FORT WHITE -- To the otter, it must have been like watching live reality TV. He had just grabbed a sushi snack -- a live crayfish from the Ichetucknee River -- when he was confronted by two women in a canoe, plus several giggling young girls floating by in giant, yellow plastic tubes.
BEST BET Captain Lain Goodwin of Dirty Water Charters out of Key Largo reports that those seeking spiny lobster should have plenty of success because of good reports from divers, snorklers and bullynetters during the two-day miniseason. Goodwin says to look around any structure, ledge or reef on the Oceanside or bayside from Key Largo south to Key West. In Florida, spiny lobster must have at least a three-inch carapace, and you are allowed six per person. You must have a measuring device and dive...
The Undersea Adventurers Dive Club will meet Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Emma Lou Olson Civic Center, 1801 NE Sixth St., Pompano Beach. The meeting is free and open to the public. Guest speaker is Robert Myer discussing diving in Fiji. Visit http://usadiveclub.com/.
You know your ''secret'' dive spot is not a secret any longer when you arrive there only to find a professionally installed mooring buoy floating on the surface. That is what happened recently to the crew at Florida Keys Dive Center in Tavernier. But it is not a bad thing. Even though the dive operator will have to share the pleasures of what it calls ``Pleasure Reef,''at least boats tying up there won't do damage to the spectacular coral caverns.
Recreational boaters might breathe a sigh of relief now that President Bush has signed into law the Clean Boating Act of 2008. The new law restores a long-standing exemption for pleasure boats from a permit program aimed at rooting out industrial-strength polluters. Boating industry lobbyists fought successfully to get rid of a provision that would have established required maintenance procedures and penalties for small boats plying the nation's waterways.
LOBSTER SEASON
The Coast Guard spent several hours Wednesday night searching for a 30-year-old man who went missing while diving for lobster off Key Biscayne.
FISHING REPORT
BEST BET Captain Gil Gutierrez, on the charter boat Lucky Vee, reports fishing off of Miami has been red-hot, with limit catches of kingfish to 20 pounds in depths from 140 feet to 200 feet of water; catches of mutton snappers, groupers and amberjacks on the wrecks outside of 200 feet of water; and catches of just-legal dolphins out in 600 to 1,000 feet of water under groups of birds.
Paddlers, hikers, anglers, and wildlife watchers concerned about the future of commercial services at Flamingo in Everglades National Park are invited to a two-day workshop Aug. 4-5 at the Campbell Agricultural Center auditorium, 18710 SW 288th Street, Homestead. For more information, call Jill Horwitz at 954-961-1280, ext. 201 or e-mail jhorwitz@npca.org.
FISHING | LOBSTER MINISEASON
No one paid much attention to the faded, 29-foot Renegade speedboat idling among the crowd of lobster divers in south Biscayne Bay during Wednesday's opener of the annual statewide miniseason.
LOBSTER MINISEASON
The last week of July means two things in Florida: the increased threat of hurricanes and a sharp spike in work absenteeism on Wednesday and Thursday.
TITUSVILLE -- A strange thing happened this summer in the Indian River north of Titusville. And when the word got out, lots of people sought to take advantage of it -- including me.
