Venice Beach, Feb 13-17 2009

[Tom Kreider]

After reading the posts in this forum, I couldn't wait. I'm flying in on Feb 13 and leaving (hopefully with a bunch of teeth) on Feb 17.

I've been to our local Calvert Cliffs and also TopSail NC looking for teeth, now it's time to give Venice Beach a try.

Here's my question... I have all day Sat, Sun, and Mon for diving. Should I stick with the beaches (thanks to several for great descriptions and instructions already posted) or should I go for the local dive charter? My goal is maximum quantity and quality of teeth (Meg and other sharks). For pure wet time, I guess beaches are the best, but are the sites that the boats go to better for quantity and quality? Any tips and suggestions are appreciated. How should I spend my U/W time?

Also, what to do in the evenings (it's a solo trip).

My only negative about this trip is the rental car out of Tampa. It looks like it will run $100 each day!!! Any ideas on this?

Thanks for the help and great posts in this forum!

 

[Sh@rkW@tcher]

I think, if I were flying down for 3 days of diving for fossils, I'd book one day with Aristocat charters, one day with Florida West charters, and dive one of the beaches for the third dive. Both Florida West and Aristocat have good reputations for putting people on good fossil sites, increasing your chances of finding a meg. For shear quantity of teeth Alhambra beach is a good bet. Venice is not know for its nite life....the local joke is that people come to Sarasota to retire and their parent move to Venice. For nite life stick with Tampa.

 

[Tom Kreider]

Well, OK then, at least the hotel has cable. I can spend the evenings cleaning teeth.

I found the Florida West website. However, I've been Googling "aristocat" and various other words and, so far, find nothing about scuba charters out of Venice Beach. Any help on that is appreciated.

Thanks again, for the info!

 

[dkramer]

It's spelled Aristakat & you can book through Depthfinders Dive Shop in Port Charlotte.

 

[dkramer]

Had to look it up. The phone number for Depthfinders is 941 766 7565

 

[Tom Kreider]

Well, I've booked charters for both 2/14 & 2/15 with Florida West. They have a great website (calendar & other helpful info) and they were very helpful on the phone. If they run a charter on Monday, I'll go on it too (I like boats). Otherwise, I'll hit the beaches all day. Either way, I plan on doing the beach in the afternoons, after the charters.

Any local divers want to join me to show off your beach diving skills? I'd be happy to trade burgers or beer for some local knowledge.

... now I gotta go and make sure the 7mil still fits.

 

[dkramer]

Any local divers want to join me to show off your beach diving skills? I'd be happy to trade burgers or beer for some local knowledge.

... now I gotta go and make sure the 7mil still fits.

Possibly. I'll have to let ya know a little closer to that time.

 

[kenpo1245]

Tom let me know if u want to go out with the aristikat on that mon i live in clearwater and will drive down to go and can prob bring one or two more to help fill the boat.

My email is tnellenbach@tampabay.rr.com

 

[Tom Kreider]

Thanks for the offer, kenpo!

I'd like to know a little more about their operation. If they are with the Depthfinders scuba shop, which is full of non-functioning pages, I can't find anything about the boat and captain, or charter program.

Do you have a valid website where I can find out about them?

Also, if you are bringing two other divers, that would also be enough for the Florida West group. Would that be agreeable as an alternative? Just a thought.

Look forward to hearing from you.

 

[Tom Kreider]

Well, talk about personal service... I just heard from Capt Jamie, of the Aristakat, and booked with him for Monday, Feb 16. kenpo, if you and your buds are still interested, I think we have a boat.

I'm looking forward to meeting you guys!

Also, still looking to do at least one beach dive each day after the charters. Looking for local expertise...