Blue Heron Bridge Trolls

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Nice to see you today Kevin! The Diva will return tomorrow, I am not that crazy!

Thankfully, the kids go back to school on the 17th and we are celebrating with a night dive on the 13th. It's great of PV/FE to be that thoughty!

Today's water temp., 86 fine degrees. Viz ok to acceptable at 20-25 ft over to the east. The squid played with us again and a yellowheaded Jawfish cleaned house reminding us all that we did not!
 
and a yellowheaded Jawfish cleaned house reminding us all that we did not!

We've apparently got one on *each* side! Lucked into one today on the west side, too - also busy with housekeeping. And, *beautiful*!! :D
 
How did it go?

Hi mntlblok.
Sorry that I’ve been slow to reply, but haven’t visited the site for a few days. Since my last posting I noticed that you’ve paid another visit to BHB, so presume that my response is no longer urgent. Wish that I knew that you were in town. Would have kept my eyes open for a yellow snorkel. However, as long as I’ve composed my thoughts, I might as well spend a bit of bandwidth and share them by answering your query:


On the day under discussion, August 4th, I went on a hunt for the same Skeleton Shrimp that djtimmy77 had posted a photograph of on July 28th. (Post #8297.) Splashed two hours before high tide and the current was about as brisk as I’ve encountered at The Bridge. This, coupled with less than stellar visibility, made the search for tiny, translucent creatures quite demanding, and much like a Labrador Retriever looses all other sources of stimulation when encountering a squirrel, I found myself hopelessly enchanted by a shoal of squid, and spent over an hour making images of the extraordinary cephalopods.


Got engine trouble on my boat, so rather than sit ashore cursing and giving a large pile of bank notes to my mechanic, I made the trip up again yesterday and had a stellar time. Splashing again about two hours before the turn, I found the current was much milder, and visibility was still a bit cloudy, but not bad at all. Within minutes of entering I saw a trio of Spotted Eagle Rays. No joy on the Skeleton Shrimp search, but did find and photograph a pair of froggies, (one Striated and the other a Longlure,) the Yellowhead Jawfish that you just mentioned in post #8322, a Stargazer, a trio of Polka Dot Batfish, a Short Nosed Batfish, and a whole slew of other delightful creatures. I managed to limit my visit with the shoal of squid to about 20 minutes/36 exposures. They are a particular favorite, (or weakness,) of mine. Enjoy the rest of your stay in Florida.
 
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We saw this pair on the snorkel trail going east yesterday. First time for me seeing a pair of what I think are Ciliated False Squilla. My books are currently involved in a remodel project. Anyway, I have always until now seen them singly. These were positively merry--flitting about,etc. I assume they are notfighting!
 
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Hi mntlblok.
Sorry that I’ve been slow to reply, but haven’t visited the site for a few days. Since my last posting I noticed that you’ve paid another visit to BHB, so presume that my response is no longer urgent. Wish that I knew that you were in town. Would have kept my eyes open for a yellow snorkel. However, as long as I’ve composed my thoughts, I might as well spend a bit of bandwidth and share them by answering your query:


On the day under discussion, August 4th, I went on a hunt for the same Skeleton Shrimp that djtimmy77 had posted a photograph of on July 28th. (Post #8297.) Splashed two hours before high tide and the current was about as brisk as I’ve encountered at The Bridge. This, coupled with less than stellar visibility, made the search for tiny, translucent creatures quite demanding, and much like a Labrador Retriever looses all other sources of stimulation when encountering a squirrel, I found myself hopelessly enchanted by a shoal of squid, and spent over an hour making images of the extraordinary cephalopods.


Got engine trouble on my boat, so rather than sit ashore cursing and giving a large pile of bank notes to my mechanic, I made the trip up again yesterday and had a stellar time. Splashing again about two hours before the turn, I found the current was much milder, and visibility was still a bit cloudy, but not bad at all. Within minutes of entering I saw a trio of Spotted Eagle Rays. No joy on the Skeleton Shrimp search, but did find and photograph a pair of froggies, (one Striated and the other a Longlure,) the Yellowhead Jawfish that you just mentioned in post #8322, a Stargazer, a trio of Polka Dot Batfish, a Short Nosed Batfish, and a whole slew of other delightful creatures. I managed to limit my visit with the shoal of squid to about 20 minutes/36 exposures. They are a particular favorite, (or weakness,) of mine. Enjoy the rest of your stay in Florida.

Have concluded that my eyes are not good enough for such ghostly little creatures. And, my lens ain't good enough for catching the fly-by's of the occasional eagle ray on most such occasions - like on Thursday. There's no shame in becoming enamoured or even consumed by squid shoals. Their personalities makes one wonder how they could ever be thought of as bait. Had forgotten that I had run into *two* stargazers out and about at the west wall yesterday.

I'll have to see the pic of the Longlure. Differentiating those guys is not a skill of mine. Also don't think I'd know a shortnose batfish, though I *have* once come across a *long*nose version.

We circled the parking lot for nearly an hour at the bridge today before checking the Windjammer beachcam and concluding that things were calm enough this afternoon to make the drive down to LBTS. It was "OK", and glad we tried it. Definitely saw some stuff that I wouldn't have seen at the bridge. Fun. Now, down to some post-processing. . .

BTW, the "current" thing can be worked around, in my experience, by heading out south from the beach initially. By the time one gets to a depth or 8 or ten feet, the current typically becomes totally manageable, even 2 and a half hours prior to high. And, there's plenty of cool stuff out yonder short of the channel.
 
We decided to do a late afternoon Sunday dive yesterday.
Water Temps: 86 F
Vis: 18-20 but milky - Sun light galore
Dive Time: 2 hours 24 minutes
Park: Full of drunks
Setup: Oly 330, 50 mm 2:1 Lens on the Ikelite setup with 2 DS50 strobes

The sun contributed to some of the coloring in pictures...

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The rest are here:
http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/6299

---------- Post added August 10th, 2015 at 08:13 PM ----------

The chances look good for another Turkey Dive this year! November 28, the tides are running near 9:45 AM, which leaves a great day to party with everyone after the dive!

I will be posting a thread soon in the main area, and will edit this post with the link :)

---------- Post added August 10th, 2015 at 08:50 PM ----------

OK...
Dive, Turkey & Party Thread...
Here:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/fl...2015-blue-heron-bridge-turkey-dive-party.html
 
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