Home Tournaments Calendar Weather Merchandise Sponsors

Go Back   Spearboard.com - The World's Largest Spearfishing Diving Boating Social Media Forum > United States Geographical Locations > Florida Gulfcoast Spearfishing

Florida Gulfcoast Spearfishing Post here to discuss regional action or issues about spearing on Florida's Gulfcoast.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Rate Thread Display Modes
Old 05-09-2022, 09:11 PM   #1
Diverboy067
Registered User
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 162
42 years ago today

May 9th, 1980
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	Skyway.jpg
Views:	97
Size:	70.9 KB
ID:	248076   Click image for larger version

Name:	Skyway 2.jpg
Views:	92
Size:	38.2 KB
ID:	248077   Click image for larger version

Name:	Skyway 3.jpg
Views:	86
Size:	72.1 KB
ID:	248078  
Diverboy067 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-09-2022, 09:32 PM   #2
North Star
Max
 
North Star's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Oregon
Age: 68
Posts: 6,272
Re: 42 years ago today

Did the ship take out the bridge? Was it too tall? Did it take out the abutment in a collision? Looks like a really unhappy situation.

Edit: found this

In 1980, the M/V Summit Venture, an empty phosphate freighter headed for Tampa to load cargo, struck a pier supporting the southbound span, causing the bridge to collapse.
__________________
nec timor nec temeritas (neither fear nor foolhardiness.)
North Star is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-10-2022, 07:44 AM   #3
Diverboy067
Registered User
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 162
Re: 42 years ago today

Go to youtube and search for "Summit Venture", there is a short video of the mayday radio call from the Summit Venture and there is also a 20 something long video that explains it all, including the NTSB findings......35 people died.
Diverboy067 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-10-2022, 04:55 PM   #4
North Star
Max
 
North Star's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Oregon
Age: 68
Posts: 6,272
Re: 42 years ago today

Thanks!
__________________
nec timor nec temeritas (neither fear nor foolhardiness.)
North Star is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-10-2022, 08:52 PM   #5
Marcus
Naval gazer extraordinair
 
Marcus's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 42,214
Re: 42 years ago today

My Grandpa worked on that bridge. I remember when it collapsed. My neighbor was on the downhill of bridge when the ship hit. He felt the bridge shake.
__________________
“If the natural tendencies of mankind are so bad that it is not safe to permit people to be free, how is it that the tendencies of these organizers are always good? Do not the legislators and their appointed agents also belong to the human race? Or do they believe that they themselves are made of a finer clay than the rest of mankind?”
― Frederic Bastiat, The Law
Marcus is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-10-2022, 10:15 PM   #6
Spear One
Retired Comm. Shooter
 
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Largo, Florida
Posts: 5,140
Re: 42 years ago today

I remember that day well. We used to dive the Skyway quite a bit and I had actually dove the bridge the day before the collapse. We had done very well on fish that day and the visibility was very good so I had decided to go back the next morning. I was awakened early that morning by very loud thunder and lightning so I decided to just go back to sleep and skip diving that day. Turns out that was the storm that reduced the visibility to near zero and this was a key contributing factor in the ship colliding with the bridge. Sadly, quite a few innocent people lost their lives that day.
__________________
Ocean Rhino Spearguns: Designed & Built By Commercial Spearfishermen

Manufactured By: Spearfishing Specialties (727)-548-7686

E-mail: oceanrhino@gmail.com Web: OceanRhino.com
Spear One is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 05-11-2022, 12:51 AM   #7
Marcus
Naval gazer extraordinair
 
Marcus's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 42,214
Re: 42 years ago today

Captain was drunk.
I've quite a few spots in that channel from where they dug it out. I've gotten legal lobster and Hogfish East of the Skyway. As I recall, there's been several tournament winning Sheepshead coming from the bay. ) That channel has some good diving all the up to the port. I cut my teeth freediving those waters. Stone crabs, mussels, fish, etc... BTW, I'd avoid the idea of spearfishing around the pilons of the Skyway. There are huge boulders protecting the pillars. They have 'caves' all thru them and the mangroves zip in and out of them with great speed enticing you to dull your spear tip on the rocks. They suck. I haven't seen any groupers to shoot around them. You'll occasionally find a grouper holed up in the bottom swash around the pillars if'n your not being all bubbly.
Non-native green stripped clams have infested all the pillars. There's no limit on them. Go down, collect the biggest and suspend them in the water column (5 gallon bucket of seawater kept at consistent ideal temps ) in a mesh bag for a day or so such they spit out any sand. Scrub/prepare/cook them like you'd get served in any nice restaurant with the clam/wine sauce, fresh bread, and olive oil/herb dipping sauce. Make u wanna slap your mama j/k.
__________________
“If the natural tendencies of mankind are so bad that it is not safe to permit people to be free, how is it that the tendencies of these organizers are always good? Do not the legislators and their appointed agents also belong to the human race? Or do they believe that they themselves are made of a finer clay than the rest of mankind?”
― Frederic Bastiat, The Law

Last edited by Marcus; 05-11-2022 at 01:12 AM.
Marcus is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 08:19 AM.


The World's Largest Spearfishing Diving Social Media Forum Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2002 - 2014 Spearboard.com