Gasparilla Island Florida Beach Dive - Artificial Reef

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for Gasparilla Island Florida Beach Dive - Artificial Reef

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Canyon Diver - 7 years ago

I live on the island and dive this spot every two weeks or so, it's only a quarter mile from my house. Vizability is hit or miss. I see Divers/spear-fishermen on the reef literally everyday now and there are no legal size fish left. There used to be a ton of life on this but with spearfishing rising in popularity, rookies are shooting anything that they see. You can tell this video was from awhile ago because he shows so many fish. I also saw a 8 foot hammerhead out there last week when I was diving. The sharks on Gasparilla island are VERY aggressive so stay aware of your surroundings. Nevertheless, Good luck out there y'all!

BigYingAdventurestoo - 7 years ago

The Google Earth coordinates for this reef were way off. Yours were right on. When I was at your coordinates, the Google Earth coordinates I got said the reef was .4 miles away. Visibility was pretty low today. Couldn't see the bottom unless you dived.

Leonard Martin - 7 years ago

Great video. Going to check that out next time I'm in town!!!

Fighting Fish Tackle Co. - 9 years ago

Have you ever tried to fish this ?

CrypticCRICKET - 9 years ago

+Fighting Fish Kayak Adventures Yes. The fish are hard to catch. I've tried spearfishing it too and the fish are very wary when you're in the water with a speargun.

MegaBait56 - 10 years ago

also the water was sooo clear. some of the other folks there said the water was a lil cloudy ,but i could see 20' which in my book is pretty good. your a lucky man to live there. also it's a free state to.

CrypticCRICKET - 10 years ago

The water clarity can be bad at times. The other day we went at low tide on a calm day and the vis was about 4 feet. Algae bloom. When the tide came in the water cleared up a bit. Sometimes waves can stir it up. We always check the Sailflow web site for a wind forecast to plan by. We also check the current wind conditions using the GIBA web site's real time weather module.

MegaBait56 - 10 years ago

i was there with my kids a few months ago, same reef. a lot of grunts,snappers,ect. even seen small jew fish that close to beach. you live in a nice spot in fla. and make great video's keep urr up! any more shooting video's?

CrypticCRICKET - 10 years ago

It's a nice part of Florida to live. It gets a little busy in the winter but it's very nice in the summer. I'll be making more videos soon. I think my next video will be an update on my solar power project.

r sos - 10 years ago

great job Cricket love to watch your videos

CrypticCRICKET - 10 years ago

Thanks and thanks for the nice feedback. Glad that you enjoy the videos.

Royal Nonesuch - 10 years ago

Your intro always makes me smile lol. Keep it up my man!

CrypticCRICKET - 10 years ago

Glad that I can make you smile. I like to entertain folks. Thanks for the feedback.

Mickey Authement - 10 years ago

Watch a number of your videos...thanks for posting them. Question(s) for you: I notice different types of Kayaks in other videos. What made you choose the ones you use over a closed deck on w/storage compartments?

CrypticCRICKET - 10 years ago

+Mickey Authement I went to the beach over the weekend. It was a windy day with 2-3 foot waves along the beach. A guy with hatches on his yak was drift fishing a couple hundred yards off the beach. Every 15 minutes or so he was coming back to the beach to drain the water out of his yak. That's what I'm talking about. Better to not have a way for the water or anything else substantial to get in. ;-)

Mickey Authement - 10 years ago

+CrypticCRICKET Thanks for that information. I knew I could depend on you for a straight answer. Had concerns myself about the ones with inside storage but never having owned one I thought I would ask someone who did. Again thanks for your input on this.

CrypticCRICKET - 10 years ago

Good question. We assumed that we would end up caught in really rough water someday and we didn't want a hatch cover popping off at a bad moment. Like getting rolled by the surf or by the pounding of waves as you paddle into them. The other consideration was that the under deck storage space wouldn't be very accessible if conditions were rough because of the risk of flooding the hull through an open hatch. Under deck storage spaces even when sealed aren't always dry spaces. Those hatches add a lot to the price of a kayak and the access wasn't worth the extra money especially if they could fail to keep the inside of the hull dry. If we were paddling quiet water all the time, a yak with under deck storage would be great.

10. comment for Gasparilla Island Florida Beach Dive - Artificial Reef

Jesse Sisolack - 10 years ago

bridge tolls and parking fees. Well, have to make money to maintain the showers and bathrooms somehow. So if I ever take a visit I should plan on at least $10.

This is a really good beginners reef. It is in rather shallow water, easy to find, and easy to get too.

CrypticCRICKET - 10 years ago

We get our dumbbells from thrift stores for just a couple of bucks. They're very weighty for their compact size. You can wrap the anchor line around the dumbbell for storage, The rubber coating doesn't abrade the hull or us.

Jesse Sisolack - 10 years ago

+CrypticCRICKET I like your anchor by the way. As heavy or light as you need, inexpensive, and should not be too damaging if you accidently hit something with it.

CrypticCRICKET - 10 years ago

It's a perfect beginners reef but it also has a lot of neat stuff to see even for old pro's. Being close to land, It's a good place to test your kayak rig if you have one. Anchoring, getting out of the yak and back in, making sure your gear and rigging is up to the task of bigger water. Some days, the water clarity isn't good so you get to experience the eerie feeling of swimming with sharks under bad viability conditions. It's quite an experience. LOL!

John Smith - 10 years ago

Another Great video! Thanks for sharing ... a nice dive that place no doubt!

CrypticCRICKET - 10 years ago

Thanks. It's really nice to have someplace like this for those days when you look at the weather and it's right and you need something to do.

swatnc - 10 years ago

Thanks for showing us the underwater beauty of Florida. Always enjoy your video's. Wish they were places here we could do that. We have great wreck diving but it's all scuba and off shore and deep.

CrypticCRICKET - 10 years ago

These shallow reefs are part of why we chose SW Florida as a place to live. They seem to exist along a lot of our beaches down here. Nice to be able to hop in the car and do a shore dive when the conditions are good and the mood strikes.

wil an - 10 years ago

Great video, Cricket! Thanks for sharing. These are cool videos. Keep 'em coming, please.

CrypticCRICKET - 10 years ago

Thanks! Thanks for the nice comment and thanks for watching!

Rick Murphy - 10 years ago

Yeah, live and fish around tampa bay.i thought you all were located somewhere around st. Pete? Anyways good work with the vids.

CrypticCRICKET - 10 years ago

Much of Southwest Florida is part of the Charlotte Harbor Estuary. This estuary is the second largest in Florida and some of the best fishing in Florida as well. Hyped up? It's a nice area to live IMO. Some people call it heaven, some people think of it as hell. I like it. It works for Mrs Cricket and I. If you're going to relocate anywhere, good idea to spend some time exploring an area and thinking about what's important for you before you commit. That's what we did and it worked out well for us.

Derek Everyguy - 10 years ago

Lighthouse/radio tower hybrid?

Derek Everyguy - 10 years ago

info was informative on this type of tower, and how it almost became forgotten history.

CrypticCRICKET - 10 years ago

Not certain if it was ever used to support an antenna. The "Rear Range Lighthouse" was erected in 1927 on the Island but built and used earlier elsewhere. I've added a link to some history of it, up in the video description box. :-)

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