Blue Heron Bridge Trolls III

[PBcatfish]

First time at Blue Herron Saturday 11/16 w/ my wife and a couple friends. When we got in it was about 8'. When we got out it was down to 3' or less in some places. I wonder if all the recent storm activity has the water churned up? Is this normal for November? We did some tours in October and November in Crystal River of last year and visibility was about this bad. Any way after about an hour of diving with someone who knew the area, we bailed. I still had about 1000lb in the tank and a spare

I'm excited to come back and explore when the vis gets better. What we did see was really neat. I'm no professional photographer, but here are some pics for what visibility looked like for the first part of our dive.

I've been out of town for a few days, so I haven't been watching the water quality. The water does sometimes get churned up after a storm, but visibility is seldom any good at times that are not near high tide. Were you diving at high tide? If not, that's the key thing to watch.

An average day there is about 20' vis at high tide & a good day is more like 40+. A very good day can be twice that. Even on a very good day, vis can drop below 10' as low tide nears.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Dived the bridge this morning. 5' viz tops and that is being a bit generous. 78 degrees. Just under 2 hrs was all I could muster. Had plenty of gas left, but I was cold (wore my 3mm and hooded vest) and tired of straining to see anything beyond 2-3' beyond an arms length.

@MrChen and I dived the bridge this morning. Hard to believe, but viz was worse than yesterday. In the shallows near-shore, maybe 1-2' of super milky viz tops. Some points I was right next to Chris, almost touching, and could not see him other than a very rough shadow. On the west side thankfully the viz was "better". Maybe 5' to at points perhaps 10' if I'm generous.

We spent the entire time touring the west side. Thanks to Chris for playing the tour guide! I'm trying to learn the west side as good as I know the east, but I need more experience diving it with folks that know it.

We found a small knife, probably for gutting fish, and a pair of wild sunglasses. In the murk, I almost got hooked by a fisherman. By the time I saw his bait, which was a pretty dead baitfish, the line was around my 1st stage. In trying to clear it, it got tangled in the light I was carrying for signaling, which was a must today. That's when the fisherman started to reel in the line. Thankfully I carry a trilobite right on my computer wrist straps. I was able to cut the line in a second or two. Sorry fisherman, but I wasn't gonna let you reel me in!

All in all a fun but challenging dive. I saw a couple of jawfish but each time Chris was a tad bit too far for him to see my light signal. Other than that, we saw lots and lots of milky sea water!

 

[Divin'Papaw]

First time at Blue Herron Saturday 11/16 w/ my wife and a couple friends. When we got in it was about 8'. When we got out it was down to 3' or less in some places. I wonder if all the recent storm activity has the water churned up? Is this normal for November?

Normal? Not exactly, but always possible when there is a strong swell like we had the last couple of days with the cold front. That swell scrapes the bottom, churns up lots of sand, and that is pulled into the ICW with the tides. Those of us that also dived the reefs this weekend saw first-hand how much the swell was churning things up.

In the summer heavy rains can also trash the viz for a few days or longer. During hurricane season, a passing TS or H can do the same thing due to both rain runoff, Okeechobee releases, churned up sand from a strong swell, or all of the above.

 

[D33p_6]

I've been out of town for a few days, so I haven't been watching the water quality. The water does sometimes get churned up after a storm, but visibility is seldom any good at times that are not near high tide. Were you diving at high tide? If not, that's the key thing to watch.

An average day there is about 20' vis at high tide & a good day is more like 40+. A very good day can be twice that. Even on a very good day, vis can drop below 10' as low tide nears.

We got in the water about 30 min before high tide and it got worse as time went on. Got out about 30 min after high tide. Our friend said the same thing. Oh no....we'll just have to come back

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Although the viz was pretty crappy on my 2 dives at the bridge this weekend, I did see a searobin very early on my dive Saturday morning 11/16.

 

[MrChen]

First time at Blue Herron Saturday 11/16 w/ my wife and a couple friends. When we got in it was about 8'. When we got out it was down to 3' or less in some places. I wonder if all the recent storm activity has the water churned up? Is this normal for November? We did some tours in October and November in Crystal River of last year and visibility was about this bad. Any way after about an hour of diving with someone who knew the area, we bailed. I still had about 1000lb in the tank and a spare

I'm excited to come back and explore when the vis gets better. What we did see was really neat. I'm no professional photographer, but here are some pics for what visibility looked like for the first part of our dive.

My guess is that the heavy surge offshore which killed vis at depth made its way to BHB. I heard it's cleared up offshore and at the bridge.

 

[MrChen]

We spent the entire time touring the west side. Thanks to Chris for playing the tour guide! I'm trying to learn the west side as good as I know the east, but I need more experience diving it with folks that know it.

When I got in the water and knew you wanted me to guide it, I was like oh boy, this is going to be a tough one. We made it though!

All in all a fun but challenging dive. I saw a couple of jawfish but each time Chris was a tad bit too far for him to see my light signal. Other than that, we saw lots and lots of milky sea water!

I was probably too busy staring at my compass, which I spent 75% of the dive doing. The only fish I noticed were 3 large sheepsheads that swam up to investigate me.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

When I got in the water and knew you wanted me to guide it, I was like oh boy, this is going to be a tough one. We made it though!



I was probably too busy staring at my compass, which I spent 75% of the dive doing. The only fish I noticed were 3 large sheepsheads that swam up to investigate me.

You did a masterful job in very difficult conditions, and I sure appreciate it!!

 

[D33p_6]

I was probably too busy staring at my compass, which I spent 75% of the dive doing. The only fish I noticed were 3 large sheepsheads that swam up to investigate me.

Seriously! I'm glad I payed attention to the navigation portion of my open-water cert! My friend is a regular free-diver at BHB and she knew where everything is, otherwise I would have had a lovely open water sand dive lol