Jupiter - Diving with Giants

Sunday September 13, 2009

Dive Shop – Jupiter Dive Center

2 each, 2 tank dives

Check In
Jerry
Adam

Captain
Jeff

Dive Guides
Harold dives 1 and 2, Sandy dives 3 and 4

Deckhand
Tony

36% Nitrox

30 to 50 foot visibility, varied per dive

Water temperature 87 F + or –

Current – nil to slight

Dive 1 - MG111 Barge
12 large jewfish
1 large southern sting ray

Dive 2 - Loggerhead Reef
1 Hawksbill sea turtle

Dive 3 - Zion Train Wrecks
I got very close (an arm’s length away) from a massive spawning aggregation of giant jewfish. The school was comprised of at least 100 big animals in a tightly packed group. The largest were about 400 lbs. (180 kilos). Very few were under 150 pounds (68 kilos). This was one of the 5 best dives of the hundreds of dives I have done in Palm Beach County, since I began diving there in the early 1970’s.

Dive 4 - Area 51
5 caribbean reef sharks
1 large free swimming green moray eel
1 hawksbill sea turtle
1 jewfish

Palm County’s jewfish spawning aggregations are one of the most spectacular, and somewhat predictable, natural events in the underwater world. These wonderful big beasts deserve to retain the full protection from human predation afforded to them by the State of Florida and the U.S. Federal Government.

References:

Atlantic goliath grouper - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Florida Museum of Natural History Ichthyology Department: Goliath Grouper
FWC -Saltwater Regulations Goliath Grouper Catch and Release Fishery

http://myfwc.com/docs/RulesRegulations/goliath_grouper_A.pdf

If you live anywhere near Jupiter - or want to plan a trip to see these magnificent animals - you should strongly consider doing so.

There is a place in Austraila called the "Cod hole" and a wreck called the "Yongala" that divers see Golaith Groupers/Jewfish - you can see 30 - 50, some of them really gigantic, in one dive in Jupiter.

The sites, MG 111 and the Zion Train wreck (and associated wrecks) are fantastic - I saw 50 on Saturday morning's dive w/ JDC.

The aggregation is only for the next couple of weeks - so go now, or you have to wait until next year.

PS Long time divers will tell you that up until a few years ago, you almost never saw a Goliath Grouper - there were headed for extinction - conservation brought them back. In the early 90's we dove the Thunderbolt (in the FL Keys) and saw the resident Goliath; we talked about it for a week. Now, its fairly common to see them, but still a great sight.

I dove with this outfit on the other boat the same day, my first time ever diving out of Jupiter. We did the 3 tank package with lunch. Hit the Zion/Miss Jenny on the first dive and it was sooo sick. The Goliaths were amazing and the bait balls with all the fish around them were too cool. Then did 2 reef drift dives for lobster. I want to thank JDC and the crew for an AWESOME day and one of my personal best dives ever! Friendly shop, great boat crew, awesome dive-master and a great day on and under the water. Good to hear you guys on the other boat had a great experience as well. We had the boat pretty much to ourselves with only 6 divers including the dive-master. =D They catered to our wishes as bug hunters and another group who was there to take pictures as well. Very informative crew and interested in what we wanted to do for the day with no set agenda. I will personally recommend this outfit to anyone looking to have a fun and safe experience.

Thanks a bunch JDC!! You guys and gals are top notch, cant wait to get wet with you again!

I dove the MG 111 with JDC the weekend before last (unfortunately, I refered to the wreck as the MK 111 in my earlier post and a video I posted on youtube... oh well). Amazing dive, Goliath Grouper everywhere: some huge, some smaller, some brave coming right up to the divers, others a bit more reluctant to venture far from their piling: probably my best dive since getting back into the sport a year ago.... I dove the Mizpah a couple of days before, at the time I thought it was the best dive I had ever done, but the MG 111 topped it. Thanks for posting your dive report.

Hey Ssharkk... I was on the other boat with OneRestlessNative and my son. The Zion was a awesome dive. I couldn't believe all the GG's...

We had 5 divers on the 3 tank dive.. talk about having the whole boat to yourself... Amanda, Chris, and Capt Mike had it easy. All the divers were maintenance free...

Since we had photographers and bug hunters on the boat, Capt Mike made two separate drops... He dropped us on bugs, and dropped the photogs on a Manta Ray... yup! Manta Ray... I missed it, but I saw the video...

The vid is on you-tube now. Unfortunately this happens to be my 1st post, so I can't upload the link to it, but here it goes:youtube.com/watch?v=hQjR5cko7aY

That video turned out great!! Thanks for posting it.

I dove Cod Hole at the GBR. Absolutely amazing. I wouldn't mind going back on that liveaboard!

ft.lauderdale diver:

I dove Cod Hole at the GBR. Absolutely amazing. I wouldn't mind going back on that liveaboard!

Click to expand...

You can come pretty darn close to duplicating that dive about an hour up the road from where you live - cheaper, quicker, easier, and just about as dramatic

SSharkk:

Dive 3 - Zion Train Wrecks
I got very close (an arm’s length away) from a massive spawning aggregation of giant jewfish.

Click to expand...

Great report Jeff!!! We were diving on the Mizpah and saw a ton of them. As you got close, did they 'thump' you??

I'll see you on JDC again soon!