diving near tampa and st pete

[dberry1985]

hello all, I am headed to Tampa on june 21 and am looking for some insite if there is anyone who would wanna dive or any shops that do diving on a regular or take day trips out or if there are any spots anyone could suggest

Thanks Daniel

 

[BLoaf]

Daniel, there are not very many shore dive spots in the area, and they arent that great. I know DiveClearwater does dives throughout the week, you can check their online schedule to see what days they have openings. TanksAlot also dives regularly. There is supposed to be a small dive spot called Spanish Rocks off Bradenton Beach for a shoredive. If you want to try that, or the very shallow/small wreck site down the street from it, during the week let me know.

 

[Dave_ABQ]

All that water and nowhere to dive? I'm moving to St. Petersburg in August. Experienced diver but haven't been diving in a couple of years. Looking for good PADI shop for a review/tune-up course, and some low impact shore diving (I'm old and lazy). Any recommendations/suggestions greatly appreciated.

 

[John from the burg]

Its just to shallow and rainy with to many people and fish crapping in the water lol. Around 6 miles offshore seems to be about where it clears up a bit to reasonable vis. On a good day at high tide however, with winds out of the east and a lil luck you can shore dive Anna maria island to 10 feet. Two easy dives there as long as the tide isn't moving, then there is the skyway bridge w all the big sharks or short ferry ride to egmont key that has some old ruins (fort dade i wanna say off the top of my head) underwater off the beach. Couple hours north and there are tons of fresh water springs and rivers to try out if you can get into that. My recommendation would be charter to a gulf reef, they are mostly really shallow and from 4 to 38 miles out at 40 to 80 feet deep so not real difficult or "high impact" in my opinion.


As far as shops go i use Jim's across from the veterans hospital and bill Jackson's, bills is naui and i never noticed what Jim's is. My instructors name was Bryan cook, independent padi instructor, and i would recommend him again in a heart beat. Downtime Divers

Welcome to the area

 

[vwfinatic273]

I am always up for a dive! There is a boat we go out on tuesdays and thursdays called the dive app and it's $95 which is way cheaper than anyone else and the people are friendly too! The dive shop called Tackle Shack sets it up talk to Jimmy. We meet at 6:30AM and head out and usually get back around 3:30PM and then clean the boat and fish you caught so you can eat dinner. You can dive, dive, fish and relax. Also there's a lot of inland diving that is great here also. Let me know I am always ready to get in the water

 

[Magnolia3]

I am always up for a dive! There is a boat we go out on tuesdays and thursdays called the dive app and it's $95 which is way cheaper than anyone else and the people are friendly too! The dive shop called Tackle Shack sets it up talk to Jimmy. We meet at 6:30AM and head out and usually get back around 3:30PM and then clean the boat and fish you caught so you can eat dinner. You can dive, dive, fish and relax. Also there's a lot of inland diving that is great here also. Let me know I am always ready to get in the water

MY experiences with the tackle shack have been considerably less that positive..

 

[John from the burg]

MY experiences with the tackle shack have been considerably less that positive..

Second that.

 

[vwfinatic273]

I have had one unpleasant experience there with one employee in particular. I actually quit going for a while and once I started coming back haven't had problems. Jimmy is pretty pleasant to deal with and the diving is great. Do you guys know any other good local dives?

 

[chriskinney18]

I know I am little late on this but i have 2 more dive shops i would like to recomend. I got my training with PADI at Adeventures Under The Sea with Ben Harris. I have nothing but postive experiences regarding my training with him and Highly remoend him for your refresher. Another good shop arround me is Mac's in Clearwater. They are SSI but have a great and friendly staff with their own boat. Have had nothing but very postive experiences their also. Travis Meyers does a great refresher at Mac's.

 

[Magnolia3]

I have had one unpleasant experience there with one employee in particular. I actually quit going for a while and once I started coming back haven't had problems. Jimmy is pretty pleasant to deal with and the diving is great. Do you guys know any other good local dives?

My problems were with Jimmy to be specific and one other salesperson.. It was multiple occasions and once over a pair of fins. I won't be back, I won't recommend them for any reason.

I do however, locally, like Bill Jacksons, Jim's Dive Shop over by BayPines VA. I have only been in Adventures under the Sea once.. they are nice and very professional.
I get my fills mostly from either Bill Jacksons if I have time to run up there.. but Jim's is closer sorta kinda..
Most of my fills have been from American Pro in Crystal River. I do a lot of fresh water diving.
I cannot recommend them more. They teach an OW PADI class that is decent.
Bill Jackson is a NAUI center. IF one lives in the Bay area and has time to make the twice weekly drive their NAUO OW class and later AOW/Nitrox classes are incredibly thorough and well run. They cost more but you have plenty of time and the classes are small.

American Pro has its own pool, its a two day OW class, your first dive is in Hunter Springs. IF you go with them make sure you 'boil' your ears post dive in hunter springs.. By boil, I mean put a few drops of peroxide post any encounter with hunter springs in your ears..

IF you like springs and fresh water.. I can recommend a drift dive down the Rainbow of Chassahowitzka Rivers. Not as spectacular as Cozumel, but nice never the less..