Venice Beach

If you were not careful you would snatch your face into the sand

Nice swim out to reef . Found a few teeth

Poor visibility. Getting certified

Poor visibility. Getting certified

Limited visibility

Did a shore dive on 6/17/12 and the vis was the best we've ever experienced near shore at about 20+ feet. We walked in right in front of the yellow house with blue shutters on the north side of the pier and dropped down about 10 yards past the sandbar. The first thing we saw was a shell bed and lots of teeth about 1 inch in size. We swam west but didn't go past the buoy because vis was getting worse the farther we went out. We stayed at 17-20 ft depth. The winds were out of the west that day at about 8 MPH and the water was flat. There had been no swells for over 48 hrs. We did a 2nd tank because it was so good. Between my husband and me, we found almost 500 teeth and the largest was a 2 inch snaggletooth shark tooth.

Wow, brought two tanks, only used one due to zero vis. Was looking forward to shark tooth hunting in 15/20ft, however, couldn't see my hand, much less dive buddy. Still better than sitting at home.

My wife an I dived this site 6/04/11. Good conditions. An east wind brings the best viz which on this day was around 10'. No current to speak of. The first small reef just past the marker consists of rocks (depth about15') and produces lots of small teeth. The second reef of large blocks produces the bigger teeth but we didn't get out there on this trip. Nice fun dive. Facilities are great.

It was 8am 9/27/08, Jennette and I reached the free public parking lot in Venice Beach. It was about one third full but we found a parking spot next to a beach entry walk on the south end of the lot and park. The wind was out of the east 5-8 mph and the gulf was flat with no visible current, 83 degrees with a 4-6 foot vis. We burned 2 tanks. With the 1st tank we started swimming out to the marker on south end of the public swim area and worked the rock blocks 20 yards west of the buoy where we found nice small teeth, lots of small fish including flounder, grouper and sheepshead as well as big stonecrab (no take yet). It was 5-8ft vis, no current, no bad jellyfish. Off to a good start! We swam in, swapped tanks, and like every diver we looked at the water and said what's over there. So hoping that a new spot would even the odds and I could find more teeth than her, off we went. Jennette has the eye and can find the small teeth 2 to 1 over me, and that's just the way it is-- LOL. She does the same thing with the stonecrab, and I taught her how to find and take the claw. With the 2nd tank we waded the length of the swim beach from south to north and swam out to the northern most buoy and started our dive out to the west finding natural reef with 1-3 foot relief, lots of plant life and more fish. We found several large rib bone piles in the reef cracks. This appears to be a better spot for larger teeth but no luck yet. We each found several small teeth and worked around to the NW about 100 yards looking at large rocks and small ledges for teeth. We surfaced and swam back to 1st dive spot to finish the tanks. This is a great trip because it's fun!

It took me 3 trips and about 9 dives before I broke 100 teeth per trip with a 3 dive trip, but I finally did it. It took my girlfriend 2 trips and 4 dives to break 100 so I guess you know who has the eye. We dove off the public beach with great parking. You just need to be there by 8am to get a spot. The walk to the water was a little long but worth the effort and the vis was between 10-15 foot until you stirred the water up, so a little current was nice. Don't waste your air if you're looking for teeth until you get to the swim area buoy line where the water is about 14 feet deep and a line of 4 foot square blocks runs up and down the beach about 20 yards west of the buoy line. We found a lot of teeth and fish around these blocks where the current moved the sand. Use a flag on every team or every diver if the vis is bad and go up and down to keep track of your buddy. We found several kinds of teeth as well as other fossils. A great collecting trip if you want to have something to take home, also if you dive in season the stone crab are in every hole you find and taste sooo good after a long day. Enjoy!

I've been diving Venice since 2001, both swimming from shore and from a kayak. Vis is usually 5-15' and if you are real lucky 20-25. Best to dive with east winds, both the day you dive and the day before. Teeth start in 16-18 foot. The farther from shore, the better the vis and better chances of bigger teeth. I prefer to dive south of the public beach and north of the pier. http://www.flickr.com/photos/28517750@N05/2663371107/ Pic is teeth from a dive on 7-10-08. Usually if you are finding lots of small teeth, there will be few big teeth and vise-versa.

This is a great Sunday morning dive. Last year my Girlfriend and I came 3 times and never went home with less than 30 teeth each. The first time we dove this site (which was last year) I found a Megladon Tooth. That first dive also was the only time I experienced 15 ft viz which many say never happens but I will testify it has. I have been there once this year and you can usually expect viz to be 5 to 3 feet. Just as everyone says, the teeth are found as soon as you hit 18ft. The best part of coming here to dive is that if conditions are unfavorable, which they are at times, you can always walk the beach and find teeth. If you have a good eye there are plenty!

We go right off the Concession stand on Venice Beach. Parking can be an issue in the summer so be prepared if you have a lot of gear. There is a bit of a walk to the shore from the parking area. I don't know about anyone else but we've been coming for 2 years and I have NEVER seen 15 foot vis. Ever. Best is about 5...maybe 6 to 8ft in really good conditions. It's a great place for beginners to fine tune their skills and have some fun. Always take a dive flag with you...there are a lot of watercraft out there and they come mighty close at times. You can find yourself getting pretty far out when you are nose down searching for "just the right" shark's tooth so do pay attention. It's not a big deal unless you ascend without much air left and you find you have to surface swim all the way back. It happened to me and I am more careful now. Red Tide can be a big problem here as well. We always check conditions before we head out and that helps. But things can change very quickly under the water so make sure while you are down to look up and around you once in a while to observe your location. It's also really easy to loose your partner.....a tether might be a good idea. You can loose someone in a second or two when it is 3 or 4 ft vis. But overall it's a fun, low stress daytrip dive for us...and no cost except the gas to get there!

