Warm water dive in continental US
Amanda
Any suggestions?
I've done Ft. Lauderdale and there were too many tires.
I'm looking for boat dives, ideally.
Failing that, are there any warm water beach clean-ups this fall?
All suggestions appreciated...
-Amanda
Rosalie B.
Maraquesas (west and south of Key West) You would have to go by boat.
Also possibly the Dry Tortugas which are farther down.
Ed
"Rosalie B." <gmbe...@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:h09k74hbfrcfcu5id...@4ax.com...
Tires? 25 years of diving here in FLL I have only seen tires on a few
occaisionsin the last 10 years. Back in the 80s they thought they
attracked fish but since have found out that they do not and removed most of
them. FLL/Pompano has the best wreck diving in FL. Key largo has the
best reefs by far. Key west is so-so because the siltier gulf water mixes
in and causes the vis on average to be less than FLL or KL. There are NO
good beach dives in the keys because the reefs start at 1-5 miles offshore
(unless you are a really good swimmer)
You can also rent boats in the keys and all the best reefs are bouyed so
they are EZ to find even with a cheap GPS. if you do rent, learn to read
water color....lots of shallowes.
For spearfishing, Jupiter is really nice as well and less fished than the
keys with some great drift dives and fewer laws about where and when you can
fish
Dry tortugas as the last poster mentioned is nice because it is further into
the stream but since there are no facilites it is either a LONG day or a
live aboard.
-hh
>
> Tires? 25 years of diving here in FLL I have only
> seen tires on a few occaisions in the last 10 years.
IIRC, there's a huge "tire reef" down along the East coast of Florida
somewhere...a million+ dumped.
In any case, I think that this might be a "YMMV" of sorts in regards
to how many tires constitute a 'disruptive' irritation. It may sound
extreme to some, but seeing but a single tire on an otherwise pristine
dive can "ruin" the dive for some. I think that this also includes
generalized expectations and personal perception - - it is fairly
unreasonable for us to pretend that no 'hand of man' evidence will
exist within just a few miles of major civilization ... its just
disappointing that it does. The general problem with tires is that
they're highly persistant and they don't become something that's
perceptually desirable (a colorful shipwreck). As such, it will lay
there and say "I'm reminding you that I'm just a lousy piece of trash"
for 10, 20, 50? years.
> FLL/Pompano has the best wreck diving in FL.
> Key largo has the best reefs by far.
> Key west is so-so because the siltier gulf water ..
>
> For spearfishing, Jupiter is really nice ...
>
> Dry tortugas as the last poster mentioned is
> nice because it is further into the stream but
> since there are no facilites it is either a LONG day
> or a live aboard ...
For WW diving in the Continental USA, there's a few places more than
just the east coast of Florida and the FL Keys.
There's probably some diving on the west coast (although I've not
heard much about it). There is a protected area known as the "Florida
Middle Ground" (80 miles NW of Tarpon Springs, FL), but I don't know
anything more about it. SeeL
http://www.mpa.gov/helpful_resources/archives/atlas/gom/gome_pr.html
Next, there's freshwater FL springs (although not necessarily quite as
'warm', at least in summer), plus some rivers (manatees in winter,
etc)
There's also some dive operations along the Gulf Coast panhandle - -
Panama City, Destin, Pensacola, etc ('Gold Coast') - - which generally
appears to be wreck dives, very low profile "ledge" dives, and/or
other dives conducted in areas with the intent of hunting/spear
fishing.
Moving further west, I'm not familiar with Alabama, Mississippi or
Louisiana for their diving; I'd expect some degree of general
similarities to the FL 'Gold Coast': greenish waters of so-so
Visibility, with probably most of the diving interests being in
hunting.
Even further to the west, we enter Texas, and the best known warmwater
destination in this region is probably the Texas Flower Gardens
(Flower Gardens National Marine Sanctuary).
http://home.houston.rr.com/thescubaguy/flowergardens.html
My understanding is that this is a 'weekend liveaboard' type of trip,
probably not too much unlike the prospects of the Dry Totugas in the
FL Keys, as the Flower Gardens are ~115 miles offshore. There's also
Stetson Bank, which is only 80 miles out.
There's probably also some saltwater diving in closer waters, such as
out to Oil Rigs. On second thought, this probably also applies to the
Louisiana region too.
> There are NO good beach dives in the keys because
> the reefs start at 1-5 miles offshore...
Probably pretty much true for most of the USA.
-hh
Al Wells
1fc8d1...@a1g2000hsb.googlegroups.com>,
recscub...@huntzinger.com says...
> For WW diving in the Continental USA, there's a few places more than
> just the east coast of Florida and the FL Keys.
>
> There's probably some diving on the west coast (although I've not
> heard much about it). There is a protected area known as the "Florida
> Middle Ground" (80 miles NW of Tarpon Springs, FL), but I don't know
> anything more about it.
