Lauderdale by the Sea shore dives

[mntlblok]

Getting ready to jump in the car to make the slog down to LBTS from Savannah again. I think I have some kinks worked out with my camera for this go round. If you see a scroungy, feeble, old guy struggling across the sand with a heavy-looking Ikelite rig, that would be me (I?).

Kevin
Savannah

 

[Danielle's_Dives]

how is it looking lately, jonesing for a dive?
All work and no play really sucks!
Toss in football season for the kid and there isn't a minute to breathe. Off tomorrow, hoping to twist hubby's arm into Pepper Park or LBTS.
Last trip, he ended up with some stomach virus which kept him out of the water for the whole weekend.

 

[OneRestlessNative]

If I had to guess I'd say it is still pretty washed out at Pepper park. Seas have been 2-3 and forecast the same through the weekend East wind 5-10am and building to 15pm. Probably not too bad in Lauderale if the viz is back from the storm and recent rains. Bathtub and Jupiter cams showed some decent wind chop and still some rather green looking water today.

 

[mntlblok]

In spite of surfer-type wave action, gave it a try Saturday morning, the 25th. Made it out past the buoys. Dropped down, but couldn't see the bottom until it was about a foot away. That, along with about a four foot surge, made it way more interesting for diving than I'm up for.

Still learning about the location. My first four trips down this year had totally spoiled me. Last time down there must have been 60 feet of viz, and none of the previous trips had less than 20 feet.

On the bright side, stopped at the Blue Heron Bridge Sunday morning on the way home for my first try there. It was a most pleasant surprise. Very little like what I had imagined. Because of a camera battery issue, I ended up spending almost no time around the pilings area, but rather spent most of my dive (after changing batteries) just off the "beach". No shortage of cool stuff to photograph. Hope to get the pics on line soon.

Kevin
Savannah

 

[c333davis]

In researching SoFL diving, I found a thread here that pointed me to the Gold Coast Scuba Meetup group. My sweetie Jim & I drove down from Jacksonville on Fri, 10/15, for an unrelated event later in the weekend. We had Saturday free, so we joined in on Gold Coast Scuba's free Shore Dive clinic at LBTS.

We're really impressed with Gold Coast Scuba. When we rented tanks and regs from them on Fri, Brian at GCS hooked up Jim's Air2 to test it out on the rented reg, and he encountered a slight free-flow issue. Jim and Brian worked for about 45 minutes to address the problem, and Brian went above-and-beyond, even calling another shop to see if a brand-specific specialist could assist us. What great service. In the end, it was easier to ditch the Air2 and rent Jim a BC from Gold Coast, anyway.

Jim and I met up on Saturday morning with the other group participants and DM Tom Carpenter, who provided a nice dive briefing and tips for those of us new to the area.

The dive itself was fun. Viz was around 20-30 ft, in my estimation, and our max depth was only 17 ft. Saw a lot of fantastic reef fish (a list will have to do, since I don't yet have a digital uw camera) - many stoplight parrotfish, sharp-nose puffers, surgeonfish, goatfish, four-eyed butterflyfish, porkfish, several blennies (can't distinguish specific ones yet), french angels, gray angels, at least one blueheaded wrasse, a few high-hats, sgt majors, fairy baslets, a solitary cowfish, a turtle swimming away from us (doh), and a few yellow stingrays. Saw lots of sea plumes, sea rods, and sponges.

Upon returning to shore, we realized that the car key was no longer in the underwater "lockbox" that I had clipped to my BC. It took a AAA-contracted locksmith about 5 HOURS to respond to our call, break into the car, remove the lock from the car door, create a new key complete with security code, and bring it back to us. I won't even get into what it cost.

Lesson 1: Do not carry the car key on a dive. Sure wish I'd invested the $3.19 in a magnetic hide-a-key beforehand! I learned the hard way.
Lesson 2: Buy a domestic car that's easier to break into and requires less-expensive replacement keys.

Despite the car-key challenge, it was a great day, and we're glad we made the trip. I'm really envious of you SoFloridians who have reefs close by! We're going to check out some of them that are more north and closer to Jacksonville, though we'll definitely be back down to South FL to visit your reefs again.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

C33davis
Sorry to hear about the car. I was exiting the water as ya'll were going in. I carry my car key on one of those clips that is attached to my bathing suit, under the neoprene. If it becomes unclipped, it isn't going anywhere until I take the neoprene off. Of course, that being said, it is not an electronic key either. Any chance of using a non electronic key? A friend of mine uses a shoe string to secure his key around his neck.
As far as fish ID, sounds like you saw a lot of fish and you know your fish! I have never seen a fairy basset off LBTS. Would be cool if you saw one. I know they are common in the Bahamas.

 

[c333davis]

Hey, Scuba_Jenny. Sounds like our paths may have literally crossed at LBTS that day!

It also sounds like you have a good key-stashing system, yourself. I was limited in options for storing my VW key, 'cause it was one of those bulky combined key/remote/switchblade-looking things. I'm thinking I didn't fully fasten the uw case that I put it in... I regret losing it, but regret more that it's littering up the ocean.

Thanks for your comments on the fish IDs. After I posted my fish-peeping list, I reviewed Kevin's (mntlblok's) photos from the same site in July 2010 (link below)... he took some great photos of the fish I saw and more! I was excited to see his pictures. (Thanks, Kevin.)

Pics from July trip:
Collection: July 2010 LBTS

Really enjoyed the area with all the Glassy Sweepers.

Kevin

Edited to say: I'm now questioning my Fairy Basslet sighting... it's possible that I saw the blue/yellow fish with a red eye that's shown in Kevin's July 9, 2010 photo set. Anyone know what that fish is?

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

There's a lot of photos on that site! Is it this one that you call a fairy basslett?
IMG_8630ac2r | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
those are juvenile spanish hogfish.

As far as the keys, any chance of getting a non electrical key just for diving? something that will just open the door maybe, and keep the good key stashed in the car.

 

[c333davis]

There's a lot of photos on that site! Is it this one that you call a fairy basslett?
IMG_8630ac2r | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
those are juvenile spanish hogfish.

Again, our paths cross simultaneously! I was just editing my post to question my "Fairy Basslet" sighting... yes, those may be what I saw instead. Great catch.

And, yes, I got a smaller replacement key, and a magnetic hide-a-key to stash it with the car. Good suggestion.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

Good to hear about the keys. I hope you won't be having any other problems now. Let us know the next time you're in the area, would love to dive with ya!