Gunsmoke Wreck

Gunsmoke Wreck

Tampa Bay Dive Sites

The Gunsmoke lies 24 miles from John’s Pass off St. Petersburg and is reputed to be one of the best wreck dives in the Tampa Bay area.

Tampa Bay – Wreck Diving

The Gunsmoke was allegedly being used as a smuggling vessel for the transporting of marijuana into Florida, when the US Coastguard arrived all they found was a few bales of floating marijuana and a scuttled ship.

This 65 foot shrimper was sunk in 1977 and today lies on the seabed at a depth of 80 feet. She sits upright and is completely overgrown with marine life as you can see by the picture above.

One thing you will notice is there is not many fish frequenting this site and so don’t expect to see a multitude of fish however you will come across goliath groupers and other large fish that consider this wreck their home.

Tampa Bay Scuba Videos

One of the attractions of Tampa Bay scuba diving is that you will be able to take underwater photographs or underwater videos such as the one below.The Gulf of Mexico waters are warm and clear so you will be able to get some good shots.

This video was taken at the Gunsmoke Wreck in Tampa Bay and you can see that there is limited visibilty on some dives so check the conditions before you dive, but the video does give you an idea of what to expect when scuba diving in Tampa Bay at the deeper wrecks. (Press the button second right on the bottom of the video player to see it in full screen)…

Terence’s Log

When scuba diving any of the reefs around Tampa Bay care has to be taken as these reefs were designed and constructed for scuba diving and for Tampa Bay fishing which is very popular so you will see lots of fishing boats around these dive sites.

This is a deep dive compared to the shallower reef dives and you will see that the visibilty can deteriorate and become murky but some of the larger fish you will find here are worth the dive.