mlynch21
Contributor
Wow what a dive today! We(myself and losttreavelerfl) started off towards the westish end of the boneyard and preceded west on the bottom... kind of an exploritory dive away from the high traffic areas. We hit some white sandyish/ shelly bottom and i kind of thought to myself that this wouldnt be a very productive dive... then we eventually hit a great little rubble patch where several decent size megs were found. I was really suprised to find this patch all by itself like that.
Continued west again to more sand... hmmm Not many teeth to be found. Next thing i know, with my dive buddy to the left, we come across a rope and to my right the rope leads to an old crab trap and a large tangle of rope (meh nothing special)... just as i begin to look away i see a very large mass moving around the crab trap right towards me. it was really big! It took a second or two of uneasy slight panick before i could make out what was bearing down on us. It was the biggest loggerhead turtle in florida (thats my story anyway). According to most internet sources these turtles only get to 3-1/2 ft long... well, no way this thing could have been less than 4 1/2 ft and i could have sworn it was at least 5 ft long and probably 5-600 lbs. (wild guess but they can be up to 850lbs)... So maybe it isnt a scientific measurement and of course things always look larger underwater or maybe it was due to my giddy excitement at what was happening but while swimming with this turtle he seemed ever bit of the 4 1/2ft (or more) compared to my 6'2ft frame. Oh and his (or her) head was HUGE! I had to surface after spending 4 or 5 minutes of slowly following this giant to voice my excitement and calm down.
Our dive continued to the north north east and the next interesting bit we found was a pile of rocks(largest pile i have found off venice) and a little reefish system with several fish swarming around... the most i have ever seen in one spot here. Shortly after this we took a more east southeast direction back towards the boat. We came across a fairly large hole in a sandy area probably 8-12 inches across with something large moving around inside... couldnt make it out so i decided not to stick my head in there to investigate further. I was however very curious as to what it was! Shortly after finding a few more teeth we came across a very large venice seahorse being extremely lethargic anchoring himself and laying on the bottom...
This was one of the most interesting dives i have had off venice and def the most wildlife i have seen there... Very cool! We still had some decent finds which i will put some pictures up as soon as i can. I think i have decided i need to get an underwater camera to document amazing dives like this.
Little did i know i still had one more suprise ahead... after passing through the jetty and going towards the boat ramp to the north we had noticed a few signs saying do not touch or feed the dolphins... shortly after flipper jr came right up to the right side of the boat to beg for food... this dolphin was close enough i could have touched him but i didnt want to end up on the business end of those teeth (who knows maybe my hand looks like squid). He rolled on his side and looked right at me and opened his mouth but after figuring out i wasnt giving him anything good he shot off to pester the next boat. This capped off one of the single most fun times i have had off venice florida.
Conditions: very calm, 10-15 ft vis, plenty warm, approx two hrs bottom time
Continued west again to more sand... hmmm Not many teeth to be found. Next thing i know, with my dive buddy to the left, we come across a rope and to my right the rope leads to an old crab trap and a large tangle of rope (meh nothing special)... just as i begin to look away i see a very large mass moving around the crab trap right towards me. it was really big! It took a second or two of uneasy slight panick before i could make out what was bearing down on us. It was the biggest loggerhead turtle in florida (thats my story anyway). According to most internet sources these turtles only get to 3-1/2 ft long... well, no way this thing could have been less than 4 1/2 ft and i could have sworn it was at least 5 ft long and probably 5-600 lbs. (wild guess but they can be up to 850lbs)... So maybe it isnt a scientific measurement and of course things always look larger underwater or maybe it was due to my giddy excitement at what was happening but while swimming with this turtle he seemed ever bit of the 4 1/2ft (or more) compared to my 6'2ft frame. Oh and his (or her) head was HUGE! I had to surface after spending 4 or 5 minutes of slowly following this giant to voice my excitement and calm down.
Our dive continued to the north north east and the next interesting bit we found was a pile of rocks(largest pile i have found off venice) and a little reefish system with several fish swarming around... the most i have ever seen in one spot here. Shortly after this we took a more east southeast direction back towards the boat. We came across a fairly large hole in a sandy area probably 8-12 inches across with something large moving around inside... couldnt make it out so i decided not to stick my head in there to investigate further. I was however very curious as to what it was! Shortly after finding a few more teeth we came across a very large venice seahorse being extremely lethargic anchoring himself and laying on the bottom...
This was one of the most interesting dives i have had off venice and def the most wildlife i have seen there... Very cool! We still had some decent finds which i will put some pictures up as soon as i can. I think i have decided i need to get an underwater camera to document amazing dives like this.
Little did i know i still had one more suprise ahead... after passing through the jetty and going towards the boat ramp to the north we had noticed a few signs saying do not touch or feed the dolphins... shortly after flipper jr came right up to the right side of the boat to beg for food... this dolphin was close enough i could have touched him but i didnt want to end up on the business end of those teeth (who knows maybe my hand looks like squid). He rolled on his side and looked right at me and opened his mouth but after figuring out i wasnt giving him anything good he shot off to pester the next boat. This capped off one of the single most fun times i have had off venice florida.
Conditions: very calm, 10-15 ft vis, plenty warm, approx two hrs bottom time
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