Dive Review of Florida West Scuba/none in
The Continental USA/Venice, Florida

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Florida West Scuba/none, Sep, 2003, by Thomas Daly, FL, usa . Report 805.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	This is a great place to dive for the teeth of Carcharocles Megaladon. Yes, the teeth are laying right on top of the sand for you to pick up if you are lucky. There are also numerous fossilized smaller sharks teeth. I found 8 meg teeth and about 20 other teeth. I also found a fossilized manatee bone with shark tooth scarring on it, whale ribs, and a whale tooth. I found numerous fossilized scallop and gastropod casts. The dive day begins at the dive shop at about 8am. You check in and do your waivers, set up any special requests you may have regarding gear, weights, nitrox etc..then head to the boat. The boat ride is about 15 minutes to the sites which are as close as a quarter mile offshore. Steve Thacker who is a retired geologist gives a history lesson of the area. He also has a large assortmet of the "treasures" you can find on the dives, from megaladon teeth, to ancient horse teeth, to manatee and whale bones. He briefs you to take a dive flag, dive with a buddy if you wish, or by yourself. When you surface Steve or his divemaster helps you aboard and hoses you down with warm fresh water. They handle your gear, then he helps you identify your treasures. If you are lucky, you may have brought up a "Chatah tooth" as he calls them. That is a tooth that he will trade for the price you paid for your charter that day. Between dives, water, coke, diet coke and home made chewy chocolate chip cookies are offered. After everyone is on board, the group heads to a second site. Once again, expect to get between an hour for heavy breathers to two hours for those who are good on air. Again, you are asked to bring some air up with the tank. The most exciting part of the dives is obviously finding the historic Megaladon teeth and other fossils, but equally as pleasing is comparing finds with everyone else on board. The visibility here ranges from diving by braille to around 20 feet normally. There is not much else to see on the mostly sandy bottom. On this day, from the time we got in the water, we could hear dolphins. On surfacing, there were at least 30 dolphins all around us providing a most enjoyable show and finish to our dives. The dive boat is set up for 6 and that is all the divers he will take. So book early. Also offered are deeper dives for spearfishing and wreck diving. The dive shop is well equipped with Dive Rite, Faber Aqualung and other equipment Steve considers the best out there. The prices are pretty fair in my opinion as well. You are pretty much back at the shop and dried off by 2pm and headed to Captain Eddies nearby for some fantastic seafood for a late lunch.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	101-250 dives
Where else diving	Maine, Florida keys, Cozumel Caymans Saba Puerto Rico/La Parguera, Culebra island.
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, dry	Seas	calm, noCurrents
Water Temp	84-85°F / 29-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	0
Water Visibility	6-20 Ft/ 2-6 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Depth was 20-30 feet depending on site. No chance of going any deeper. Dive with a dive flag,& don't breathe the tank empty. Try to come up within 2 hours or less.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter	N/A	Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments

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Dive Review of Florida West Scuba/none in The Continental USA/Venice, Florida

Florida West Scuba/none, Sep, 2003,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Florida West Scuba/none in
The Continental USA/Venice, Florida