Post Isaac Diving Today

[Reck Diver]

Two Tanks out of Boca today. Seas were 2 feet this morning laying down to 1 or less. Water was a "cool" 80 degrees. Viz was murky but fine for lobster hunting. Viz for diving was better south of the inlets as the north current carried the polluted water north. The cloudy water seemed to make the critters very amenable to hopping in to the loop of the snare. I got 5 and had a couple of shorts and 1 with eggs.

Looked around for a while for a walk, but did see any. Had some friends looking around Boynton and they reported no signs of a walk either. "They're" (who ever They are) are saying tomorrow.

The ICW was a sewer. The water was dark brown, inside the inlet on the incoming tide. If your going in, make sure you a current on your shots. The spillways are still open and nasty water from out west is still pouring in.

Chug, you were in my every thought. They are out there, you should get em this weekend. Back out tomorrow!

 

[sportxlh]

Reck: would you estimate vis in the 30 foot range??

 

[Reck Diver]

Reck: would you estimate vis in the 30 foot range??

I'd say 10-15.... maybe 20 tops. I suspect it will be better tomorrow....

 

[acteg]

I was going to do either BHB or LBTS on Saturday. Which one do you think will have better vis by then? I'm driving down from central FL. I'm thinking LBTS will be better so I'll probably hit that up Saturday then BHB Sunday.

 

[Reck Diver]

I would do a beach dive at LBTS. Try the 6th street reef in Pompano. That's a great beach dive. Not a lot of parking, but the limited number of sports are right on the beach. There is a fresh water shower too. LWDD has the spillways open making the Lake Worth Lagoon a poor choice. Salinity levels will be low, so may critters will take off. I can only imagine what is floating down from the Earman River! All that water from flooded farms out west will be funneling down. It's basically raw sewage. If you do the bridge, make sure your shots are up to date, and maybe get a prescription for Cipro. Something for the ears might not be a bad idea too. I suspect viz on the beach dive will be marginal, the bridge very poor.

 

[mntlblok]

I would do a beach dive at LBTS. Try the 6th street reef in Pompano. That's a great beach dive. Not a lot of parking, but the limited number of sports are right on the beach. There is a fresh water shower too. LWDD has the spillways open making the Lake Worth Lagoon a poor choice. Salinity levels will be low, so may critters will take off. I can only imagine what is floating down from the Earman River! All that water from flooded farms out west will be funneling down. It's basically raw sewage. If you do the bridge, make sure your shots are up to date, and maybe get a prescription for Cipro. Something for the ears might not be a bad idea too. I suspect viz on the beach dive will be marginal, the bridge very poor.

The Palm Beach Post - Google News Archive Search
American Rivers : Sewer Line Breaks, Dumping Raw Sewage in the Hudson
Beaches To Reopen Today - Sun Sentinel
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...t8sIlrFFEV-jRmaWA&sig2=VqVGgTNYKDBmMsrhQk6hOA

From the last one above:

"The growing stench and health concerns in the 1940s and 1950s led to the development of sewage treatment facilities in the 1960s. Currently, no raw sewage flows into the lagoon except during an occasional pipe break or during high rainfall overflow."

Maybe some of you locals know something different, but the above was all I could find with a quick Google search.

 

[fl-diver]

From the last one above:

"The growing stench and health concerns in the 1940s and 1950s led to the development of sewage treatment facilities in the 1960s. Currently, no raw sewage flows into the lagoon except during an occasional pipe break or during high rainfall overflow."

Maybe some of you locals know something different, but the above was all I could find with a quick Google search.

There was a record setting flood event thanks to Isaac over the last week that flooded most of the western communities in Palm Beach County. These areas all use septic systems and wells for water and are under alert for contaminated water. The problem is, all of their run-off water runs almost directly to the Lake Worth Lagoon. This run-off includes any number of pollutants right now.
The BHB has it's water quality without an event like this. I would not recommend diving there this weekend.

I doubt it will be clear even at high tide. Look at the inlet cams and you can see the nasty water leaving the inlet.

 

[acteg]

Thanks guys. Good info.

 

[John from the burg]

There was a record setting flood event thanks to Isaac over the last week that flooded most of the western communities in Palm Beach County. These areas all use septic systems and wells for water and are under alert for contaminated water. The problem is, all of their run-off water runs almost directly to the Lake Worth Lagoon. This run-off includes any number of pollutants right now.
The BHB has it's water quality without an event like this. I would not recommend diving there this weekend.

I doubt it will be clear even at high tide. Look at the inlet cams and you can see the nasty water leaving the inlet.

Inlet cams ????

---------- Post Merged at 12:33 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 12:25 PM ----------

Nevermind, i found them. Thats a handy lil piece right there thanks erv:

 

[Juardis]

There was a record setting flood event thanks to Isaac over the last week that flooded most of the western communities in Palm Beach County. These areas all use septic systems and wells for water and are under alert for contaminated water. The problem is, all of their run-off water runs almost directly to the Lake Worth Lagoon. This run-off includes any number of pollutants right now.
The BHB has it's water quality without an event like this. I would not recommend diving there this weekend.

I doubt it will be clear even at high tide. Look at the inlet cams and you can see the nasty water leaving the inlet.

rather than start a new thread, I'll simply respond in this one. I dove BHB and WPB reefs 8/31, 9/1, and 9/2. You were correct. Viz was so bad and current so unpredictable we (and that includes both dive leaders for our group) totally missed a reef on one day and the dive op we were with cancelled the afternoon boat trip and the night dive we were scheduled to dive. They avoided the wrecks so saw no grouper, saw no turtles, had to concentrate on the small stuff. Plenty of bugs though if you're into that sort of thing. On 8/31 was at BHB in the morning at high tide and viz was about 10 ft and lots of particles in the water. On 9/1 out on the reefs, current was running S on the first dive then switched on us on the 2nd dive (or maybe the surface was running S but down at 60 ft it switched to N?). 9/2 the top 30' viz was 5 feet. I couldn't see my fins. But below that it improved to 20-25'.

I will say this though, the current was not strong at all, but hearing all these great stories about how great the diving was, I think I'll take a stronger current and 60-90 feet visibility to what we had. I literally felt like I was in our local quarry minus the thermocline. One good thing, I was forced to use my recently acquired nav skills to find some of the reefs since I couldn't see them from the drop site.