Blue Heron Bridge Trolls III

[Catito]

I honestly have little concern with the walk. I used to hike doubles from my campsite and down 3 sets of stairs to dive Gilboa, and then back up after the dive. It was a good workout! I'm in pretty good shape and feel the walk in a single won't be an issue. For me the bigger issue will be the cluster %&#$ of dozens of divers hiking from the parking lot, up the sidewalk or hill, waiting to cross the road, and then waiting to descend the stairs, before then into the water. Combine that with increased traffic backups from half of the bridge being closed. During a busy weekend when beach goers and snorkelers are doing the same thing? That is a recipe for disaster.

How long before someone falls or slips down the stairs with gear on? Hopefully that never happens, but I suspect it will happen at some point.

If I'm able to dive very early morning on a weekend or during the week, I'd do the walk without any concern. If it's a busy weekend ... forget it!

I have done that walk when the only open parking spot was one near the park entrance. Was not hard. I even had to leave the water, cross back, get more weight out of the car, and cross back over the road a second time to the beach. I, too, suspect it will be a different story when EVERY diver must use that same, relatively narrow, path.

 

[Catito]

Went to the bridge for diving yesterday and today. I was expecting the whole west side of the beach under the bridge to barricaded off, but it wasn't the case. It is still two lanes in both directions on top of the bridge. I am sure eventually it will be difficult to access the beach, but currently it is a minor inconvenience for divers, more of a pain for the paddleboarders. See the video below for more visual details. Snorkeled the trail and then dove the west side on both days. Conditions were similar both days, 77f sea temp and 30ft of visibility. Ran into @Scuba_Jenny at what I now call the "Dwarf Frogfish Patch" yesterday, seriously the word is out and as many as 8 people will be there at one time, ridiculous. Nevertheless, observed a couple Dwarf Frogfish (courtesy of Jenny) so I returned the favor by pointing out the smallest Juvenile Bluespot Cornetfish I have ever seen. I know I have said this a few times before but I think the school Chub under the fishing pier gets bigger everyday, its got be close to 250 individuals. And just for kicks, there was a nice Barracuda strafing the school in the vicinity of debris pile. However the star of the show yesterday was the Green Sea Turtle that swam by a mere arms length away. Of note today, lots of Atlantic Longarm Octopus, a Banner Goby unfurling its dorsal fin, one lonely Ballyhoo in two inches of water, Belted Sandfish, and Juvenile Inshore Lizardfish. Respectively, Bridge Construction Review Video, Great Sea Turtle, Seahorse, Ballyho, Banner Goby, Belted Sandfish, Juvenile Inshore Lizard, Barracuda on the Prowl Video, Inshore Squid Video, and Juvenile Cornetfish Video.



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Great stuff. Thanks!

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

Went to the bridge for diving yesterday and today. I was expecting the whole west side of the beach under the bridge to barricaded off, but it wasn't the case. It is still two lanes in both directions on top of the bridge. I am sure eventually it will be difficult to access the beach, but currently it is a minor inconvenience for divers, more of a pain for the paddleboarders. See the video below for more visual details. Snorkeled the trail and then dove the west side on both days. Conditions were similar both days, 77f sea temp and 30ft of visibility. Ran into @Scuba_Jenny at what I now call the "Dwarf Frogfish Patch" yesterday, seriously the word is out and as many as 8 people will be there at one time, ridiculous. Nevertheless, observed a couple Dwarf Frogfish (courtesy of Jenny) so I returned the favor by pointing out the smallest Juvenile Bluespot Cornetfish I have ever seen. I know I have said this a few times before but I think the school Chub under the fishing pier gets bigger everyday, its got be close to 250 individuals. And just for kicks, there was a nice Barracuda strafing the school in the vicinity of debris pile. However the star of the show yesterday was the Green Sea Turtle that swam by a mere arms length away. Of note today, lots of Atlantic Longarm Octopus, a Banner Goby unfurling its dorsal fin, one lonely Ballyhoo in two inches of water, Belted Sandfish, and Juvenile Inshore Lizardfish. Respectively, Bridge Construction Review Video, Great Sea Turtle, Seahorse, Ballyho, Banner Goby, Belted Sandfish, Juvenile Inshore Lizard, Barracuda on the Prowl Video, Inshore Squid Video, and Juvenile Cornetfish Video.



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Good seeing you and bumping into you multiple times on Thursday. Thanks for the cornetfish find. Sweet!
Glad you liked the froggies.
STill looking for that orangespotted bass..

