Mares X-Stream Fin Review

I wanted to wait before I wrote a review on my new fins. Prior to a diving trip to Cozumel Mexico with Scuba Board (Invasion), I was in need of fins. My old fins had been used and abused for the past 7 years and were cheap, old, outdated, and I felt extreme fatigue with my long surface swims that we have in Venice Florida when shore diving. I was researching fins and was really intrigued how fins could vary from 60$-200$+ and all of the options. Scuba Board typically helps with reviews but even there I was hitting a dead end, with a conclusion I would wait till I went on the invasion and won a pair. I walked into the drawing the day of the contest and told Roxanne (the drawer) that I was going to win, and boy did I.

I have waited about 5 months to put about 20 dives on these fins before I gave any recommendation. I can say I have owned 3 pairs of fins my entire diving career and these are by far the best I have owned. They are easy to on and doff with a thick rubber retention strap. I ordered (BLACK on BLACK), and found the fins to be light weight barely noticeable when on. The make up of the fin has both solid and soft plastics, and an interesting alien style shape/influence. The foot pocket has not lost shape at all (I store without the plastic inserts) and has holes in the pocket that I find prevent your boots from getting stuck inside with suction like my old pairs. The Mares X-Stream fins appear to have created a balance between soft/hard split/solid fins and I feel give me the best of all worlds. The surface swims for shore dives are a breeze and instead of stopping and beginning my dive feeling exhausted from the swim, I stop when I want and dive with less exertion.

Now in all honesty at a current price tag at 180$ I would have passed on these fins simply because I did not see the value of the price point. I can assure you after diving these fins and seeing the night and day difference in exertion alone, I would not hesitate on recommending these fins and am in love. Mares you have a new customer.

Perfect Storm

Well the weather in the Venice area is getting cooler, which is bittersweet for me. It means busting out the 7mm wet suit, hood, gloves and freezing after long dives, but it also means that the clarity of winter is coming due to a lack of algae growth in the water (less "snot" or suspended particle). With the hurricane that is hitting the North East we have seen an increase in wind and wave action which again is a mixed bag of feelings. I am excited due to the teeth I am sure the rough surf are bound to uncover for me to find :) I am planning a dive as soon as the water is safe to get into, before everyone has a chance to pick over the fossil beds, expect a post soon of that adventure. 

 

Turtle Beach- Donut Dive (Event)

Today I enjoyed my first Donut Dive, this is a monthly event sponsored by a local dive shop: Florida Underwater Sports (Sarasota). Today's theme was Halloween in nature and was an underwater pumpkin carving contest. We met up in the parking lot of Turtle Beach around 9am, a group of approximately 30 divers enjoyed free donuts (hence the name) and awaited the briefing from the DM. We hit the water in self organized dive groups and began carving pumpkins just offshore from the beach. Visibility was not the best around 2-4 feet with suspended particles, however just fine enough for us to work at the task at hand. IT WAS A BLAST! After the dive (no set down time) we met back at the same meeting area for voting. A winner was selected, unfortunately not me.... and 2 dive charter packages were handed out.

I highly recommend the "Donut Dive," great way to mingle, network, and of course dive. If your partner-less it is a great way to meet people, enjoy getting wet, and a new locale. I will have to re-dive Turtle Beach again and post a review on the spot, it lacked any structure from what I could tell and apparently has an abundant array of marine life. I was focused on an orange pumpkin so I cannot really comment on that. The dive was well organized and had a check in/out board for accountability and tracking. I have included a video of the dive and the link for the dive shop so you can find a list of events they are sponsoring.

www.floridaunderwatersports.com/

Time off

Well, I took a trip to Cozumel Mexico and have not dove Venice since.... ha. I love my stomping grounds its not that I am spoiled I swear :) However we have been battered by Hurricanes off the coast ect... Viz has been improving lately in the gulf to the tune of 10-15 off the beach. I am a little nervous because all the fossil beds that I had been well aware of for Megs I am sure have changed. I will be posting some spots, and finds as soon as I hit the water within this week. I have also asked a local Free Diving Spear Fisher to help add to this blog. His name is Tom, and look for some stuff from him very soon.

Beach Bash

I am a huge fan on a website www.scubaboard.com it is a forum with tons of resources for the avid diver. One of the many perks I have found with this website is its ability to help network the dive community. Recently scheduled was a "Venice Beach Bash" an annual dive event where a bunch of divers get together, the local charter captains offer free dives out to the bone yard. If you are ever in the area around June take a look at the site and plan to meet some great people, and do some awesome dives. I recommend joining the site regardless and if there is a referral option please mention COWSskateGOOD, you will find TONS of reviews, spots, tips, accident reviews.....

Swell Info

In an attempt to drive more traffic to our blog, and help share and promote information of the local area. I have signed up as a www.swellinfo.com poster ? Well I am not quite sure of the title, however I will be posting condition reports on the website to help out fellow divers/snorkelers. As soon as my account is set up and activated I will link to the page.

Finding Fishing/Spear Spots

Well today is far from a good dive day, I was tempted to take the boat out and search the area for "numbers or dive locations." but the wind was really to strong to make it enjoyable. I find it very difficult to find a website that shares any of this information, so I plan on updating this blog with numbers that I research/find. On my non-dive able days I find myself researching and today was no different I went to West Marine and purchased a Dive/Fishing Chart of the area that has about 100 sets of coordinates up and down the coast from Sarasota/Port Charlotte, and one of my goals is to dive almost all of them and hopefully find some fish to shoot. I have learned to look for ledges, reefs, or other structure that the fish like to use as a home, this can be done on bad viz days by driving your boat in a methodical search pattern looking for changes on your depth finder, or by sheer luck. Subscribe to my blog for updates of locations.....