Blue Heron Bridge Trolls

[DiveDivaDM]

Good vis on the east side today. Eagle rays and cuda. Found a small crab had made a home inside of a glass bottle, was a cool little window into his day to day. Couple lobster, horseshoe crab, and an arrow crab on the north side of the east bridge.

The chicks (minus 1) dove the same area and saw about the same things. We did explore further south of the east bridge than we had been before. Viz was good. It was nice to be able to see where you were going. Temp about the same 80. We are going again today to do some more exploring. We found some structures we had not seen before and want to figure out where they are in relation to the bridge and snorkel trail. We are hoping the viz holds up. Jimw sez he is staying home today. We shall see. We lured him out yesterday with a stop at Sweet Tomatoes. Guess he is tired of being the shore support.

Nice seeing our friend!

 

[guyharrisonphoto]

Let's stay tuned to the weather. I have actually dived this area when the ocean was far too rough to dive on the reefs, and had good vis...not 100% of the time, but often the vis will stil be good, and the waves have largely dissappeared by the time you get near the no wake signs and Annies Dock....there is a very large area west of this, where we would be well out of the waves also. Wind.....Maybe this would cause some more work getting back.....but if so, then the way out would be nice
In any event, I agree we need to see what the weather does.....tell your friends....if we can get some kind of a group wanting to do this kind of dive, we can get support from the shops to make this easy. I also think we have so many divers now at the BHB, it is time to start getting them spread out into some of the much cooler, higher adventure areas they can access off the beach at BHB

Hi Dan,

Just wondering, how would we transport our cameras if we wanted to try some of the macro opportunities? I have never used a paddleboard so don't know. Tow a raft behind?

 

[danvolker]

Hi Dan,

Just wondering, how would we transport our cameras if we wanted to try some of the macro opportunities? I have never used a paddleboard so don't know. Tow a raft behind?

You are talking big pro cameras, right?
For the big ones, a kayak would be more practical....as it happens, I have a 2 person inflatable, and we could put a couple of big cameras in it

 

[jet126]

One more from the other day ... teeny-tiny little guy - that's a soda can he's hiding in.

 

[guyharrisonphoto]

NICE, that is a really cute tiny one!

 

[DiveDivaDM]

Did yet another chick dive today. Conditions not a good as yesterday. Temp 79/80. Viz varied from 10 & very milky under the dock south of the east span to 15/20 & very milky on the rocks out front. Saw 3 very large puffers, 1 large southern stingray, a large brown seahorse, a pipefish, a nudi and the usual assortment of fish. A long relaxing dive. Jimw didn't come today as our shore support. But, Helen said she brought a couple of "hotties" for us. We used them and they worked okay but lost a lot of heat with the cold water. Still felt some warmth from them. Force E is having a t-shirt and wetsuit sale. 30 to 50% off. Got a nice long sleve black shirt with a pink manta on the front. Helen bought a new hood. We are ready for our next chick dive.

 

[purepursuit]

With the water temp hanging in the high 70's not sure I'll ever need a 5 mil for the bridge, but will def check out the wetsuit sale. I'm in the process of moving from Delray to West Palm so sadly I won't have much time to dive the bridge with work and the move until after thanksgiving. Really love reading everyone's reports and look forward to meeting you all in the future.

 

[cocoajoe]

Report from west end Wed. 7th: Viz varied from 8' to 12'. Computer registered water temp 80 degrees but I believe it's more like 78 or 79. Lot of particulates in water and noticed leaves on the bottom.

Big Sheepshead, a bug, a conch an the usual assorted. Maybe today will be better.

 

[idive2]

Water temps did cool down for thursdays dive. Showed 78 degrees for first time this year.
Viz is still in the 10-15 foot range. I dove the east span and never got north of the bridge so
viz report is from south of the bridge. Under the bridge seemed a little less but that was later in the dive.
I've decided 78 degrees and lower is when the hooded vest will be worn. Had just a beanie and 3 mill
full and did get a bit chilled at about 50 minutes or so. Definitely diveable but hoping viz improves a bit !

 

[danvolker]

Regarding the Paddle and Snorkel Adventure, due to winds and lateness of tide Saturday, this won't be the day where I try to get a whole bunch of you guys to try this with us....However, my friend Bill Mee and I will do another simulation of this trip Saturday, leaving the BHB beach by 3 pm.....If a few of you guys want to go, let me know and I imagine I can get a kayak or paddleboard for you....

We are going to be trying out a new "toy" from Brownies 3rd Lung.....it is a paddleboard that has a battery powered compressor on it, that pushes air down 2 or 3 long hoses like the Tooka or Brownies 3rd Lung....The idea being, you paddle to the site you want to dive, and then tow the paddleboard with it's flag, by the air hose you are breathing from--down to 20 or 30 feet deep. This has a low air warning, where when you get near the end of the battery, an alarm goes off to alert the diver that it is time to go up
We get to play with this new toy for a few weeks, so for this saturday, or the next weekend we do this, any of you that wants to paddle over to the South Jetty area with us, can breathe off a long brownie hose as if you were scuba diving, but without the weight and bother of carrying your own tank.

So we will simulate the plan this saturday....we will paddle the boards and Kayak(s) across to Peanut Island, then skirt along the beach to the South side of the Island. There is a rest Room area, and plenty of other things some of you might want to visit, so we may do a stop just to simulate this, and enjoy it........so then we resume, and cross the channel between Peanut Island and the Island of Palm Beach , after which we skirt along near the jetty and paddle out the inlet to about 3/4 ths of the way out to the end....We will then jump in the water, and allow the tidal flow to give us some excalator based snorkeling or Brownie Hose scuba back to the West end of the Island where the reef ends..... This is a very cool reefline, and very cool even when compared to reefs offshore in 60 feet of water. Depth ranges available are by the Jetty ( 4 to 8 feet), top of the channel wall( 12 feet), bottom of the channel wall reef ( 20 to 35 feet). This is long, and with a lot of life on it. The current will do the work in drifting us to the far west end. We then get back on the boards, and cross the 200 yards or so od nav channel to Peanut Island again, and then anyone that wants a snack would take a break then and do this on the Island....After which, a slow leisurely paddle back the way we first came to the BHB.
Use dan@sfdj.com if you want to go or reach me about this.