Blue Heron Bridge Trolls III

[johndiver999]

No, the dive shops have to get the same permit, they have to pay for it. Whatever entity, sole instructor or facility must be insured to get the permit. Shops pay more for the permit than a single instructor. So if a shop or instructor want to charge for night dives its up to them, there liability insurance is not free, nor is the permit, nobody is getting a free ride here.

You can read the whole park page Phil Foster Park or you can skip right to the permit part below.

Phil Foster Park Dive Instructor Permit


The point is the county does not allow parking at night for diving, unless the diver is under the supervision of somebody who has a permit, and thusly insured. So under the supervision is very loosely defined, i.e. sign a release and you are under supervision. Apparently Pura Vida does not do that anymore, you have to go with one of their guides. I believe Force E still has a policy of just signing a release and going without one their guides. You would have to ask either shop for their policy. So yeah I have a permit which allows me to conduct night dives there, as does any instructor/shop that gets the permit they required to have for any instructing at the bridge.

thanks for the clarification! What are the costs involved?

 

[h2o_hamilton]

thanks for the clarification! What are the costs involved?

$150 per year plus your insurance cost, which you should already have if you’re an active DM or instructor.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

Pura Vida charges for the guided dives. You would need to contact them for details. Force E is free. Just sign up at the shop, sign the waiver.

 

[Pipehorse]

Went to the bridge for diving today. Arrived at 1000 for a 1059 high tide. The park was not crowded. It was sunny, with no wind, and in the low 70s. I think the recent cooler weather has been keeping divers and beachgoers alike busy with other activities. I expect that if the weather remains the same it will be more crowded tomorrow and this weekend. Sea temp was 77f, and water was blue but hazy, vis was about 30ft.

Entered the westside at 1015, there were only dive flags to the east and on the snorkel trail no flags on the west. Drifted between the seawall and first set of pilings, immediately greeted by the Rainbow Parrots that swim between there and the snorkel trail. Drifted to the north to the last piling, and then took the counter current back south. Headed straight west to the last wall piling and tied off my flag. I can't help but notice that the Thyroscyphus ramous hydroids have diminished by as much as 90%. This is the species that almost looks like bushes growing around piling and other objects on the bottom. I don't know if the hurricane had something to do with it or not. I have not noticed this as a seasonal change in the past. Also of note the bryozoan patches are severely diminished or completely disappeared.

Did a REEF survey of 51 species in 60 minutes. Of note was a Spotted Eagle Ray, hermit crabs fighting over housing, juvenile Barred Hamlet(Caribbean), Belted Sandfish, a couple Lined Seahorses, an Octopus but no nudibranchs. Besides the diminished hyrdroids and bryozoans, I have noticed a wispy, hair algae, cling to all the other algae species, this makes searching for small inverts like nudibranchs more difficult. Out on Pura VIdas boat tomorrow, maybe back at the bridge Saturday. Respectively, Juvenile Barred Hamlet, Juvenile Dusky Damsel, Giant Hermit Crabs With Housing Issues, and Octo closeup.

 

[Pipehorse]

Went to the bridge for diving this past Saturday and Sunday. High tide on Saturday was 1230, and Sunday 1325. On both days I arrived about two hours before the tide. It was somewhat crowded both days, but not so much that you couldn't get a parking spot, the chill in the air keeping many beach goers away. On both days I snorkeled the trail and did REEF surveys prior to diving, observed a Spotted Eagle Ray on the snorkel trail. Sea temp was 77f both days. water was blue with hazy visibility on both days about 25-30ft, better on Sunday than Saturday.

On Saturday I did the eastside. Not for any particular reason other than I had not been over there for a while. Got under the bridge span well before any other divers arrived. The Spadefish were plentiful, and I was obliged to present a fin for them to rub against. Big Barracudas moved off to either side where they were to tough to see because of the shadows and hazy visibility.

