Blue Heron Bridge Trolls III

[scubadada]

We plan to be in the parking lot @ Phil Foster Park about 9:00 AM Monday in preparation for the high tide coming a few minutes after 11:00. There will be 4-6 of us from Central VA, looking all wide eyed and excited. I think this will be the first visit to BHB for any of us. Are any of you ”regulars” planning on being there Monday?
BTW, this will be the first trip for my camera rig discussed elsewhere. My SeaLife Micro 3.0 now has the SL closeup lens, the middle sized Suptig video light (36 LEDs), and a one piece aluminum tray and arm by Natefemin. Fooling with it at home, it makes a nice, compact package that is easy to manipulate. I’m anxious to actually get the complete setup into the water!

Best of luck on your dives this morning, I look forward to hearing all about it. Looks like the air temperature is not too cold, cooler later in the week.

 

[Pipehorse]

Went to the bridge for diving today. Arrived at 0815 for an 1102 high tide. The park was not crowded. Walked east to the stairs on the beach to snorkel the trail. Did a REEF fish survey of 48 species in 50 minutes. Exited the water on the west, current was ripping again like on Saturday, this time from a SE wind.

I knew @Green Frog was somewhere in the parking lot, red suv with Virginia plates. I walked over and said hello. He was waiting on the rest of his dive party to arrive, so went back to my truck and suited up on scuba to do my dive.

Did the east side today. Visibility was slightly less than yesterday, but still a good 40ft. Sea temp continues to hold steady at 74f. Stayed on the north side of the bridge span for about 80 minutes. Did a REEF fish survey of 60 species in 65 minutes. Current was ripping and I spent a lot of time directly behind the sunken sailboat under the bridge, and behind pilings. Either counting fish or taking photographs. Big Barracuda have taken up station under the bridge the last month or so, and seem entirely unconcerned with presence of divers. Drifted back north to the gravel fields and bryozoan patches looking for macro subjects. Found a beautiful Fringed Filefish hanging in a bunch of Lumpy Overgrown Sponge. When the current slowed, I moved through the south side of the bridge. I was not as lucky as the Pura Vida Instructor who reported 20 Spotted Eagle Rays on Saturday. I had to settle for 6 Spotted Eagle Rays today. When I have seen that many before they are usually smaller less than two foot wing spans, these today were all much bigger with the exception of one of them. Respectively, Fringed Filefish, Fringed Filefish, Lantern Bass, Spotted Eagle Ray, and Spotted Eagle Ray.

 

[scubadada]

@Pipehorse

Fringed Filefish

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Here’s a video of a few of the Eagle Rays I saw on Saturday. I got a closer look at them Sunday, but of course, my GoPro battery was dead by that point. The most I saw at one point off in the distance was five. I would’ve loved to have seen all 20 at once!

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

View attachment 821312

I've seen that eagle ray a couple times. Looks like Divin'Papaw got it in his video too..

 

[Divin'Papaw]

I've seen that eagle ray a couple times. Looks like Divin'Papaw got it in his video too..

Yup. It really stands out without the tail.

 

[Green Frog]

Finally home now with time to check in. First, I finally made it to BHB! I got there a little before nine AM and got one of the last of the choicest parking spots. While waiting for the rest of the group I was meeting, my longtime online friend Pipehorse stopped by and introduced himself right after his morning snorkel. He gave some tips about what to look for then went off to prep for his scuba dive @ high tide.

Soon after, the rest of our group showed up and we all geared up for the dive. Our team leader, who is not a local, put Us into the water pretty far up in the swimming area and we had a long swim with just a few fish, mostly some random small barracuda pto see until we got down to that little sunken boat… it’s pretty well corroded away, but the fish seem to love it. I saw Sargent Majors and Night Majors as well as a bunch of smaller stuff. My dive buddy saw a couple of lobsters inside but I missed them. I also saw a small ray that I will have to identify later from the pictures l took of him. Once we got under the bridge on the East side of the island we were surrounded by lots of fairly small fish and my SeaLife camera got a real workout. We had to finish the dive a little early due to technical problems, but I did get to see Pipehorse again after his dive so we could chat a bit more. It was so great to finally meet him face-to-face.

I plan to spend time tomorrow downloading pictures onto my iPad, then sharing a few here. Stay tuned!



PS I also want to say thanks again to Pipehorse, and hope we can dive together sometime. BTW, I think I saw his Orange Filefish. Only the download from my camera and a search of Paul Humman’s book will tell for sure!

 

[Pipehorse]

@Green Frog did your group go diving down in Pompano? How did that go?

Went to the bridge for diving today. Arrived at 0940 for a 1200 high tide. The park was not crowded, and remained that way for entirety of my visit today. Walked east in order to snorkel the trail prior to diving. The current was significantly less than it was yesterday. Visibility was not as good either, but still ok at 30 ft. Sea temp was up a degree from yesterday at 75f. Did a REEF fish survey on snorkel of 56 species in 50 minutes.

Entered the water on the west side for scuba. Did the west end of the snorkel trail and spent the dive searching through Bryozoan and Algae patches for macro opportunities. Observed one Lined Seahorse, several Octopus, Flying Gurnard, a few of my favorite worm Phoronopsis californica, and a species of bivalve common name Cross-Hatched Lucine that I had not observed before at BHB. Seahorses are a disappointment this year, compared to last year. One or two on a dive is the norm this year, 6-8 on a dive the norm last year. I wonder if higher sea temps are keeping the seahorse away, the same way higher sea temperatures seem to be keeping Blacktip Sharks away. Would be interesting to see if the current El Nino effect, might be correlated as well. Who knows maybe there will be an influx in the weeks to come. Did a REEF fish survey of 54 species in 65 minutes. Respectively, Cross-Hatched Lucine, Scrawled Cowfish, Cushion Sea Star, Octopus out and about, and Juvenile Scrawled Filefish pretending to be something other than a Juvenile Scrawled Filefish.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

@that's because it's a dotterel filefish!
Shorefishes - Random Images (lol, my photo!)

 

[MrChen]

I got in the water Jan 7, 2024 with @Scuba_Jenny, @SubNeo, my cousin Jared, and one of Jenny's friends. Jenny spotted the hardest to find Seahorse I've ever seen right off the beach. We went west. 74 degrees. Here are some pics. I haven't tried to ID anything yet since I haven't had time.