Dive Review of Aristakat in
The Continental USA/Venice

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Aristakat: "Found Meg teeth", Jul, 2024, by Rick Feinleib , VA, US ( Sr. Contributor 20 reports with 9 Helpful votes). Report 13262.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations	N/A	Food	N/A
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	We dove with this op, and this location, to search for fossilized megalodon teeth. It was our first time doing this, and first visit to Gulf coast SW Florida. Florida diving is literally and figuratively a race to the bottom. This op epitomizes no frills diving. Small boat, set your own gear, no extras. Guides are extra. I suspect all the competitors are the same. Dive conditions are terrible — 10 feet viz first day; maybe 20ft second day. Typical for the Gulf in that area. Depths are shallow — 29 feet was my deepest of 4 dives — so 70-90 min dives is typical, if you don’t get bored. Apparently, buddy diving is discouraged; viz too poor, shallow depths, mean you are closer to surface than to buddy, if you can even find him. A dive guide Brian was terrible. He asked for certs, but didn’t even look; he would have been fine if you waved a library card. He sets tanks with yoke valve openings facing away from the boat — our 2 least experienced divers set their regs upside down. Then he gave me a hard time for not checking their gear. We hadn’t hired him to guide us that first day. He gave us instructions on where and how to look for teeth, and told us to ignore all dive safety rules. We found nothing and we were separated within minutes. Perhaps he knew we would get motivated to hire him the next day. But the next morning he missed the boat — captain said he went on a bender the night before. At least the cap was straight up. We hired a different guide for day two. The search process was totally different than Brian had advised us. At least on the second dive — our last of 4 — we found some teeth. It’s fun to find teeth. But don’t expect much from the op. This is Not resort diving. I am cool with that, but setting expectations here. Tip: to clean teeth, soak in 50% apple cider vinegar, 50% warm water overnight.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	101-250 dives
Where else diving	Coz, Bahamas, LilCayman, GBR, Galapagos, Okinawa, Culebra, San Andres, Belize, Fla Keys, Croatia, Saba
Closest Airport	TPA or Sarasota	Getting There	2hrs from TPA or 40min from Sarasota Regional
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm
Water Temp	85-90°F / 29-32°C	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	8-20 Ft/ 2-6 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	None — they even instructed us to ignore every dive safety rule
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	no
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals	N/A	Tropical Fish	N/A
Small Critters	N/A	Large Fish	N/A
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter	N/A	Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	Really no facilities on boat, but you’re not here for the fishy pics.

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Dive Review of Aristakat in The Continental USA/Venice

Aristakat: "Found Meg teeth", Jul, 2024,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Aristakat in
The Continental USA/Venice