New to Tampa Bay Area, looking for some friendly divers.

[Karen18]

I just moved to St Petersburg from NYC (three days ago). I've been diving for a year: I was certified in Florida last summer; I've dived in the Northeast where I did mostly lake/quarry dives with a couple of wrecks in the Atlantic (the Algol, the Arundo); I've dived the cenotes in Tulum; and I just spent a few weeks in Ireland doing shore and wreck dives. I've taken specialty courses for: dry suit, doubles, Nitrox, wreck, and night/limited viz. I've got my own gear, except for tanks (and dry suit).
I've only got about 40 dives under my belt though, so I still feel like a newbie. (I definitely caught the diving bug and I signed up for too many specialty courses too soon. I am interested in going the technical route, diving wrecks and caves... but for now I need to go slow and strengthen my foundation skills.)
The problem is that I don't know a soul down here, much less any divers, and I'm not sure where to start looking. I was thinking of just starting to go out with a local dive charter (with a guide/DM) so I can get to know the area. Can anyone recommend a good one?

Sorry to be a nuisance for asking a question that has probably been asked and answered dozens of times on here, but here goes: Does anyone have any suggestions, words of advice, or recommendations regarding dive spots/clubs/shops, etc. in the area?
And/or, does anyone want to go diving? I'm in St. Petersburg and I work during the week but my weekends are usually free.

Thanks,
Karen

 

[Splash-X]

Welcome to the area! The community of divers here is pretty rich but the actual "Tampa" section of the forum is pretty idle. Generally I encourage people to get active by selecting a local dive shop (you'll be going there anywhere, right?) and seeing what trips they have planned.

For diving we have the Gulf with several charters out of Clearwater like:

Capt Rod with Dive Clearwater - Welcome To Dive Clearwater!
Tanks A Lot - Scuba Diving Clearwater Florida - Tanks-A-Lot Dive Charters - Best Gulf Coast Diving - Dive Boat
Mac Daddy run by Macs Sports - Mac's Sports: The best in SCUBA Charters, Training and Equipment and Ski & Snow Sports in Tampa Bay!
2Shea Charters - 2 Shea Charters - Diving Fishing Spearfishing in Tampa Bay Clearwater


There are some shore dives south of St. Pete in Bradenton but the vis is usualy 5 to 15ft. There is plenty of reef to see but depending on your comfort level these may not be dives for you.

We have springs to the north like Weeki Wachee, Rainbow River, Ginny Springs and more. Most of these are best to dive when you go through your LDS because they often arrange a dive with a potluck style lunch where everyone brings a dish and it's more of a "group" thing where you'll meet new divers and such.

On the other coast, around a 4 hour trip we have Jupiter, West Palm Beach. These are "must dive" areas at some point since they are simply stunning! With the Gulf Stream the closest to the coast you'll get the reefs are full of life. It doesn't take far to get deep and the water is generally blue and clear as can be! Also about 4 hours are Fort Lauderdale by the Sea (FLBTS) and even Key Largo.


You can also call a dive shop near the sites to get in on a trip they already have to experience these places but the down side is you likely won't meet other divers from your area that you can continue to dive with.

I know that Macs Sports often uses Rainbow River for a checkout dive so there are always scheduled trips here with a large "group" atmosphere. The spring itself isn't that stunning and you likely will do it once or maybe twice and move on but you're getting to know your fellow divers. Most all of the other local dive shops have scheduled dives with either local charters or day or weekend trips to the springs or the east coast. Diving is social so getting out and meeting other divers from the area is part of the experience. For the most part the dive charters in our area are primarily locals with the occasional out of towners.

My wife and I are both active divers but some times our schedules are pretty busy. If you're interested in doing some diving on a specific day let me know and we'll see if we can join you.

 

[dkramer]

Welcome! Splash-x has given you some pretty good advice. I'm from Port Charlotte & dive the Venice area. If you are interested in doing some shore dives in the Venice area just give a shout. I am back to school now so my diving is gonna be confined to the weekends for now.

 

[FaithC]

Hi Karen,

I don't live in FL but I'll be visiting my father in Largo in Oct. and I've got spot booked with Tanks A Lot on Oct. 26th and I am without a buddy. I'm a newbie, OW certified in June, have taken a buoyancy and control class and am getting in as many shore dives as I can here in CT &RI. I estimate that diving in Clearwater will be my 10th & 11th dive. So if you're interested drop me a line.

-Faith

 

[bamafan]

If you are interested in cave diving Tampa / St. Pete is a great place to be. Depth Perception dive shop does tech diving as well as ow. The high springs / luraville area just north of Gainesville is a popular area for cave diving. The sooner you find an instructor and take a cavern class the better in my opinion as you will then know what skills are expected and you can work on them. I recommend you contact Depth Perception in Tampa and get in a cavern class. Oh by the way Hudson Grotto is a great training spot that is really close. It is open water but with limited visibility it really feels like a cave below 20' or so. The cave divers forum is a website where you may have better luck finding a mentor in your area. I am probably going to be in the Tampa area for some training for work for about a month or so and will be glad to meet you for a dive somewhere like hudson grotto, Paradise springs and give you a few pointers on cave diving skills if I am in the area.

 

[Tom Winters]

Hey watch out for those Tampa/ St. Pete divers - they'll act all friendly and nice and then you'll get, "Hey, that swimsuit doesn't make you look fat at all!"

 

[reebok]

highly recommend capt scott with rock bottom charters. the rj thompson is the best dive in tampa imo. Clearwater Dive Charter | Tampa Florida Scuba Diving Trip

 

[Karen18]

Splash-X
Fantastic, thanks for the advice and information. I've scheduled dives for the next two weekends out with Tanks-A-Lot Dive Charter: 8/11 they're doing the Sheridan/Blackthorn wrecks, and 8/17 they're going out somewhere in the Gulf.
I'm almost embarrassed to say this, but I've only ever dived with an instructor or with good friends so I'm a little nervous about diving with a group of strangers. Hopefully I'll meet some divers through these dives and get comfortable diving out here.

Thanks again for the response, and if you and/or your wife want to join in on either of these dives, it would be great to meet you.

Karen

---------- Post added August 4th, 2013 at 09:33 PM ----------

dkramer,
Thanks. Like I said, I just arrived this week and I start work tomorrow (I'm a teacher) so it might be a while before I venture too far from Tampa Bay, but when I do I'll shoot you a message and see if you want to dive.

K

---------- Post added August 4th, 2013 at 09:47 PM ----------

Tom,
Are you calling me fat?

 

[Tom Winters]

Nah, in that picture, you can't weigh more than 3 or 400 pixels. Plus, I don't dive over on that other coast, although I did buy tanks once in Tampa.

 

[grey2112]

Karen, hello and welcome to the board here. You sound like me in your "all in" approach - I've had about 35 dives now and really love it - my dive instructor who also runs a shop and does tank refills has over 15,000 dives and is an amazing source of knowledge and help. He got me into spearfishing as well, which is a blast. My wife is recuperating from surgery right now but can't wait till she can learn to dive as well as spearfish. She loves boating and fishing and it is killing her not being able to go out on the boat for the next 6-8 weeks, but she's insisted that I don't stop going out on the boat during this time, as long as I bring her back fish

I recently upgraded my boat to one that is ideal for diving. I'm out of New Port Richey, which is maybe 30 minutes or so from wherever you might be in St. Pete. We are always looking for an extra diver who doesn't mind chipping in for gas I'm trying to put together a dive trip for this coming weekend - I prefer Sundays myself, very early in the AM (around 0700 at my house) and then a 10 minute drive to the ramp and away we go - PM me if you are interested in joining us.