I dive in SC for Meg teeth quite a bit, so I am familiar with the ins and outs of low vis fossil diving in rivers, but not what the conditions are there. My parents are spending a month in Ft. Myers in March and I thought I would fly down for a week. I really want to dive Venice Beach and have read a lot on this board about the shore diving there. My sister is a fairly newer diver and wants to go, but I am somewhat concerned about taking her into conditions like I see here.
My main question is do I need to be concerned about what the tide is doing when I go from the beach? Is the shore diving relatively safe for newer competent divers? The charters all seem to go out at 8am, so I assume they don't worry much about diving at slack tide, but I wondered about the shore dives. Also, will I need a light? I use a pretty powerful one here, but the vis is always near 0.
My main question is do I need to be concerned about what the tide is doing when I go from the beach? Is the shore diving relatively safe for newer competent divers? The charters all seem to go out at 8am, so I assume they don't worry much about diving at slack tide, but I wondered about the shore dives. Also, will I need a light? I use a pretty powerful one here, but the vis is always near 0.