Palm Beach Dive Thread

[Belzelbub]

I used to dive with guys who had the biggest guns they could find & used 2 or 3 bands at a time, including a ridiculously strong "grouper band" that I wasn't able to set. Then, one day, I watched a commercial spearo knock off half a dozen groupers in less than 5 minutes while free-shafting with just a single standard band on each shot & just using a medium sized gun. I learned more about spear fishing in that 5 minutes than I learned from the other guys in a couple of years.

With an enclosed track, you can kind of get away with overloading like that, but with a standard speargun, adding more bands can kill accuracy. It introduces flex in the shaft which leads to shaft whip that robs power and affects accuracy.

The efficiency of those commercial freeshafters is definitely something. I'm nowhere near that fast, but get a little faster each time.

My gun has a muzzle that can support 3 bands. I only have 2 loaded, and really only load a single band. Second band is primarily backup in case one breaks. I also load that first band to the first slot leaving me the option of loading the second if a fish is staying just out of range. I don't have shafts bouncing off a fish. Keeping shafts sharp helps a lot.

 

[MrChen]

Thanks for all the tips and material references.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Conditions this morning 2/24/24:

Shark Canyon

Started out cloudy but the sun came out just as we were splashing. Chilly NW winds from the cold front that came through last night, air temp in the low to mid 60s.

2-3’ seas, moderate north current, 74 water temps, 30-40’ viz (maybe pushing 50’ at points).

Lots of sharks, a few smallish Goliath Grouper, a large Cubera Snapper, 4-5 Gag Grouper (I’ve not seen so many on one dive before), school of cute younger Spadefish with a nurse Shark hiding behind them.

A few videos:

 

[Johnoly]

Shark Canyon........2-3’ seas, moderate north current, 74 water temps, 30-40’ viz (maybe pushing 50’ at points).

Thank you for the conditions report. We're diving at that same area tomorrow(Mon). Great Video with lots of different sharks, Long mono on that one shark. The Jupiter migration season is just finishing up and really cool to see the mix of bulls, reefies and hearing the Lemons are still hanging near the wrecks. About how many diver's were on your boat? Getting reports of good seas but some can't get a manifest to run (even with 2 of the bigger boats dry on the hard surface still for paint)

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Thank you for the conditions report. We're diving at that same area tomorrow(Mon). Great Video with lots of different sharks, Long mono on that one shark. The Jupiter migration season is just finishing up and really cool to see the mix of bulls, reefies and hearing the Lemons are still hanging near the wrecks. About how many diver's were on your boat? Getting reports of good seas but some can't get a manifest to run (even with 2 of the bigger boats dry on the hard surface still for paint)

I was on Pura Vida’s Aurelia with Capt Jason & Dave, Ambar & Phil (formerly with JDC) as crew. We had 16-17 paying divers on the boat. Don’t recall the exact number.

 

[Scott G. Bonser]

Some of the turtles from 6/7 on Flower Garden. The one sleeping with its head on a barrel sponge was a treat!

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…turtles are the ‘Coolest’ indeed…

 

[PBcatfish]

Conditions this morning 2/24/24:

Shark Canyon

Started out cloudy but the sun came out just as we were splashing. Chilly NW winds from the cold front that came through last night, air temp in the low to mid 60s.

2-3’ seas, moderate north current, 74 water temps, 30-40’ viz (maybe pushing 50’ at points).

Lots of sharks, a few smallish Goliath Grouper, a large Cubera Snapper, 4-5 Gag Grouper (I’ve not seen so many on one dive before), school of cute younger Spadefish with a nurse Shark hiding behind them.

A few videos:

I'm not super good at shark ID, but that looks like a bunch of spinners to me.

 

[Catito]

Conditions this morning 2/24/24:

Shark Canyon

Started out cloudy but the sun came out just as we were splashing. Chilly NW winds from the cold front that came through last night, air temp in the low to mid 60s.

2-3’ seas, moderate north current, 74 water temps, 30-40’ viz (maybe pushing 50’ at points).

Lots of sharks, a few smallish Goliath Grouper, a large Cubera Snapper, 4-5 Gag Grouper (I’ve not seen so many on one dive before), school of cute younger Spadefish with a nurse Shark hiding behind them.

A few videos:

Thanks. Did the same dive Sunday…much fewer sharks. Name those sharks? Did the Shark expert say?

 

[Divin'Papaw]

I'm not super good at shark ID, but that looks like a bunch of spinners to me.

I’m honestly not sure.

Thanks. Did the same dive Sunday…much fewer sharks. Name those sharks? Did the Shark expert say?

I think the larger was a bull and the rest were reef but I’m far from certain. I’m very weak at shark ID.

The FAU shark scientist was only on the boat on Sunday unfortunately.

 

[HalcyonDaze]

I’m honestly not sure.



I think the larger was a bull and the rest were reef but I’m far from certain. I’m very weak at shark ID.

The FAU shark scientist was only on the boat on Sunday unfortunately.

Looks like all Caribbean reef sharks; they're pretty much a guaranteed sight on Shark Canyon nowadays.