The continuing sagas of the Blue Heron Bridge

[pygar]

I know I haven't posted in a long time my friends, but when I read these most recent posts, I had to speak up. I am aware that I was instrumental in introducing BHB to a lot of you, and for any small part I may have played in this most recent horror story, I must apologize. I have not been to the bridge in almost a year for similar reasons.There is absolutely no boater education regarding divers and their flags going on at all. It is very scary to know how bad things have gotten at a previously safe and protected dive site. BHB is one of the few shore dives in SoFlo that we could all enjoy and feel secure at. It saddens me greatly to hear about this most recent near tragedy. I hope everyone is okay.
Moreover, it does not surprise me that there was a law enforcement officer involved. They seem to be undertrained and underinformed, especially as regards divers. We have been labeled a nuisance and "thrill seekers" and therefore not worthy of concern. It is just indicative of the "laws for you but not for me" attitude that seems to be permeating every sector of our government.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

[offtopic] Hey you Pygar! How ya be? Hope all is well../offtopic

 

[tibenmiami]

Frog Fish with its lure. The frog fish jiggles the bait for potential prey, they enter the strike zone and they are lunch

 

[Sully3]

awesome frogfish! We've only ever found one when we come down to dive the bridge

 

[tibenmiami]

 

[snaphappy]

Hi Joyce,
Thanks for posting this and alerting everyone to the careless attitudes that some boaters have toward divers at the bridge. Since I've been talking with other divers about what happened, it's been amazing to hear how many times similar near-misses have happened at the park.
Something definitely needs to be done, and the friends I was diving with are filing a more formal complaint with the sheriff's office along with some outstanding recommendations for helping to improve diver safety.
There are more details about this incident on the Diver To Diver forum on Scubadiving.com in case anyone is interested.

Here's the link: Near-tragedy at Phil Foster Park yesterday+

Please be safe out there everyone! Robyn

 

[BHB ScubaTroll]

The issue has always been there. In the past, more divers would be diving the east span this time of year... more divers than would be diving the west span.

With divers being pushed to the west side, the issue is magnified and increased due to natural increase in divers per square ft.

Since the dive flag laws are written;

For Boaters in Florida

Vessel operators must make a reasonable effort to maintain a distance of at least 300 feet from divers-down flags on open waters and at least 100 feet from flags on rivers, inlets or navigation channels. Vessels approaching divers-down flags closer than 300 feet in open water and 100 feet in rivers, inlets and navigation channels must slow to idle speed.

If a boat is in the area of divers and is doing idle speed, they are within the law.

That being said, I was in 4' of water on the west side when a boat went over me at idle speed and my face was within inches of the prop. I stood up and yelled at the boater, but he didn't hear me or the lifeguard blowing his whistle. My flag was right there and he was within 2' of it. In this instance, the boat was not supposed to be in that area and the life guard was attempting to get him out of the area... the boat puttered off and over into the channel from there.

 

[jimw]

Hi SnapHappy,

Thanks for joining here. We were there that day, but didn't see anything. We did overhear the 3 divers with you speak of the incident while at Force E later the same day. I joined the Scuba Diving forum in order to follow this issue. We are going again tomorrow but may stay away from the moorings altogether. I hope the safety of dive students can be assured at the bridge site.

 

[sportxlh]

ben: nice nice nice photos: especially the frog fish!!

 

[jimw]

We went today and yesterday--viz seems to be improving--after the tide reversal today it was pretty clear, maybe 30 ft of viz--the best I've seen there with the tide running out!! Saw a bunch of rays--3 Eagles, a Bullnose I think, lots of Yellow Rays, clouds of baitfish--very nice dive today, so we're going tomorrow and hope for great viz........................