Blue Heron Bridge Trolls

[BHB ScubaTroll]

A little paint here and there really changes the look in here.

Welcome Trolls!

What can I say, spending time with a bunch of grumpy trolls under a bridge... Now, that's what I call living!

Sunday, June 19 2011 - MedFlame03 Officially Becomes a Troll!

MedFlame03 (Karen) and Lives4sharks (Carolyn) arrive at Chez Beckwith/Jeup approx. 3:30 PM June 18. We gave them the tour and allowed Karen the chance to catch a lizard in the back yard (apparently this is something she does when in South Florida?)

Off to ForceE to get tanks filled, then to the bridge for a land briefing. While we were standing on the fishing pier a Spotted Eagle Ray surfaced and gently made its way under the bridge (Carolyn got that photo op) and we were able to make out a yellow ray here and there from our perch above.

Off to dinner at the Waterway Cafe' for a fine filling dinner and back to Chez B/J for a night of camera setup and Jeff Dunham... Full evening indeed.

Sunday June 19;
I arrived at Phil Foster to grab a pavilion. To my surprise, there are no parking spaces at 8:00 AM and people are out of their cars along the bridge. Little did I know that workers were imploding the landmark smoke stacks at the port. Once that was complete there were plenty of spaces for parking

Bob beat me to the park and had staked out a nice shaded area with two tables that worked great for the day. After a quick phone call to KBeck we had the 10x10 tent loaded in the car and the rest is history.

Throughout the day I counted 31 people attending. Not a bad turnout considering Father's Day and all.

I had a fantastic time with old friends and meeting some new friends to boot. This is exactly the way we did it in the "old" days... Throw a pot luck bash, add some shore diving, stir the pot and watch the magic happen!

Diving:
We started with a group of 8, but Karen was having some issues with trim and weight. I'm sorry to say the saddest part of the day was that we could never get Karen's issues straightened out and she had to call her dive earlier than any of us would have liked. She did get to see a cushion star

and an octopus

before she called her dive.

As most of you know, I don't do well with a camera above the water line and I can't wait to see pictures of the party!

MedFlame03 and Lives4Sharks, It was a pleasure to have you here for the night and for the official Troll ceremony as well.

While I wait for pictures to be posted, here are some of the things Karen missed on our dive (which she would have been bored to death on when I got to the jawfish and took 80 pictures of the beast):

Jawfish with eggs

Cushion Stars

Angelfish

French Angel

Grey Angel

Smallest Angel I have ever seen

[-]Turd[/-] Sea Cucumber

Rare sighting

Divers everywhere stirring up the bottom here for this squid shot

Juvenile Scrawled Cowfish

The rest can be seen by clicking here

We had a fantastic time with everyone! For the old friends, we need to do this again soon. For the new friends, we need to do this again soon!

Great diving everyone!

 

[Darianis]

Great pics. You can really see that that viper reg dumps all the bubbles on my left eye all day I was getting bubbles trapped there heh had am amazing time. and yes we definitely need to do it again soon

 

[deepstops]

Great pics. You can really see that that viper reg dumps all the bubbles on my left eye all day I was getting bubbles trapped there heh had am amazing time. and yes we definitely need to do it again soon

Getting your trim squared away might improve that

Great pics Jim

 

[BHB ScubaTroll]

Getting your trim squared away might improve that

Great pics Jim

It was his first dive since OW cert. so I'll offer this for you Darianis, move your tank up on your back 2" and your head will be in line with your body. The bubbles will move from your mask to your ear and problem solved

 

[Darianis]

It was his first dive since OW cert. so I'll offer this for you Darianis, move your tank up on your back 2" and your head will be in line with your body. The bubbles will move from your mask to your ear and problem solved

yea my tank strap came lose shortly after we got in the water. Pathfndr tried to fix it but that was the best he could do under water and I wasn't about to get out to fix that if it was secure heh

 

[jet126]

Great photos Jim! That jawfish has more sticks in his mouth than Irmy had chicken bones.

Karen told me she also saw a yellow-headed jawfish. It was right by where she was sitting - she watched it for the longest time and another diver ID'd it for her. So you can add that to her list.

BTW everyone, she was really really happy. Issues? Schmissues.

 

[mntlblok]

How big (little) was the cute cowfish?

And, are you abandoning the "Continuing Sagas"??

Kevin

 

[BHB ScubaTroll]

How big (little) was the cute cowfish?

And, are you abandoning the "Continuing Sagas"??

Kevin

Cowfish was the size of my thumb nail.

After talking with people at the party yesterday, many thought it a good idea to start a new thread so people aren't wading through so much in the other thread. We also thought that starting it off with a party report might get people interested in having a party... Besides I like the title

 

[BHB ScubaTroll]

Great photos Jim! That jawfish has more sticks in his mouth than Irmy had chicken bones.

Karen told me she also saw a yellow-headed jawfish. It was right by where she was sitting - she watched it for the longest time and another diver ID'd it for her. So you can add that to her list.

BTW everyone, she was really really happy. Issues? Schmissues.

Well, since it wasn't showing any signs of shyness and there was no one around, I took close to 80 shots of him and finally someone came around and I was able to pass him off to them.

I remember she mentioned the Yellow Headed Jawfish

 

[BHB ScubaTroll]

Let's get the house cleaning done in post #10. That way it is on most people's first page...

***PLEASE BE AWARE; THE BRIDGE IS A NO TAKE ZONE FOR COLLECTING. ANYONE CAUGHT TAKING ANY LIVING THING FROM THE AREA WILL BE TURNED OVER TO THE PARK RANGERS.***
Or, at the very least will be flogged by throngs of divers!
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Please don't ask where to find seahorses or other creatures. This is a public forum and it is known that amateur collectors often follow this thread to find their next collectible.

A number of critters have gone missing just after their location was posted (too often the next day for it to be coincidence).

All the regulars to BHB are more than happy to show you where to find them, just show up and you will most likely have a guide if you ask.

If any of you were still looking for the

Scuba Troll Stuff...

This is the newer version that dropped the body and uses the troll head only

Scuba Trolls 2 (if you want the older version, don't add the "II" on the end​