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Went to Florida last week to see the Ravens play in Tampa. Stayed in St. Pete beach - nice little town , sorta like Ocean City.
Had to drive north about 25 miles to Clearwater to find a dive boat. The Gulf is mostly flat - except for 1-4 foot breaks / ledges and man made reefs / wrecks. The ledges make for simple dive - go upcurrent for 20-30 minutes , then come back to anchor that sticks out like sore thumb.
We dove from a 33 ' center console - 6 divers but enough room. They staggered us on some sites . $100.00 for the trip plus tanks @ $12.00 each. Most brought their own tanks. They have rental gear as well - looked well kept and good quality.
Dove a pile of concrete / bridge wreckage and the baitfish schools were so thick - my wife and I could not see each other from 3 feet away. Viz. was so so - I'll guess 20 feet. Depth was 35 to 60 feet and we stayed down the allotted 55 minutes.
The Saturday trip was speargunners - boat holds a license so you do not need to buy an out of state one. We found this out too late but still had fun watching others shoot. Mostly Gag Groupers and Grunts - one Goliath about 200 lbs came in to crash the party. You think ( tax man ) sharks are bad - these oversized fish are fearless and chased divers with stringers to surface.
Not sure I'd make special trip to dive here but if you are near Tampa - worth going. Funny - they do not run in winter , water gets " too cold " at 74* :hysterical:.
2 Shea dive charter
880 N Osceola Ave, Clearwater, FL 33755
(813) 385-2169
Had to drive north about 25 miles to Clearwater to find a dive boat. The Gulf is mostly flat - except for 1-4 foot breaks / ledges and man made reefs / wrecks. The ledges make for simple dive - go upcurrent for 20-30 minutes , then come back to anchor that sticks out like sore thumb.
We dove from a 33 ' center console - 6 divers but enough room. They staggered us on some sites . $100.00 for the trip plus tanks @ $12.00 each. Most brought their own tanks. They have rental gear as well - looked well kept and good quality.
Dove a pile of concrete / bridge wreckage and the baitfish schools were so thick - my wife and I could not see each other from 3 feet away. Viz. was so so - I'll guess 20 feet. Depth was 35 to 60 feet and we stayed down the allotted 55 minutes.
The Saturday trip was speargunners - boat holds a license so you do not need to buy an out of state one. We found this out too late but still had fun watching others shoot. Mostly Gag Groupers and Grunts - one Goliath about 200 lbs came in to crash the party. You think ( tax man ) sharks are bad - these oversized fish are fearless and chased divers with stringers to surface.
Not sure I'd make special trip to dive here but if you are near Tampa - worth going. Funny - they do not run in winter , water gets " too cold " at 74* :hysterical:.
2 Shea dive charter
880 N Osceola Ave, Clearwater, FL 33755
(813) 385-2169
