Blue Heron Bridge Trolls III

[PBcatfish]

A couple of hours ago, I was on a boat about a mile south of the bridge. At high tide, I could clearly see the anchor chain laying on the bottom in 12' of water. If I had time, I would have scooted up to the bridge for a dive. Clarity looked good. The sun was shining. Air temperature was probably in the mid 70's & water temperature was probably in the high 70's.

 

[Johnoly]

Why do the manatees go to Blue Heron Bridge? Do they stay at blue heron all winter?

So the Florida Power & Light has a great FREE manatee lagoon that is LOADED with manatees in the winter months. The FPL pumps warm water to keep the lagoon warm since they shut down their old power plant years ago and this replaces that warm water. Don't believe me? Here's the link to the LIVE camera feed that you can count them all.

Manatee Cam | Manatee Lagoon

www.visitmanateelagoon.com

The brand new venue is located just on the other side of the Blue Heron Bridge dive site and you could actually see it if the island wasn't in the way while standing on the BHB beach. Remember I said FREE ! (like free parking, free admission, etc). I would make a trip during this cold snap just to visit that if you didn't want to dive.

Just my opinion but with all the manatees circling around the island looking for food and a sip from a hose, it has been a regular occurrence that once in a while diver's get spooked by a huge sea cow that sneeks up behind them. I've seen one there many years ago when I was down there for an Xmas dive. I don't know if I forgot to mention it above, but it's still FREEEE !!! {and really cool to visit the exhibits inside}

 

[Jaan]

Weird. I posted it yesterday, but maybe some messages were lost with the updates.
Posting again, sorry if duplicate. We actually went again today and it was great again.
I'll see about getting a few more of Nat's shots to share.

Yesterday was just fabulous. It was like old times with nice visibility. We had a scare with our setup springing a leak and thought we'd have to skip the dive but we raced over to Pura Vida where they took great care of us. I guess they saw two wild eyed divers drive up an hour before high tide wearing their dive suits carrying a setup rig, and jumped into action. Thanks for saving our dive pura-vida!!

We did the west end but heard that people saw eagle rays and manatees on the east side. We saw a couple of seahorses, a pipefish, and the usual suspects. It was just nice to have the clear water (30 or so ft) and none of that floating snot as has been prevalent.

We have been to the Manatee Lagoon and it's nice to see them even if from the balcony in the distance.
We've also had them swim by at the bridge and startle us. Gentle giants. A nice treat to see one.
I think they should be arriving more often over the next month or two.

Adding a few of my favorites from Nathalie's pictures taken today.
Love the teeth on the sheepshead .. what a toothy smile

 

[scubadada]

@Jaan

Gorgeous photos, thanks

 

[Jaan]

A few more 'exotic' ones courtesy Nathalie from yesterday for everyone's viewing pleasure.
Diving was great again, about 25 ft viz. Hard to find parking but we were lucky.
Tomorrow we're going to end the new year with a couple of reef boat dives.

Question on the first one. We thought at first it was a Sea Robin, but I think it's a Flying Gurnard.
A spectacular sighting, I watched in wonder. Just beautiful.

Sail Fin Blenny was shy but came out a few times to try and scare us off .

We did manage to see the Eagle Ray on the west side this time

Shy Jawfish (quite small this one)

And a shy Mantis too .. Nat caught a glimpse but she was back in by the time I arrived

Caribbean or more likely a checkered puffer, rarely see these markings

And some Curious Spectators ( I just love this shot !!)

 

[Pipehorse]

A few more 'exotic' ones courtesy Nathalie from yesterday for everyone's viewing pleasure.
Diving was great again, about 25 ft viz. Hard to find parking but we were lucky.
Tomorrow we're going to end the new year with a couple of reef boat dives.

Question on the first one. We thought at first it was a Sea Robbin, but I think it's a Flying Gurnard.
A spectacular sighting, I watched in wonder. Just beautiful.

View attachment 761586View attachment 761587

Sail Fin Blenny was shy but came out a few times to try and scare us off .

View attachment 761588

We did manage to see the Eagle Ray on the west side this time

View attachment 761589

Shy Jawfish (quite small this one)
View attachment 761590

And a shy Mantis too .. Nat caught a glimpse but she was back in by the time I arrived

View attachment 761591

Caribbean puffer, rarely see these markings
View attachment 761596

And some Curious Spectators ( I just love this shot !!)
View attachment 761592

Yes it is a Flying Gurnard, the Puffer is very interesting as well, I think it is a Checkered Puffer.

 

[Jaan]

Yes it is a Flying Gurnard, the Puffer is very interesting as well, I think it is a Checkered Puffer.

Thanks for confirming, and yes, for the puffer we have not seen that pattern often. The spots were dark, almost black suggesting Caribbean but the two look quite similar to me. Certainly an unusual puffer to be found at BHB

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Thanks for confirming, and yes, for the puffer we have not seen that pattern often. The spots were dark, almost black suggesting Caribbean but the two look quite similar to me. Certainly an unusual puffer to be found at BHB

I at first wasn’t sure about the puffer but when you look at the photos in the STRI app, the blotches can definitely become less blotchy and darker to almost black. I too, would vote for that being a checkered puffer.

 

[Pipehorse]

Went to the bridge for diving today. It was my first dive of 2023. Arrived at 0745 for a 0754 high tide, the park was not crowded. I immediately noticed a truck parked across from mine with an Iowa license plate. Out of state license plates are a common sight at Phil Foster. So I wondered how long, diving at my regular pace would it take to record all 48 states of the continental United States. A month, two months? So I took pictures of out of state license plates this morning, Iowa, Washington, Connecticut, New York, Texas, and California. I did not get pictures of the Maryland and Pennsylvania tags I observed. I am going to fill in a map of the United States and keep track. It was a bit chilly this morning with a decent breeze out of the north, water in front of the beach was calm, but on the northwest side the water was choppy. I am using a 5mm Bare Velocity wetsuit, and a hood, but observed at least 6 snorkelers entering the water wearing nothing but bathing suits (Good candidates for the Florida Baker Act ). Entered the water on the west side at 0808, using 63cuft aluminum tank, to purposefully limit my dive (90 minutes with 600 psi remaining). Visibility was 35ft, and water temp was 76f. Did a REEF fish survey of 82 species in 90 minutes. Did another REEF fish survey 58 species in 60 minutes while snorkeling the trail. 96 species in total recorded today. For 2022 I recorded a total of 242 species in 227 surveys over 237 hours at BHB. So in the first 2.5 hours of 2023 40 percent of the species from all of last year have already been recorded for this year. By far the rarest fish recorded today was a Twospot Flounder (Bothnus robinsi). Only recorded 14 times out 183,000 surveys. Unfortunately I was not fastest enough to get an image today, but I did capture an image last year, exactly one year ago today, and posted it on inaturalist.com, Twospot Flounder. The award for most unusual object of the year is pictured below, the top of an urn. The ashes and rest of the urn were not in the vicinity. I buried this in the sand, figuring whoever did this internment did not want somebody taking this home as some sought of souvenir. This is the third time I have found an internment like this while diving in South Florida. Respectively, Urn Top, Banded Jawfish, Barbfish, Pygmy Seabass, Sheepshead, Silver Porgy, Fill in Map Of License Plates, and thumbnails of different state license plates.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

That's cool, Pipefish with the license plates.

gear is mostly packed for tomorrow. Anybody else going?