Capt. Chad Carney
Naples Blue Hole lies 23-nautical miles (nm) WSW of Marco Island. Descending to a 65-ft deep & 82-ft wide rim is awesome-creepy! Sunlight above makes the clear water below appear black. A huge cubera snapper bolted deep, maybe 224-ft to the bottom, while I was holding my girlfriend’s hand, not a speargun!
Captiva Blue Hole 29-nm W of Captiva Island is a round sink, not a “Crack”, in 95-ft of water. The N side slopes, while the other walls are vertical down to 180-ft per Jim Joseph. Most of these sinks frequent Goliath groupers, amberjack, permit, mangrove snappers, and the last 10 years lionfish.
Fish Bowl is a little-known sink 45-nm W of Venice, in 140-ft of water, packed with fish! Unlike most blue holes its floor is only 20-ft deeper with broken rim pieces creating holes for 50-lb+ black “carbo” groupers. It’s a favorite site to teach Technical Spearfishing!
South Spring 45-nm W of Venice, is a blue hole with a 144-ft deep rim & no known bottom. In 2001 I guided James Culter, a Mote Marine Lab Scientist here. He lowered a water sampler & dove to chisel rocks to learn about the hole. 20+ black-tip sharks once visited this hole while we speared AJs and a 25-lb carbo.
Green Banana Sink is 47-nm WSW of Siesta Key, the biggest & deepest known sink at 435-ft by Curt Bowen & Frank Richardson. The rim is 134-ft wide at 154-ft depth. August 2001, Capt. Ron Gauthier and I met with Culter on the R/V Eugenie Clark. Diving beside a ROV video camera, we saw a 50-lb gag, giant tarpon & blackfin tuna. We shot AJs. Mote Marine is expanding their blue hole research & will explore the Green Banana soon with a 600-lb lander.
Diamond Rock Cave 53-nm WSW of Sarasota at a 165-ft rim depth. Al Barefoot & Eric Osking have explored the sink to 390-ft & no bottom yet. I can’t wait to spearfish the rim! Illustrations of DR Cave & many others by Curt Bowen can be found at advanceddivermagazine.com.
Amberjack Hole is 28-nm W of Longboat Key in 114-ft of water. Max depth is 364-ft per Curt Bowen. This most known sink since the 1970s, has snarls of fishing line and tackle. I once met a huge hammerhead shark on my descent here!
Pride Sink 40-nm W of Anna Maria Island in 132-ft of water. Max depth is 234-ft. I watched a buddy drop and recover his speargun straight down to 200-ft. Named from nearby wreck Mexican Pride & also called Russ’ Sink, after a drowned spearfisherman.
Technical Spearfishing & Tech Dive Training is recommended deeper than 132-ft. Call or text Chad Carney at 727-423-7775