If you love to mingle with fish or dabble in underwater photography, this area has lots of SCUBA diving options. Most of the dive shops run charters to inshore and offshore sites and will rent you equipment by the day or by the week. You won't find any live coral reefs, but there's a prolific artificial reef system of old bridge rubble, boats, box cars and even some old army tanks.
The wreck of the Bayronto is a great dive resting 30 miles SSW of Venice inlet it lies upside down and broken in half in 100 feet of water and chock full of fish! It's an old German freighter, over 450 feet long, which sunk during a hurricane in 1919. Visibility this far off the Gulf shore is usually 60-100 feet, but most of the dive sites aren't that deep. They range between 30 and 60 feet of water.
Fish like grouper, amberjack and snapper are plentiful and spear fishing is popular. Make sure you know the bag limits and, by all means, do not spear a Goliath Grouper (formerly known as a jewfish). This is a protected species and carries huge fines up to $5,000. In addition to spearing, collecting prehistoric artifacts is very productive. Venice’s shallow water offers some of the best fossil hunting anywhere-you'll find a variety from giant shark teeth, manatee bones, and whale bones in the shallow water — mostly in 20-30 feet so visibility is generally poor (two-to-10 feet).
Shark tooth collecting tours are available everyday. The areas natural dive site limestone ledges are covered with pink, orange, and yellow sponges & corals along with a beautiful array of algae. The numerous tropical fish, shells and lobster make this an underwater photographer’s paradise. You may even spot a turtle!
