Blue Heron Bridge Trolls III

[The Chairman]

so I walked around and did a bird survey for Ebird.org

Reef.org needs surveys too! Citizen science is still in its infancy and they need all the help they can get.

Data entry | Reef Environmental Education Foundation

www.reef.org

 

[MrChen]

Finally! My camera arrived and I am back shooting with the Olympus TG-6. Have to reaquaint myself with all the buttons and such.. a learning curve I am throughly enjoying.
Hit the bridge yesterday and today. Yesterday, it was cold, windy, overcast.. I had 73 on my computer. I didn't realize how much I rely on the sun and my flag for navigation, of which I had neither yesterday. My buddy offered to carry the flag.. It was a mess even with my compass.. heading west, look at compass and we're heading north.. turn south, then look at compass heading north.. whaaaa???
Eventually we to some of my favorite spots to see the locals. No manatees, though at one time I heard a diver with an alert. Figured it was either a spotted eagle ray or manatee, but I never saw it.

We all have those days. My favorite is at the beginning of the dive when I'm heading to the snorkel trail and find myself back at the beach...

 

[MrChen]

I dove Saturday as well. Parking filled up with divers as we got within a couple hours of high tide. For most of the dive, I had 75 degree water temp and felt that drop under the east bridge. Once the tide changed, I logged 73 degrees for a short period of time, and I could feel it. Visibility also went way down after the tide changed.

I'm on a bad streak for critter finding. I did see the turtle on the snorkel trail and my dive buddy caught 3 spotted eagle rays on his go pro east of the snorkel trail. I took some pictures of a blenny and after an hour of cleaning up all the particulates (just crappy water conditions), my app crashed, and I lost all my changes . I'm trying to find the motivation to try again.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

Hi @Scuba_Jenny , do you use a PT-059 Olympus weatherproof Housing or a SeaFrog TG-6 Housing ??

I got the Olympus housing

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

We all have those days. My favorite is at the beginning of the dive when I'm heading to the snorkel trail and find myself back at the beach...

Yep. That was Saturday. At one time as I was heading south along the ridge looking for the ponies...
only to realize I was near the beach heading west!

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Reef.org needs surveys too! Citizen science is still in its infancy and they need all the help they can get.

Data entry | Reef Environmental Education Foundation

www.reef.org

He already does those ALL THE TIME. He posts his survey results regularly. He's got BHB covered like a coat of fresh paint.

 

[Pipehorse]

BHB has the highest species count in the REEF database of any site in the Tropical Western Atlantic, currently at 461, the second is Bari Reef in Bonaire at 430. LBTS is sixth on the top ten list, and all others on the top ten list are in Bonaire. Certainly the ability of the surveyors to spend many hours at shore diving sites has an affect on species count.

The first row of numbers are the surveys I completed at BHB in 2022, the second row of numbers are all the surveys completed at BHB in 2022. The third row of numbers are all the surveys I have completed at BHB, and the fourth row of numbers are all the surveys completed at BHB.

Surveys are either expert species and abundance, expert species only, novice species and abundance and novice species only in that order. The last number in the row is total hours.

33010059

Blue Heron Bridge (WPB) Phil Foster Park

227

0

0

0

237

33010059

Blue Heron Bridge (WPB) Phil Foster Park

260

0

36

3

325

33010059

Blue Heron Bridge (WPB) Phil Foster Park

1187

26

2

0

1031

33010059

Blue Heron Bridge (WPB) Phil Foster Park

1909

32

442

26

2979

 

[The Chairman]

Way cool to hear!

He already does those ALL THE TIME.

Way awesome. Now we need more people to do it and not just on BHB!

 

[Wicket]

Any recommendations on a private dive guide? I’ve been to the bridge a few times but would like to have a local show me around this time. Bonus points if they can guide me on other shore dives in the area.

 

[tarponchik]

Aren't the manatees supposed to stay in the rivers during winter time?