The highlight of the dive was a Scrawled Cowfish trying to shake a Whitefin Sharksucker. Often it appears Whitefin Sharksuckers are cleaning a host fish (what I thought was happening at first), but they are not. Instead they are trying to find purchase with the modified first dorsal that can create suction seal on other marine animals, including fish, turtles, and marine mammals. The Scrawled Cowfish in a display of precision backfinning and helicopter finning that would make the most adroit tech diver green with envy, could not shake the sharksucker. Then as a I was videoing the Scrawled Cowfish entered the space just under my regulator and behind the camera in an an attempt to interest the sharksucker with my far greater surface area, but to no avail. Finally I held my REEF slate out towards the Scrawled Cowfish. The cowfish immediately took the opportunity to use my slate as a way to separate, extend, and escape the sharksucker. Sharksucker showed some interest in my wetsuit sleeve, but quickly disengaged to harass a Stoplight Parrotfish.


On Sunday I did the westside. I couldn't help but notice that there were many divers entering the westside and heading the bridge pilings. There have been some Lined Seahorses over there recently. I suspect a few people find the seahorses, post images on Facebook, and then everybody starts diving the pilings. I noticed the area just south of the pilings had no flags. This was an indication to me that there were very few regulars diving the bridge that day. Since there were no flags, that is the area I headed too.

Highlight of this dive were the Plumed Scorpionfish and the Insular Pipefish. Insular Pipefish has ever only been reported by me in the REEF database. Though there are a number of images of Insular Pipefish in Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, those photographers apparently don't do REEF surveys.


According to the REEF database Plumed Scorpionfish are observed .09% in all the surveys of the Tropical Western Atlantic, and 3.16% in all surveys at BHB. Uncommon

would be a good description for occurrence at BHB. I observed three of them on Sunday. They prefer to rest on the bottom with at least one side of there body up against some solid object. Often times they among algae, hydroids, or bryozoans, where they are well camouflaged. Perhaps the recent disappearance of the large patches of hydroids and
bryozoans has left them with less cover than normal, and maybe the reason for three being observed on the same dive.



Other species noted below repsectively, Leopard Searobin, and a pair of Eyed Flounders.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Even though the weather is crap this weekend, I went ahead and came over to dive. I really needed a weekend away, this is the only weekend I have free in December and I timed the trip to at least dive the bridge. No charters are running this weekend, but I did hit the bridge early this morning. There were maybe 8-10 over vehicles in the parking lot with divers. It was super windy (NE @ 20-30 mph) with rain showers. It was at least warmish at 70-72 F air temp. I only saw two other divers my entire dive. So very relaxing!

I entered the water around 6:45 am for a 7:05 am high tide with a 7 am sunrise. Viz was maybe 5’ and very hazy, water temp was 74-75 F. I ended up doing an 1h46m dive. I stuck to the westside for the first half of the dive. I saw multiple barracuda, the mojarra that are always around, a few sheepshead and all the usual topicals. There were 3 highlights to share:

A red seahorse. I am AWFUL at finding seahorses. Truly pathetic. This was in fact my FIRST ever seahorse to find myself! I was as giddy as a schoolgirl at a Taylor Swift concert!

As I was leaving the west side and heading east, I was searching for the structures to pick up the snorkel trail. I saw a large shadow in front of me and was certain it was part of the trail. Nope, it was this huge manatee!! Only my 2nd ever manatee sighting underwater.


At the group of shopping carts by the boat on the westside of the snorkel trail, there was a group of yellow jacks taking their turns being cleaned by a juvenile porkfish. I always love seeing cooperative behavior in the wild.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

I tried diving the bridge this morning. Viz was measured in inches, not feet. Got in anyway to see if it got better closer to the snorkel trail. Nope. Putting my hand out in front of me, I could see my elbow barely, not my hand. It was bad. Threw in the towel after 5 minutes.

 

[MrChen]

At least you tried

 

[Johnoly]

I tried diving the bridge this morning.

With an 8:01 HT and an ultra low angle sunrise at 7:01 combined with 40mph winds plus 11 foot waves and I think mother nature pulled out everything in her closet and threw it at you. Even the cruise ships are rescheduling because it's too rough to enter ports and not hit the jetty rocks..

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

Thanks for the report. Glad you got at least one dive in.
Hoping it gets better this week. Have 2 dives scheduled...

Did a bridge dive on Wednesday. One person found 9 seahorses, we "only" found 4. They also found a striated froggie. And I was ready to brag I found the first dwarf froggie of the season. A super small male, much less than 1/4"!!