Florida Keys diver

[Irishdiver84]

Just wanted to post a hello- I'm new to the forum. I'm an avid freediver in the Florida Keys. I'm a dive instructor down here, but much prefer to go sans tank. I've been freediving for about a year and have gotten lots of advice from the old salts that live here, but I figured it's time to widen the scope a bit. I'm interested in hearing about different freediving and breath-hold techniques and am very safety conscious. Right now I can comfortably dive to about 70 feet and look forward to going deeper! I welcome any tips, advice or training ideas you have to offer. See you in the forums!

 

[foxfish]

Hi Irish welcome to db - you will find plenty to catch up on within these threads but not sure if you can always be safe diving deeper that 70'?

 

[settingsteel]

hiya florida keys diver welcome,I too am new , from Miami- be safe out there...Keys will be crazy this weekend

 

[Pastor]

Welcome to the both of you, good to see you here. Irish, my friend Richey lives on Knight key, do you know him by any chance?

 

[Irishdiver84]

Hmm, sorry, I dont know any Richey, but the Keys are a small place and I may very well run into him one of these days! Yea this week is going to be crazy, but Key West is going to get the brunt of all that. I thought about going down-- never been to fantasy fest before- but I thnk it will be too nuts for me!

 

[Pastor]

He joined up here last week, keysdivers (plural because he includes his girlfriend in there too)

 

[slingshaft]

Hey Stevie, Its reasuring to see your Wong hanging out here

 

[Pastor]

Ha! I'm always to be found with my Wong hanging out mate rofl

Good to see you, I didn't realize you were a member here

 

[underwaterguy]

Hi, I just found this site and registered. I've never joined a forum before. I live in southern Maine, and will be coming to the Key West to visit a friend in December. We'll be traveling up the Keys for a couple of days, and I want to find some great places to dive. (My friend is not a diver.) I've been to 50 ft, and regularly dive to 30ft. I do a lot of fast/white water diving in Maine rivers and am totally into the experience of riding currents. Just found divefit.com and hope to take a level 2 course next May. Feel free to respond if you have anything to share about your diving in Florida. All the best, underwaterguy

 

[foxfish]

Not much to say about diving in Florida but welcome to db & I hope you make plenty new friends.

 

[Irishdiver84]

Hey Underwaterguy, I work in Marathon and there are some great places to dive/freedive here. It's not as busy and crazy as Key Largo, but there are some really nice shallow, mid and deep sites to check out. Sombrero, the sanctuary here, is my favorite shallow site since it's a protected area and in great shape. If you're looking for deeper, the Gap is a sweet 50' to 80' foot reef with a good deal of relief.

 

[settingsteel]

I was over in Tavanier (a bit above largo) and had a great time spearing...youmust head out 3 miles though

 

[Irishdiver84]

Yea, unfortunately in the Keys the reefline is a few miles offshore-- but its worth it once you get out there!

 

[settingsteel]

Yea, unfortunately in the Keys the reefline is a few miles offshore-- but its worth it once you get out there!

Indeed how's the weather/vis as of late?

 

[Irishdiver84]

Weather is getting better ever since that tropical storm passed by-- winds are down somewhat. I was out at the Thunderbolt the other day (a wreck down here) and we had about 3 foot seas and maybe 40 foot of viz on the bottom. Not too shabby considering how rough it was for a few days.

 

[settingsteel]

Weather is getting better ever since that tropical storm passed by-- winds are down somewhat. I was out at the Thunderbolt the other day (a wreck down here) and we had about 3 foot seas and maybe 40 foot of viz on the bottom. Not too shabby considering how rough it was for a few days.

I've heard alot about the TB (quite a few resident blacks), its quite deep right? Scuba or is it "lungable" (i freedive), Miami was awful hoping to head out thurs/fri, if weather continues, perhaps hit the keys this wkend thx for the 411

 

[Irishdiver84]

the tbolt is around 100 feet at the deck, 120 in the sand so its doable freediving if you're good, I know some guys here that do it. We discourage spearfishing on the wreck, since we're trying to get some of the bigger marine life back on it, though. I would recommend checking out the gap if you can get some good numbers on it. It's an awesome deep reef- my favorite here by far.

 

[settingsteel]

Never heard of the Gap how deep? Didn't know about the TB either, good luck though, I hear scuba-spearos often hit it, so much so that they get about one drop/shot at it before the fish "thunderbolt" outa there. I usually hit Tavenier, about 3 miles out quite, a few nice patch reefs 30'-50', hunt the usual mixed bag-hogs, muts, 'gos, blacks, always a nice time, over there (other than the unplanned meetings with the Monroe Sheriff- no mercy for us Miami boys) I heard about a wreck, the Dwayne I believe which is also purdy good, don't know the numbers to it, although that wouldn't be to hard to find, a few local sites list them.

 

[Irishdiver84]

The Gap is 50-80' and has about 6 feet of relief in some areas. The Duane is a really nice wreck, I've dove that many times. It's about 300 feet long, a little less maybe, good spearfishing dive but watch out for the bull sharks there. They're not bashful about investigating your catch. Any shop in Tavernier should be able to give you numbers for that-- also, I'm sure NOAA has them.

 

[settingsteel]

thx Irish,
I may be headed up to Tavenier, sat. hows it looking? how deep is the dwayne?
here's a pretty cool site Scuba diving sites and GPS destinations: Wrecks, Coral Reefs, Reviews, Trip Charters. - Dive Spots