Much of the wreck diving from Hatteras and Morehead City in NC is 80+
degrees in the summer. For everything between there and FL, the water is
also warm in the suumer, but don't bother - there is nothing at all
there to see ;-).
-hh
>
> Much of the wreck diving from Hatteras and
> Morehead City in NC is 80+ degrees in the summer.
Good catch. Shipwrecks and Sand Tigers :-)
Continuing north, the water temps drop off, but still nevertheless
warm enough for tropicals to ride the Gulf Stream north. Why one
might even find seahorses in Jamacia Bay in New York :-)
-hh
Jer
> "Ed" <newsgr...@nospam.com> wrote:
>> Tires? 25 years of diving here in FLL I have only
>> seen tires on a few occaisions in the last 10 years.
>
> IIRC, there's a huge "tire reef" down along the East coast of Florida
> somewhere...a million+ dumped.
>
> In any case, I think that this might be a "YMMV" of sorts in regards
> to how many tires constitute a 'disruptive' irritation. It may sound
> extreme to some, but seeing but a single tire on an otherwise pristine
> dive can "ruin" the dive for some. I think that this also includes
> generalized expectations and personal perception - - it is fairly
> unreasonable for us to pretend that no 'hand of man' evidence will
> exist within just a few miles of major civilization ... its just
> disappointing that it does. The general problem with tires is that
> they're highly persistant and they don't become something that's
> perceptually desirable (a colorful shipwreck). As such, it will lay
> there and say "I'm reminding you that I'm just a lousy piece of trash"
> for 10, 20, 50? years.
>
The altruistic problem with the artificial reef material from scrap
tires is two-fold...
Firstly, while they do offer newborn critters a short-term hiding place
from predators, they don't foster surface growth of corals. The surface
of anchorages needs to be relatively stable.
Secondly, this instability isn't just a minor nit, despite best efforts
to make them stay put, they didn't. Long strings of tires were losing
anchor and variable ocean currents were pushing the tires around
smashing the corals to bits.
Last I heard (last year I think), the state was looking for funds to
undo that catastrophic brain fart.
--
jer
email reply - I am not a 'ten'
Lee Bell
> The altruistic problem with the artificial reef material from scrap tires
> is two-fold...
> Firstly, while they do offer newborn critters a short-term hiding place
> from predators, they don't foster surface growth of corals. The surface
> of anchorages needs to be relatively stable.
Half right. Coral has no problem at all anchoring loose stuff to existing
hard bottom. We've all seen rocks, bottles, cans and even fishing line that
has become a permanent part of reefs. The problem is, there has to be some
hard bottom to anchor it to. Originally, the tires were tied together which
did form something of a stable habitat. Over time, however, the binding has
deteriorated, allowing loose tires to move with the currents and storm
surge. They actually do more damage than they ever did good.
> Secondly, this instability isn't just a minor nit, despite best efforts to
> make them stay put, they didn't. Long strings of tires were losing anchor
> and variable ocean currents were pushing the tires around smashing the
> corals to bits.
Completely right.
There's more to it than this. The other problem is that coral simply does
not grow well on tires. Other materials, down for a much shorter periord,
have become overgrown with coral and a real addition to the natural reefs.
The tires haven't, and never will.
> Last I heard (last year I think), the state was looking for funds to undo
> that catastrophic brain fart.
They're not looking hard enough. Divers all over the place have volunteered
to participate in tire removal projects. All the state has to do is get us
there and back and provide a way to take the tires back to shore. Some of
us are willing to go further. Some of us with boats would provide our own
transportation to the sites and, on a space available basis, would take
others out as well. In our case, the state doesn't even have to provide
transportation, just a way to pull the tires out of the water and get them
back to shore. Granted, it would not be a quick process if done by
volunteers, but it would at least be progress, something we're not seeing
now.
Hey Mike, now that Reef Rescue is pretty much done with the hard part of
getting rid of sewerage outfalls, do you think Ed would like another
project?
Lee
Amanda
I was there for a week and I saw at least one tire per dive, including a
shore dive. Most dives I saw several. I learned about the failed "tire
reef" later.
Is there warm fresh water anywhere?
Art Greenberg
> Is there warm fresh water anywhere?
Indeed there is, depending upon what you consider "warm". In the St.
Lawrence Seaway, temperature can be in the low 70s during the summer.
The couple of times I've been up there in mid to late July, it was 66 -
with no thermocline.
There usually is much less life in fresh water, so unless you're
interested in wreck diving you may find diving in fresh water to be less
interesting.
--
Art Greenberg
artg at eclipse dot net
Lee Bell
> shore dive. Most dives I saw several. I learned about the failed "tire
> reef" later.
Odd. I rarely see any, and I dive here all the time.
