming from north of the Orlando area and it would be a lot easier to dive all day Saturday/Sunday AM than to make it a day trip.

 

[Wildbill]

Brad,

There is a boat ramp on the island of Venice Just north of the Venice Beach at the end of Venice Ave. When you get to the beach head north on the road that runs in front of entrance and take a left at the stop sign. Just down on the right is the ramp. Parking is limited so you may want to get there early. To get to the dive sites mentioned, once in the water from the ramp head further north and go out into the Gulf through the Venice Inlets. Also known as the Jetties. Then head south approx 1-1/2 miles.

Wildbill:cop_2: