Johnoly
Contributor
- Messages
- 4,015
- Reaction score
- 5,480
- # of dives
- 2500 - 4999
This was a big spearo and speara weekend for us. Only 80 miles from home, but a world away from what we’re used to. No tournaments or anything, but we were hunting in a place that we was total different for us, like night and day. We were going from the usual comfortable dangers of shark infested, rippin currents of Jupiter, over to the Gulf of Mexico side with drop and bounce, jug and search. 100 feet of viz versus 20 feet of viz. 4 knot blow your mask off current versus zero current. Bull Sharks and reefies versus fish stealing Goliaths. This was way different from what I was used to, and the fun was about to begin.
But I’ve gotten ahead of myself,,,,So How does every incredible dive trip get pondered about? Yep, you read about someone else who has taken a fantastic trip and then Chuckitall, being a 15 year veteran of the St. Pete / Tampa area said he wanted to pull this together, and it was his starting line momentum that put our Jupiter group on the path to "Mad Beach".
Chad Carney, who is a world famous spearo, TV host, newspaper columnist, from the Gulf of Mexico, posted up earlier that he was starting back up his boat charter business and looking to take out a few divers who wanted to see some secret spots that he had logged GPS numbers for.
Madeira Beach (aka Mad Beach) is a hotspot of fishing and wide sand beaches activity. Skyscraper condo’s, million dollar yachts, and bikini babes, litter the sidewalks of Mad Beach. Aqua Blue water and volley ball nets add to the attraction along with the sea shell hunters and family activities. But the excitement is 23 miles off shore, well out of Crackberry & I-phone reach. Wanna get away from work, this is the dive place to do it!!
Chad's boat is a nice big and wide, 36 footer with powerful diesel to get you the long distances quickly. His boat called the 'Cubera' has a huge covered hard top with soft padded seats to hold 6 divers and then still has 24 tank racks that can hold even our monster LP121's. This boat is a fantastic setup!
We arrived at the docks about 6:30am for a quick push off. Gear loaded, about 100 pounds of ice and all the lunches and chilled lobsters chunks.
Now you just can’t beat the Gulf of Mexico for the most spectacular sunsets on the East coast of the USA. But on our way out we also has a fantastic sunrise and flat seas to start off our day
We get out to the Sheridan, Blackthorn, Seafood barge. 2 teams of 3 divers each and all hitting a different spot. RJnJupiter just seconds after he backrolls and heads down, spots a monster 37 pound Cubera Snapper sitting on top of the wreck and gives it an eyebrow piercing. Bait balls Goliaths and a nurse shark are on the wreck but nothing for me. Viz was 25 - 30 feet on the wrecks and temps still 78 - 80 degrees with almost no current. Bait balls were thick and of course the monster closed AJ’s were on it.
That storm front was chasing us down, check out these threatening clouds.
We had light rain but no lightening. The captain moved us over to some ledges and viz was almost 50-60 feet. We could see the bottom as soon as we backrolled each time. Everyone knows, local knowledge is everything and Chad has it and the numbers to prove it. The drops were unbelievable. Fish everywhere. You didn’t have to chase anything. I would move a hundred feet down the ledge and never see another teammate, just shooting fish all around me. We hit the limits on Hogs, Reds, and crushed the big mango’s and finally broke Chad’s cooler it was so stuffed.
The gulf coast shooting is way different from the east coast. Freeshafting and after I stuck my shaft in the clay bottom, I took off the 2nd band and it was just one band, no line, shoot and reload fast. Many thanks to SharpShooter for his stuck shaft removal tips. Also I can’t thank Chad Carney enough for taking us to his secret drops and he knew we could shoot fish. If you are looking for a “Mad Charter”, call Chad ( Florida Skin Diver Mobile Scuba ) ! I’m having a big seafood BBQ for a lot of friends next week. This was one of the best trips I’ve ever taken!
I only have a couple of the pictures and missed Chuckitall & Glyph, Chad has a bunch more.
SharpShooter
WaterBug
Johnoly
But I’ve gotten ahead of myself,,,,So How does every incredible dive trip get pondered about? Yep, you read about someone else who has taken a fantastic trip and then Chuckitall, being a 15 year veteran of the St. Pete / Tampa area said he wanted to pull this together, and it was his starting line momentum that put our Jupiter group on the path to "Mad Beach".
Chad Carney, who is a world famous spearo, TV host, newspaper columnist, from the Gulf of Mexico, posted up earlier that he was starting back up his boat charter business and looking to take out a few divers who wanted to see some secret spots that he had logged GPS numbers for.
Madeira Beach (aka Mad Beach) is a hotspot of fishing and wide sand beaches activity. Skyscraper condo’s, million dollar yachts, and bikini babes, litter the sidewalks of Mad Beach. Aqua Blue water and volley ball nets add to the attraction along with the sea shell hunters and family activities. But the excitement is 23 miles off shore, well out of Crackberry & I-phone reach. Wanna get away from work, this is the dive place to do it!!
Chad's boat is a nice big and wide, 36 footer with powerful diesel to get you the long distances quickly. His boat called the 'Cubera' has a huge covered hard top with soft padded seats to hold 6 divers and then still has 24 tank racks that can hold even our monster LP121's. This boat is a fantastic setup!
We arrived at the docks about 6:30am for a quick push off. Gear loaded, about 100 pounds of ice and all the lunches and chilled lobsters chunks.
Now you just can’t beat the Gulf of Mexico for the most spectacular sunsets on the East coast of the USA. But on our way out we also has a fantastic sunrise and flat seas to start off our day
We get out to the Sheridan, Blackthorn, Seafood barge. 2 teams of 3 divers each and all hitting a different spot. RJnJupiter just seconds after he backrolls and heads down, spots a monster 37 pound Cubera Snapper sitting on top of the wreck and gives it an eyebrow piercing. Bait balls Goliaths and a nurse shark are on the wreck but nothing for me. Viz was 25 - 30 feet on the wrecks and temps still 78 - 80 degrees with almost no current. Bait balls were thick and of course the monster closed AJ’s were on it.
That storm front was chasing us down, check out these threatening clouds.
We had light rain but no lightening. The captain moved us over to some ledges and viz was almost 50-60 feet. We could see the bottom as soon as we backrolled each time. Everyone knows, local knowledge is everything and Chad has it and the numbers to prove it. The drops were unbelievable. Fish everywhere. You didn’t have to chase anything. I would move a hundred feet down the ledge and never see another teammate, just shooting fish all around me. We hit the limits on Hogs, Reds, and crushed the big mango’s and finally broke Chad’s cooler it was so stuffed.
The gulf coast shooting is way different from the east coast. Freeshafting and after I stuck my shaft in the clay bottom, I took off the 2nd band and it was just one band, no line, shoot and reload fast. Many thanks to SharpShooter for his stuck shaft removal tips. Also I can’t thank Chad Carney enough for taking us to his secret drops and he knew we could shoot fish. If you are looking for a “Mad Charter”, call Chad ( Florida Skin Diver Mobile Scuba ) ! I’m having a big seafood BBQ for a lot of friends next week. This was one of the best trips I’ve ever taken!
I only have a couple of the pictures and missed Chuckitall & Glyph, Chad has a bunch more.
SharpShooter
WaterBug
Johnoly
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