5 replies to this topic

[diveguy]

I just got back from a dive in Venice Florida from June 18th through the 21st. For those of you who do not know, Venice is south of Tampa on the Gulf coast.

The visibility was great 30+ feet. Water temperature was a nice 82 degrees and the diving was a lot of fun. My primary mission was tyring to find megalodon shark's teeth. I only found broken ones. However several people who went on the dive trip found perfect ones (some found multiples). In addition, the sea floor is littered with other fossils including whale and manatee bones.

The bones cover a period from 500k to 2.5 million years ago and represent two different times - one when it was a shallow inland sea not much different than today and another when it was a floodplain for an ancient river basin.

Some of the more interesting things I found:

1.) fossil puffer fish mouthplate
2.) fossil stingray barbs
3.) fossil whale and manatee bones
4.) various other fossil sharks teeth - lemon, maco, etc...

and
4.) broken meg teeth.

The rest of the crew that I went with were more successful in finding the meg teeth. In addition, one person found a mammoth tooth and several others found an ear bones of a whale.

All and all, it was worth the trip if you like that sort of thing. There was some marine life, mostly small fish, crabs, conch, etc... Some reef type animals. But mostly muck diving. No real big fish.

If you are interested in going, I went with Florida West Scuba in Venice, FL Phone 941-486-1400. The best time to go is from April through July. By August the previous fossils uncovered by the winter storms are picked over.

There are only a few dive boats left operating there. The site is about 1 mile off the coast in very shallow water. We did two dives a day, nothing difficult. They were very reasonable.

[diverdeb]

Thanks for the report. I've wanted to do that dive for several years now and never made it down there. I have an old dive buddy that lives there, maybe I can get him to actually go do it someday. Sounds like fun and it would be great to find a huge tooth. I seen pictures of some finds and wondered if anyone really found them any more.

[Walter]

I dive there frequently and have for years. You were extremely lucky. I've seen 30 ft viz there exactly once, that was October of '98.

Deb, come on down, I'd love to dive with you at Venice.

[diveguy]

I dive there frequently and have for years. You were extremely lucky. I've seen 30 ft viz there exactly once, that was October of '98.

Deb, come on down, I'd love to dive with you at Venice.

Funny you mention that. Several others on the boat said the same thing. Normally I hear visibility is more like 5 feet or so. Must have been my presence. It was great for a beginner like me. However, I'm hooked and I will be going back. After a bag of manatee and whale bones I figured out that those weren't so rare down there. Just luggin' around rocks at that point.

[diverdeb]

I dive there frequently and have for years. You were extremely lucky. I've seen 30 ft viz there exactly once, that was October of '98.

Deb, come on down, I'd love to dive with you at Venice.

That sounds great Walter. What's the best time of year to find the big teeth? I think I remember reading after a big storm is a good time, but the vis is way down then. I'm pretty used to that though.

[Walter]

Deb,

I dive it year round. I don't notice any particular season being better than another. Folks heading out on the charter are usually more successful than those from the beach, although quite a few large megs are pulled out from the beach. The Gulf can get quite cold in the winter, but right now it's toasty warm. You are right about storms.