 

[Pipehorse]

Went to the bridge for diving on Saturday and Sunday. Normally I eschew the bridge for LBTS on the weekends, however wind reports were marginal andthe easy drive to BHB prevailed over the much longer drive to LBTS. And yes on both days it was crazy crowded at the park. I arrived early on both days and had good parking. I was sitting in my truck on Sunday when I saw @Scuba_Jenny drive by with her friend at about 09:30, she did manage to get one of the last parking spots, 3 hours before high tide, ridiculous! Although I have to say the majority of the crowd on Sunday was not divers, but all the other cohorts that use the park. Not sure if most of these people are in tune to the impact repairs will soon have on beach access and were trying to take advantage while they could. Or if it was just a really nice beach day. Still thinking mostly tourists, because late March generally is not when real "south Floridians" go to the beach. On Saturday snorkeled the trail before diving on the west side. Sea temp was 77f and visibility was 30ft. Did REEF fish survey of 63 species in 60 minutes. Saturday was an octopus day, the Atlantic Longarm Octopus are out all over the place, in the algae patches, and in the rubble. I did a video of what I thought was a Common Octopus in the rubble, but upon closer examination and comparisons on Inaturalist I believe it is a Brown-Striped Octopus. On Sunday entered the westside at 1100 for a 1230 hightide. I only encountered a few divers the whole dive, unusual for a Sunday. Sea temp was 78f and visibility was 35ft. Did a REEF fish count of 74 species in 80 minutes. Sunday was a Seahorse and Dwarf Frogfish day. I observed seven seahorses 6 Lined, and 1 Longsnout. Observed 3 Dwarf Frogfish, 2 in the "patch", and another at different location. Orangeback Bass remain in the places I found them in at least a month ago. Normally I have only seen them stay for 5 days at a time. Also of note is large school of juvenile "silvery fish" in the vicinity of the pier and bridge pilings. Plus a beautiful orange Roughback Shrimp I observed while searching for Dwarf Frogfish. I guess they have changed the amount of file attachments from 15 down to 5, that is a real drag, but I can still do links to videos. So sorry, not as many images as usual. Respectively, Brown-striped Octopus, Mutton Snapper, Barbfish, Dwarf Frogfish, and Dwarf Frogfish.

 

[Johnoly]

Brown-Striped Octopus.

The quick color 'Flashes' on the octo video are really cool !!

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

Good bumping into @Pipehorse on Sunday and pre dive chatter. Fish nerds unite!!!
Saturday was a spotted eagle ray gliding by, two green sea turtles, seahorses, the rusty goby, and good buddies.
Sunday found the elusive pipehorse!!!! Also found the orangeback bass and got a few more shots of the rusty goby. Big shout out to (at this point remains anonymous till they say it's OK to to identify) someone who gave me a tank. Seems the shop forgot to fill it. ugh..

 

[Johnoly]

Tuesday morning the bridges down to one lane each side and steel fencing underneath. Saw Jeff Nelson at the bridge and he'll be posting more pictures later he said. Notice the name on the truck

 

[Pipehorse]

I went to the bridge for diving yesterday, I will report the dive in another post, this a follow up on fencing. As @Johnoly has posted they closed down a lane in each direction on the bridge. That closure only causes minor delays. On a weekend when a lot people are trying to get into the park by making a left it might be a problem, or during busy times like late in the afternoon.


They finished putting of the chain link fence yesterday afternoon. But they are going to run into some problems. On the eastside they do not have the abutment fenced off, so while it would be difficult to walk the slope of the abutment with dive gear, its not going to stop anybody else, they are just going to walk up on the cement. They have gates at the east and west end. The bigger equipment gate is at the west end. Anybody who has ever walked by a construction site has seen these types of gates. They always leave them open for construction workers and equipment to come and go, otherwise it is a real pita to open and close them everytime. The gates just usually get closed at night when no work is going on. I doubt they budgeted to have somebody standing by the gates so how do you stop people from using them. They can call the sheriffs, but a sheriff is not going to sit there all day to guard the construction company gate. Also you can see at the west end it is easy to just drop off the fishing pier behind the gate, maybe not with scuba but it is not going stop anybody who wants access. Respectively, East Gate, West Gate, Attachment at Pier

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

Looks like beach diving south for the summer for me. Unless things change at the bridge.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

All I can say is ... EWWWW!!! It will be charter diving for me all summer. When I travel over to Palm Beach County to dive, charters are always my first choice. I use BHB as a backup option when I get blown out. Thankfully we are entering the quieter part of our charter season. Fingers crossed that this is all behind us by the time the weather starts to turn in late Fall.