This is the place to get sharks teeth, well sort of anyway. We have been here twice and the first time the vis was OK at best but area was loaded with baby jelly fish. A book said that the teeth were at 18 feet, and it was right on the mark -- that is exactly where we started finding them. The second time here conditions were all wrong and vis was zero. Typical Gulf coast shore dive problem.

Three easy sites at Venice beach to get lots of small fossil shark's teeth. Typically you can get 50-200 in an easy shore dive. The pros (yes there are pro teeth divers) can get up to 1000 per dive. Swimming around looking for big Megalodon teeth (rare near the beach) drastically reduces the number of small teeth you will recover. Experience and knowledge of local conditions allows time to be spent in productive spots rather than over sand. Conditions are usually 5-10 feet vis in the summer which is plenty for looking for teeth on the bottom 3 feet from your face. But most local people dive solo or solo at the same time when other solo divers are in the water. The only effective way to dive with a buddy and to look for teeth at the same time is to be tethered to your buddy with a buddy line. In warm still water 15-18 feet deep a couple of hundred feet from shore most divers feel comfortable without a buddy. We also have 2 vacation units a few miles away in Nokomis; you can check them out at www.seahorseshores.com -- if you stay with us, I'll be glad to show you the ropes!

This was one of the last 3 dives I've done at Venice (sharky fishing pier area). I went out to about 15 ft. There was 1 to 2 ft vis out to 18 ft, and, about 1/4 mile and north of pier, 3 to 6 ft vis or better. But finding only2 small teeth it, seems the beach renourishment has covered the teeth I've been diving here for about 12 years by both dive boat and beach. The amount of teeth keeps going down as well as the size. One of the reefs is under 5 ft of sand. It used to be the first reef found in about 8 ft of water. The town of Venice needs to change to the 'Ex-shark tooth capitol of the world.' I'll still keep diving here, and hope some of our storms uncover the teeth. It's got to get better, since it can't get any worse! I've had great days out here, and I hope it comes back.

I've been diving off Venice Beach several times in the past year, mostly because of its proximity to home, cost of diving (free), and ease of the dive. There is a fair sized reef about 1/4 mile offshore that is home to several hard and soft corals, crabs, snails, shrimp, and various reef fish. Fossilized shark teeth are everywhere, but I've never found one larger than an inch and a half. Maximum depth I've had was 22 feet (high tide) and visibility has generally ranged from five to ten feet. All in all, this is a great dive and is perfect for beginners or intermediates. It would make a great night dive, and it's a great Sunday afternoon dive when you just want to get in the water.

My wife and I visited Venice a few more times. We are learning to read the weather better. All three of the last times were favorable. Two had good sea and visibility, but one didn't make any sense. I think someone is currently dredging. For the first two dives, visibility was good and the sea conditions were excellent. I discovered a reef, saw a Queen Conch, Sheepshead fish, what may have been a scorpion fish, various shells, and unidentified fish. In the last of our three dives there were 10 other dive teams in the water when we started our dive. The sea conditions were good and visibility was good close to shore, but it worsened the further out we went. We decided to turn around when we couldn't see where we were going. We went as far as 17 feet. Even with poor visibility we still saw a decorator crab, hundreds of snails, an unidentified fish, lots of sand dollars, and we were both cleaned by a Sharksucker. We didn't have the pleasure of seeing other divers or sharks once we went down.

My wife and I visited this beach hoping to find fossilized shark teeth. We swam out about 100 yards and went down to about 15 feet. We couldn't see anything. The waves were pretty large so the conditions weren't the best. It was also low tide. We did meet other divers who were more determined. We decided to cancel the dive. We may try again in the future.

We did this dive looking for shark's teeth on 11/11/04. We dove straight off the public beach. Parking was great early in the day, but got crowded by 10am or so. There are benches right on the beach, which make it great to gear up. The Gulf was mirror flat and there was absolutely no current. The bottom was way, way too silty. Visibility was about 5 at the best of times and a solid 0 at others. Usually, it was in the area of 1-2 feet. My girlfriend and I held hands most of the dive, to avoid becoming separated, and even then, we got lost once. Stirring the bottom was a disaster... The bottom was so bad, that we didn't find ANY teeth while diving. However, the trip was not lost, we found about 20 teeth in the surf line, during our surface interval. Most between 1/2 and 1 inch. If your looking for Sand Dollars, it's great! We gathered about 40 of them, and saw at least that many more. At one point, right at 10 feet, the entire bottom was covered with them as far as we could see, but they were all alive, so we didn't grab them... There must have been 50 of them all within a 10 foot circle!! Some fish, including a Leopard Searobin. Minimal plants. Would be really nice on a high viz day. But the local dive shop says that late in the year like this, the bottom is always like this. He says check it out in the spring and early summer, and I'd have a much different opinion. The teeth we did find were very cool though, and made the trip from Cocoa Beach worth it.

Went diving for shark's teeth on March 27th, 2004. Waves were flat and visibility was roughly 15-20 ft. We were diving on the North side of the public beach about a 1/2 mile south of the Jetty. Found 150 sharks teeth in 18 ft of water. Teeth were from tiny to 1".

Viz was better than I anticipated. Sharks' teeth are about a 1/4 of a mile offshore. Lots of sand dollars, too.

Park at public parking. Go up the public beach, swim out straight from the first condo a few 100 yards about 20' water. Some sharks (nurse), few fish, not really a beauty, lots of shark teeth.