calling all Divers

tphinney

tphinney

New Member
May 25, 2007
558
Tampa Bay
Boat Info
240 Sundancer 2004
Engines
5.0 MPI w/ Bravo III
So I got my PADI open water cert last weekend and am now dying to go diving. anyone have any good recommendations on spots that would make for some good initial dives.

I'm looking to try and stay in about 50ft for the first couple of dives before i go deeper and would like some recommendation on sites that have good viz.

also anyone interested in meeting up to go diving on the weekend is a plus. I'm all geared up and ready to go.

:thumbsup:
 
Tom,

congrats on your PADI certification! there is lots to explore under the surface.

While I'm not sure of the diving in your area, anywhere in the Carribean is wonderful.

If you ever make it to the Great Lakes, there are plenty (numerous) wrecks to dive. visibility is pretty good, but the water will be much colder than you are used to.

Enjoy!

Gregg
 
Congrats!!

Head up to Crystal River just north of you and do a drift dive. You get dropped off up river and float down. Lots to see and you may even find some Arrow heads, but cant take them with you.

Your area and just north of you is famous for Cave and Cavern diving. Bit more advanced than what you are currently certified for, but very achievable.

If you get into Wreck Diving (my favorite) there are tons of wrecks to dive on off of FL. I havent been in a few years, but my favorite is a couple of wrecks off of NC. German U-boats, couple of sunken merchant ships from WWII and the man made reefs from sunken Liberty Ships.

The WWII stuff is all around 90-120ft, the deeper stuff you will want to use & get mixed gas (NiTrox) specialty certs. The man-made reefs are about 40-60 feet deep.

Enjoy and have fun, I learned to dive up north in Quarries and Rivers with crappy visibility, I love the clear FL waters.
 
Congrats! Isn't breathing underwater a gas (no pun intended!), it is sooo neat!

I believe there's a underwater national park down in the Keys that I've always wanted to dive and check out.

I spent a weekend diving down at Club Med (Columbus Isle/San Salvador) back in '98 or so at Devil's Claw and a couple other sites there on the wall.

If I end up down your way, I'll give you a yell, I have all my gear, ready to go, just need to pressure test my tank and fill it.

Diving here's(Lake Champlain) good, if you have a very bright set of lights, since 20'-30' below the surface it's usually pitch black, due to all the silt in the lake (Mountain Stream/River fed). If you do get down with good lighting, there are a lot of great protected dive wrecks (this lake was a major player in the Revolutionary War, the war of 1812, and a number of other wars, not to mention some of the other interesting ferry's and such that have sunk)

-VtSeaRay
 
Check this out:

http://www.pinellascounty.org/utilities/reef/default.htm

Some of these artifical reef sites are quite popular, and are shallow. Most of them have natural bottom nearby, and a few of them are natural bottom anyways.

Might be a good place to start. I always about people divng the Mexican Pride off Ana Maria, but it's in about 80 feet, I think.

Good luck - take pics for those of us who don't make it under the water!
 
Congratulations on your open water certification.

Wife and I are both divers although we are becoming the type of folk with the faded diver down sticker on the bumper and no fresh entries in the log book. Its not that we don’t enjoy it, we do, it’s just a too many things to do / not enough time thing.

If we were on Lake Michigan we would dive off our boat. Where we boat the visibility is very poor.

If I could give you one bit of advice it would be to go dive somewhere with poor visibility to develop a comfort level of poor visibility diving. After all, at home in your house you can breathe just fine when someone turns the lights off.
 
How about 12 feet below my boat where my $650 pair of glasses rest!
 
ditto! 12' is not difficult to snorkel to. Esp. for glasses that expensive!

The only thing that would keep me from that, is thick muck/algae, or questionable obstacles down deep.

