Jupiter Dive Thread
- Thread starter CosbySweater
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criedy
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Does anyone have any info on how the Goliath grouper aggregation is going? Looking to come down on one or two weekends to dive it. What dive boat do you recommend?
There are already more GG in the area. They are at times seeing a good number of them on the Wreck Trek in Jupiter and Ana Cecilia (beginning of the Corridor Wreck Trek) off of Singer Island FL. The actual aggregation is probably another week or two away based upon history. It then runs through most of September.
I prefer both Jupiter Dive Center for Jupiter and Pura Vida for Singer Island/Palm Beach, but lots of good charter options in that area. Kyalami (Jupiter Scuba Diving) has a boat in Jupiter and Palm Beach. Walkers and Narcosis are great in Palm Beach. I'm sure there are others as well but those are the key ones I've used.
I wouldn't wait too long as the charters fill up quickly during the aggregation. For example, I've booked some dives for later in Aug and Sep and those charters are now either full or were filling fast.
Kyalami is doing special trips on both boats in August and September for Goliath Grouper.
www.thescubaclub.com
Double Wreck Dives – August & September
Join us for Double Wreck Dives this August–September in Jupiter and Palm Beach. Explore two wrecks in one trip and dive among aggregating Goliath Groupers during peak season. Book now!
www.thescubaclub.com
Never cared for drift diving and that's pretty much all they do around there so I never went north of Pompano.
Dove with Jupiter Dive Center this week. As with my previous experience with them - well organized, well executed.
Captain Phil - does an excellent boat safety brief before each trip, and helms the boat quite capably. His DMs also do excellent briefings. They do one at the beginning of each trip regarding protocol, off-boarding, on-boarding, buddy diving, expectations and requirements - and then do pre-dive briefings about the site. Brandon, Brennan and Matt were the DMs/DHs for the several days I was there.
Did a variety of dives, couple deeper ones, mostly reefs, looking for Goliath Groupers. Saw a number of them, got video of a few. Saw a couple sharks, including a HUGE nurse shark laying on the sand. Saw a couple of sea turtles, again including a HUGE one. Couple Moray eels, spotted drum, trumpet fish and a lot of other whose names I don't know.
Current wasn't bad, seemed typical to me for Jupiter drift diving. It's rough swimming against it, you can't beat it. All you do is bring up your heart rate and your gas consumption.
Visibility also seemed typical, ranging from about 35 to 60 feet. Odd feeling when you drift faster than the main group, and they're suddenly just gone...
Which is why JDC requires DSMB for every single diver; you could be surfacing by yourself.
This was my first trip with my new Deep 6 Signature regulator, @LandonL @cerich ). I tested it in my local dive shop before this trip, but that's limited to 12'. Did 10 dives on this trip, with a max depth of 90 on Spadefish.
I have limited experience to compare it to other sets. It's a replacement for my Oceanic DX3 / Alpha 1 / Alpha1 which I like a lot. It's at least as good if not better. Functioned perfectly, was comfortable and gave me no issues or fears.
Captain Phil - does an excellent boat safety brief before each trip, and helms the boat quite capably. His DMs also do excellent briefings. They do one at the beginning of each trip regarding protocol, off-boarding, on-boarding, buddy diving, expectations and requirements - and then do pre-dive briefings about the site. Brandon, Brennan and Matt were the DMs/DHs for the several days I was there.
Did a variety of dives, couple deeper ones, mostly reefs, looking for Goliath Groupers. Saw a number of them, got video of a few. Saw a couple sharks, including a HUGE nurse shark laying on the sand. Saw a couple of sea turtles, again including a HUGE one. Couple Moray eels, spotted drum, trumpet fish and a lot of other whose names I don't know.
Current wasn't bad, seemed typical to me for Jupiter drift diving. It's rough swimming against it, you can't beat it. All you do is bring up your heart rate and your gas consumption.
Visibility also seemed typical, ranging from about 35 to 60 feet. Odd feeling when you drift faster than the main group, and they're suddenly just gone...
Which is why JDC requires DSMB for every single diver; you could be surfacing by yourself.
This was my first trip with my new Deep 6 Signature regulator, @LandonL @cerich ). I tested it in my local dive shop before this trip, but that's limited to 12'. Did 10 dives on this trip, with a max depth of 90 on Spadefish.
I have limited experience to compare it to other sets. It's a replacement for my Oceanic DX3 / Alpha 1 / Alpha1 which I like a lot. It's at least as good if not better. Functioned perfectly, was comfortable and gave me no issues or fears.
Johnoly
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I did NOT see many lobsters.
Perhaps the most interesting thing I saw was being in the middle of a humongous fishball while hanging on at the front of the barge. I could barely see my buddy, who was literally two feet away. I lost the cable to my camera, waiting for a replacement to find out if the video I took is any good.
ETA - Found the cable.
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bluechub
Contributor
Just a quick report. Dove with Kyalami yesterday morning, Capt. Zach, Lexi as the dive guide and Layla helping all the divers on the boat. The first dive was Loggerhead, second dive the Jupiter wreck trek. Flat seas, 86F at depth, about 60' visibility, mild to moderate current S to N.
Saw three hawksbills, big green moray, a large barracuda and a large nurse shark on the first dive. Second dive we saw some goliath groupers on the the wrecks (maybe 7-8 in total), but no large aggregation. Several (4-5) lemon sharks were also constantly around - they were making very close passes. Small bait balls and the usual reef fish were also there.
Saw three hawksbills, big green moray, a large barracuda and a large nurse shark on the first dive. Second dive we saw some goliath groupers on the the wrecks (maybe 7-8 in total), but no large aggregation. Several (4-5) lemon sharks were also constantly around - they were making very close passes. Small bait balls and the usual reef fish were also there.
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