About Snorkeling at Treasure island, Florida
When visiting or living on the Gulf coast of Florida, the beach is always prominent in your life. There are very few months in the year that you are unable to snorkel in this beautiful blue gulf water, but the sights underwater are breathtaking.
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Features
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Treasure Island, Florida, has everything a snorkeler could want. Your mask and tube is all you need to start; no other equipment is needed. It is very rare that the Gulf water drops below 70 degree, so your swim suit is perfect to snorkel in. Within a few feet of the shore, schools of grouper, red fish, and trout are routinely seen swimming by. At about 20 feet from the shore, the underwater life comes into vivid color. Hundreds of different types of fish and multiple pods of dolphins swim in the warm waters of the Gulf and barely take notice of your presence.
Expert Insight
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For a truly unbelievable snorkeling experience that does not include chartering a boat, the mouth of the Tampa Bay is spectacular. Treasure Island has just one of those waterways where the warm Gulf encounters the cool Tampa Bay water, creating a completely unique environment. Here you will come face to face with multiple species of dolphins, fish and crustaceans. These are also the areas where you will come face to face with those gentle giants, the manatees. They spend much of their time in this water munching on the abundant vegetation growing on the bottom and playing. Snorkeling with these playful mammals is an exhilarating experience that is hard to describe.
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Features
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Many snorkeling packages include dolphin watching, shell searching and relaxing on an island's beach. Just off the Treasure Island coast are a number of old Civil War and Spanish ships that ran aground because of storms, pirates or just bad navigating. There are also submerged Spanish forts.
Warning
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Florida is known for hurricanes, which are often extremely destructive. The hurricane season is from June to November. These are the months that conditions in the Atlantic, the Caribbean and the Gulf are perfect for the creation and movement of these large storms. These storms changes the normally placid calm waters of the Gulf of Mexico into choppy destructive waves, and many of the wildlife, including humans, relocate. The best way to avoid these behemoths is to pay attention to the weather forecasts.
Misconceptions
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One of the biggest misconceptions is that you must bring your own equipment, because there is only cheap tourist equipment available for purchase. This can't be further from the truth. The only equipment that you need is a mask and a tube. All of the shops on the beach sell these items for between $5 to 20. In addition, many of the charter boats will be happy to give you all the equipment you need to go snorkeling, and most will allow you to keep them as a souvenir. It is true that there are cheap items out there, but you don't have to buy them. There are many shops right on the main drag that sell top-notch snorkeling equipment. In fact, if you wanted to buy a professional mask and tube, there are shops that would be happy to sell them to you. It is true that they will probably cost upwards of $100, but this is top-of-the-line equipment.
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