Blue Heron Bridge Trolls III

[Divin'Papaw]

Now it’s looking like Friday will be the only option for a night dive as Force-E has the pass that evening… bummer. Are there any other semi-close decent night dives you aren't forced to pay $100+ to have a "guide" for?

I haven't looked at the details of Pura Vida's pricing as I don't intend to do any guided night dives with them, but don't they have a group guided option that is quite a bit cheaper? I thought they had both group and private guided options? I could be wrong.

 

[MrChen]

The new night dive restrictions really put a dent in my birthday trip plans for next week. We booked an AirBNB with the intent of staying as close as possible to BHB, Pura Vida, and their boat slip at the marina, as we were planning on doing boat dives through them Wednesday - Saturday, and then diving the bridge in the evenings basically Wednesday - Saturday as well. Sunday morning we were going to hit the bridge one more time in the AM and then drive the three hours or so home.

Now it’s looking like Friday will be the only option for a night dive as Force-E has the pass that evening… bummer. Are there any other semi-close decent night dives you aren't forced to pay $100+ to have a "guide" for?

Wednesday isn't considered a night dive, so go Wednesday for sure.
Wednesday, the sunset is 6:55pm, Force-E "might" issue passes.
Thursday is a night dive, swing by Force-E and they are still likely giving out passes.
Friday is a night dive, go to Force-E
Saturday and Sunday are morning dives, go dive.

For Sat and Sun, just go diving. Thu and Fri, go to Force-E. Wed is up in the air.

 

[MrChen]

High tides for those days can be found here:

 

[MrChen]

I haven't look at the details of Pura Vida's pricing as I don't intend to do any guided night dives with them, but don't they have a group guided option that is quite a bit cheaper? I thought they had both group and private guided options? I could be wrong.

I hope we see less of these group guided dives now that they are charging. I noticed Force-E guiding the last couple of times, but I don't know if they are free or charging. Tammy asked me if I was joining her one night, and I laughed.

 

[PBcatfish]

Visibility today was terrible. The water was green with a lot of particulate contamination. I don't think I was able to see down from the surface much more than 3 feet.

I'm guessing that the pump house at the inlet must have been running on the incoming tide.

Does anyone know how to find out when the pump house will be running?

 

[Johnoly]

Does anyone know how to find out when the pump house will be running?

It's kinda of 'work-around' but the WPB inlet camera in the video screen will sometimes make the full sweep to show the outlet pump pipes spitting out water. But the camera makes different stop points all day long and you have to catch it. Also in one of the page shots you can usually see if the pump house human door is open. Cause they have to have someone on site when it's running. That website is:

Lake Worth Inlet Webcam

High definition webcam watching Lake Worth Inlet. A service of Palm Beach County ERM.

video-monitoring.com

I also checked the West Palm Bch S-155 Lake Okee real time gate opening and it's open just a trickle at 1ft crack and that's not enough to muck up viz. They've had all 3 open at 9ft in past years to drain it down and that's millions of gallons per day squirting out that gate alone.

The Jupiter cam is also showing a ton of dirty surf water right next to shore. I think it was from those 5-7's yesterday at 40mph. Even the surfers were bitchin that it was ugly out there. It's just all these hurricanes sweeping past in the middle of the atlantic that's trashing our viz and we can't get out to dive.

 

[tarponchik]

Visibility today was terrible. The water was green with a lot of particulate contamination. I don't think I was able to see down from the surface much more than 3 feet.

What did you expect? Today the surf at Palm Beach is 4-6 ft, water must be totally messed up.

 

[Six Feet Under]

I haven't looked at the details of Pura Vida's pricing as I don't intend to do any guided night dives with them, but don't they have a group guided option that is quite a bit cheaper? I thought they had both group and private guided options? I could be wrong.

Not sure, I just looked at "Guided BHB Dives" or some similarly-named tab on their page. Either way, I'm not paying for a dive guide for that site no matter what - only circumstance I'd consider it under would be if I were doing macro photography for the first time or something.

Wednesday isn't considered a night dive, so go Wednesday for sure.
Wednesday, the sunset is 6:55pm, Force-E "might" issue passes.
Thursday is a night dive, swing by Force-E and they are still likely giving out passes.
Friday is a night dive, go to Force-E
Saturday and Sunday are morning dives, go dive.

For Sat and Sun, just go diving. Thu and Fri, go to Force-E. Wed is up in the air.

I called them today, they said they *may* issue permits for Wednesday. Thursday and Friday are likely, but to call back Monday and ask again. No guide required under their passes, thankfully - I was under the impression they only had the ability to do passes on Friday itself, for some reason.

Visibility today was terrible. The water was green with a lot of particulate contamination. I don't think I was able to see down from the surface much more than 3 feet.

I'm guessing that the pump house at the inlet must have been running on the incoming tide.

Does anyone know how to find out when the pump house will be running?

That's about how it was last year when my buddy and I were there. I'm hoping it's better next week. Weather looks like thunderstorms every day though... not holding my breath over water clarity, unfortunately.

As far as the bridge construction - is that all wrapped up now? I'd much prefer accessing the water under the bridge on the beach vs. carrying sidemount tanks across the road...

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

My experience at BHB over the years is that the vis is typically poor this time of year... I remember a Halloween dive were the vis was in the 2 ft range. My guess is a combo of the king tides, full moon, and storms in the Atlantic. Come November it clears up.
These super high tides.. that's a LOT of water coming and going in the same tidal period as the mild summer season.

 

[Six Feet Under]

My experience at BHB over the years is that the vis is typically poor this time of year... I remember a Halloween dive were the vis was in the 2 ft range. My guess is a combo of the king tides, full moon, and storms in the Atlantic. Come November it clears up.
These super high tides.. that's a LOT of water coming and going in the same tidal period as the mild summer season.

Is it normally better through the winter than this time of year?