-VtSeaRay
 
Tom,

I have been diving the gulf since 1994. Actually, I specifically bought my former 290 AJ to dive off of and it was perfect. I now dive off my friends' Fountain and we have many wrecks, ledges, holes, hardbottom, etc. in the GPS. Since I did most of the sightseeing dives, I now mainly spearfish on ledges and wrecks. I would be happy to share a spot or two or you can even join us.

FYI, Ylwjacket mentioned the Mexican Pride- I have dove it many times and it is an advanced dive in about 130 feet (to the sand). It's an old freighter that really has deteriorated over the last few years. There are many Goliath grouper, nurse sharks, snapper, grouper, AJ's, and baracuda on that wreck, so it is exciting. Also, the visibility out that deep is typically very good.

Brian
 
ylwjacket;

thanks for the reef site. I've been eyeing some of the reef locations out near Anna Maria on EarthNC as one of my first (true) open water locations as the waters seem to be clearer when you head south of the mouth at Bay entrance.

Brian;

Everyone has been telling me about the mexican pride at the dive shop near the house "EZ Scuba". A great group of guys work there and the instructor Chris Register is an awsome instructor.

like everyone I run into that has been diving for a while they all go spear fishing like you which I will probably get into eventually but for now I want to do at least 8 to 10 dives over the summer before I go after the advanced open water training and do the nitrox class maybe this fall.

again any really nice spots in the max 60ft range with good viz please do pass on.
 
Congrats on your certificate. Wife and I have been certified since 1992. Cozumel Mexico is one of our favorite spots. The diving is flawless and most of the people in the hotels are also divers so it makes for good conversation in the evening. Its quick and easy to get to. The food is great and the prices are real reasonable. But the best part is the visibility mostly around 150ft. You can set up any dive you want to but I recommend THE WALL. Its a little deeper than you want to go but its unreal . Most any where in the Caribbean will have awesome diving. Good luck.
 
sorry, my bad on the pride. i went fishing there once, but haven't dove there. i haven't been back down, becuse the coast guard chased me 40 miles out to sea to vector around freighters waiting to come in. took me twice as long as it should have to get down there.
 
aslo, look online at the captain's report in the sports section of the st pete times (sptimes.com). a couple of those guys are divers, and they regularly report on water clarity at various depths.
 
Cozamel is #1 in my book. The dive operators are the safest and most accomodating in the world. Cayman also is great for the same reasons but Cozamel is the best deal for your dollar. Vis is a little more hit and miss but still great on Providenciales, Aruba, St. Lucia and Puerto Rico. My worst dive with the worst dive operator was at Key Largo.

My wife doesn't like getting left at the pool while I'm spending half the day on a dive boat so I do dive vacations any more. Darn!

Dennis
 
tphinney said:
So I got my PADI open water cert last weekend and am now dying to go diving. anyone have any good recommendations on spots that would make for some good initial dives.
Click to expand...

Love diving, but not willing to die for it. I don't know the west coast of FL very well, but I have spent a lot of time diving in the keys and Bahamas. I've logged over 1000 hours and I can count the number of times I've been deeper than 60 feet on one hand.
 
Presentation said:
If I could give you one bit of advice it would be to go dive somewhere with poor visibility to develop a comfort level of poor visibility diving.
Click to expand...

No problem there. 20' vis in the gulf is a good day. I remember taking out some friends that had just gotten certified to the Tug (another well known wreck, Tom- 30nm, 75 fsw west of Tarpon)- vis was only 5' or so. Couldn't see the wreck going down until you landed on it- and this guy's wife freaked and did a too-rapid ascent...

You'll get hooked on spearfishing before you know it- some of the finest in the world is right here. The Spearboard link is a great one; check under Florida Gulfcoast and you won't believe the size of the fish some of these guys get- downright sick.

http://www.spearboard.com/showthread.php?t=64412

Feel free to pm me any time and let me know what area and depth you're planning to go and I can prob. get you some numbers. Welcome to diving- be safe.
 
Spearfishing in the Gulf is world class! Check out this 400lbs grouper speared in over 400 feet!
 

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