> Is there warm fresh water anywhere?
Maybe. First, define warm. We have springs that are 68 to 72 all year.
That's warmer than the surrounding air in the winter, but still pretty
chilly for us natives. I can dive it without thermal protection but
normally wear a 3mm wetsuit.
There are warm lakes, but there's not much worth seeing in them and, in most
cases, not enough visibility to see what is there.
Lee
Jer
Yeah, that's a sad deal... I'd be interested in hearing about what sort
of system is proposed. Some sort of hoist at the surface while divers
hang one tire after another? This would offer non-divers a topside
opportunity to be active participants. A barge could haul a lot of
tires to shore while smaller tender boats would offload their catch and
transport the divers. Whatever ends up, that's gonna be a ungodly mess.
>
> Hey Mike, now that Reef Rescue is pretty much done with the hard part of
> getting rid of sewerage outfalls, do you think Ed would like another
> project?
Yeah, that outfall situation is another ungodly mess. I was glad to
hear of the progress.
Lee Bell
> Yeah, that's a sad deal... I'd be interested in hearing about what sort
> of system is proposed. Some sort of hoist at the surface while divers
> hang one tire after another? This would offer non-divers a topside
> opportunity to be active participants. A barge could haul a lot of tires
> to shore while smaller tender boats would offload their catch and
> transport the divers. Whatever ends up, that's gonna be a ungodly mess.
My recollection is that they planned to hook a bunch together and bring them
up at once, but that may have been part of discussions rather than state
plans.
I'm glad this got introduced into this thread. I'm going to move it to a
thread of its own after I send this. Once again reminded of the issue, I'm
going to spend some time trying to find out just what the status of the
state's plans are.
I'll get back to the group with whatever I find, assuming that somebody else
does not beat me to it.
Lee
Lee Bell
Jer: Last I heard (last year I think), the state was looking for funds to
undo
Jer: that catastrophic brain fart.
Lee: They're not looking hard enough. Divers all over the place have
volunteered
Lee: to participate in tire removal projects. All the state has to do is
get us
Lee: there and back and provide a way to take the tires back to shore. Some
of
Lee: us are willing to go further. Some of us with boats would provide our
own
Lee: transportation to the sites and, on a space available basis, would take
Lee: others out as well. In our case, the state doesn't even have to
provide
Lee: transportation, just a way to pull the tires out of the water and get
them
Lee: back to shore. Granted, it would not be a quick process if done by
Lee: volunteers, but it would at least be progress, something we're not
seeing
Lee: now.
Jer: Yeah, that's a sad deal... I'd be interested in hearing about what
sort
Jer: of system is proposed. Some sort of hoist at the surface while divers
Jer: hang one tire after another? This would offer non-divers a topside
Jer: opportunity to be active participants. A barge could haul a lot of
Jer: tires to shore while smaller tender boats would offload their catch and
Jer: transport the divers. Whatever ends up, that's gonna be a ungodly
mess.
My recollection is that they planned to hook a bunch together and bring them
up at once, but that may have been part of discussions rather than state
plans. It's been a while since this topic was last discussed.
Jer
> Jer wrote
>
>> Yeah, that's a sad deal... I'd be interested in hearing about what sort
>> of system is proposed. Some sort of hoist at the surface while divers
>> hang one tire after another? This would offer non-divers a topside
>> opportunity to be active participants. A barge could haul a lot of tires
>> to shore while smaller tender boats would offload their catch and
>> transport the divers. Whatever ends up, that's gonna be a ungodly mess.
>
> My recollection is that they planned to hook a bunch together and bring them
> up at once, but that may have been part of discussions rather than state
> plans.
I presume they'll be half full of water at the surface, so that hoist is
gonna have to be a healthy one.
>
> I'm glad this got introduced into this thread. I'm going to move it to a
> thread of its own after I send this. Once again reminded of the issue, I'm
> going to spend some time trying to find out just what the status of the
> state's plans are.
>
> I'll get back to the group with whatever I find, assuming that somebody else
> does not beat me to it.
>
> Lee
>
>
You being a local fella helps you stay closer to this issue than I ever
could. And, yes, like the outfall thing, this deserves a lot of our
attention, given what's at risk. I've looked on the reefrescue site and
couldn't find much on the tires just now, I hope it hasn't slipped off
their radar.
Lee Bell
> could. And, yes, like the outfall thing, this deserves a lot of our
> attention, given what's at risk. I've looked on the reefrescue site and
> couldn't find much on the tires just now, I hope it hasn't slipped off
> their radar.
Check res.scuba. Mike Gray, El Stroko Guapo, just posted some information
on the subject in that forum.
Lee
John Smith
the Keys.
Dillon Pyron
Where from? The Flower Gardens and Stetson's are all getting great
reviews for this summer.