Singer Island Wreck and Reef (Drift dives) Report and Video

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Fishhy

Contributor
Messages
139
Reaction score
152
Location
Jacksonville, FL
# of dives
100 - 199
I was fortunate enough to get a couple days off for a post labor day dive trip down to Singer Island.
We of course hit the bridge, but we also did a shark dive and the tail end of the grouper aggregation.

We dove 3 days (9/10-9/12)
The bridge was great as usual with about 30 feet of visibility and 87F. It's so relaxing and we managed right at 2 hours of underwater time exploring.

The Shark dive was from the Lemon Drop. Our first dive we encountered about 5 sharks. We re-dropped the same location and were greeted by 12-17 sharks at any one time. It was a very enjoyable dive with a few bumps and closeups from the curious lemons. Getting out with them still at our feet was a little nerve-racking.

We did the grouper dive on 9/12 and the groupers had pretty much moved north except for a few full-timers (We had reports that there were still large numbers off the sand in Jupiter).
This video is from the Wreck dive (Wreck Trek) and the Drift Reef from that day.
Unfortunately I didn't get much video from the penetration of the Ana because of another diver in front of me with zero buoyancy skills which essentially blacked me out. He had not dove in some time and really should not have been on that dive at all.

The current was strong, the vis was about 60ft and it was still about 86F on the bottom at the time of the dive.

The drift dive was "the Stacks" at "4th Window".
I'd like to do it again as we saw a great amount of wildlife. I wasn't able to get a video, but I encountered my first juvenile trunkfish which looked amazingly like a floating dice.
We also encountered a giant sleeping loggerhead and a free-swimming manta; both awesome treats!

While the drift dives tend to make parts of the dive a bit more challenging, it really is a beautiful and relaxing way to see a great deal of reef!

 
and a free-swimming manta;
The Manta footage was cool Scott. Really early on the calendar for them to be here. Our normal annual Manta traverse is Oct 20-31st. Mother nature mess's with our 'BOLO' calendars all the time.
 
The Manta footage was cool Scott. Really early on the calendar for them to be here. Our normal annual Manta traverse is Oct 20-31st. Mother nature mess's with our 'BOLO' calendars all the time.
That was my first time encountering one free-swimming like that. So graceful.
 
Very nice video!! Hundreds of dives in SEFL and I've STILL not seen a manta. I'm super jealous!! I'm diving Sat and Sun so maybe this coming weekend I'll finally see one!
 
Very nice video!! Hundreds of dives in SEFL and I've STILL not seen a manta. I'm super jealous!! I'm diving Sat and Sun so maybe this coming weekend I'll finally see one!
Hey,,,,,,You going to PBCDA Saturday nite? I'll be there. Diving JDC R7 Sat AM then sleeping in and diving Kyalami 10am on Sunday.
 
Hey,,,,,,You going to PBCDA Saturday nite? I'll be there. Diving JDC R7 Sat AM then sleeping in and diving Kyalami 10am on Sunday.

I'm diving with Pura Vida Sat morning and JDC 3-tanker Sun. I'm undecided on the PBCDA fundraiser. I went a few years ago when I lived in Boca.
 
The Manta footage was cool Scott. Really early on the calendar for them to be here. Our normal annual Manta traverse is Oct 20-31st. Mother nature mess's with our 'BOLO' calendars all the time.
I had my first in-water sighting just off Boynton Beach a week and a half ago and the Florida Manta Project counted 16 on their aerial survey yesterday (new record). They're definitely about, although it seems as if you're more likely to see them right off the beach than on the reefs.


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...Florida Manta Project counted 16 on their aerial survey yesterday (new record).
Looks like I can toss this year's BOLO calendar in the trash. If big animals are 4 weeks early does that mean the annual 1 week before Thanksgiving WPB WHALE-SHARKS should then be......... ???>Next Week???
 
Looks like I can toss this year's BOLO calendar in the trash. If big animals are 4 weeks early does that mean the annual 1 week before Thanksgiving WPB WHALE-SHARKS should then be......... ???>Next Week???
Depends on where you're used to seeing them and what size. The aircraft and drone surveys are usually concentrated close in; the one I saw the other week was maybe 30-50 ft off the beach in ~6 ft of water. The only other manta I've seen was last November from a boat; we had made the turn out of Haulover Inlet and it was inshore of us. Those are young of the year and juveniles (6-10 ft wingspan); the coast of southeast FL was recently described as a nursery area for mantas (Pate and Marshall 2020). I believe to date they've identified 117 unique individuals over a period of about five years. Season for those appears to be late spring through early winter. While it's been knowledge to the cobia fishers for a while, this year the Florida Manta Project started looking at what appears to be an adult aggregation along the central Florida coast in winter and spring.
 
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