Blue Heron Bridge Trolls III

[Johnoly]

And don't park in the boat parking.. you WILL be ticketed or towed!

The boat trailer lot is 'Paid' parking and the car lots are 'free' parking. PBC makes ALOT of money from all the boat ramp parking and it's used to help pay for the showers, bathrooms, landscaping, etc.
I also have seen cars towed from the trailer lot spots, especially during holidays. Don't put a car in a trailer spot even if you are just unloading, they'll snatch it.

 

[StPeteDiver]

I've been diving BHB for over 12 years and it has the same parking lot.

Might be longer than 10 years, but I don't remember a parking lot. Good to know, I'll be down there in the Spring. Thanks!

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Might be longer than 10 years, but I don't remember a parking lot. Good to know, I'll be down there in the Spring. Thanks!

I honestly can't imagine Phil Foster Park without a parking lot. It's pretty much 90% parking lot!

 

[MrChen]

I dove Sunday with @Scuba_Jenny and @SubNeo. It was a very cool and windy day. The surface was quite choppy. The wind blew my flag around and it was bobbing up and down constantly. It tangled me up a couple of times and Jenny got me set straight.

I wore my 3mm with sharkskin top and bottom under it. We did a 2h 40m dive. By the 2hr mark, I was really starting to feel the cold. I show water temp of 75 on my computer.

For the first time in a year, I took my camera on a dive

Jenny right off the bat finds a pipefish and the striated froggie in 3 ft of water. I'm taking pics of the FF and divers are literally walking right on top of me as they were entering the water. The silt was so bad from all the divers entering that I couldn't get any good photos. She finds another pipefish at the beginning.

I found a very small sea slug in the feather algae and lost it after taking a test photo. Jenny found a couple of nudis, and I found a couple of roughback shrimp.

All in all, it was a good dive.

 

[MrChen]

I honestly can't imagine Phil Foster Park without a parking lot. It's pretty much 90% parking lot!

View attachment 879922

Google Earth shows a shot from 1995.

 

[MrChen]

The previous shot is 1985 and unfortunately this is what it looks like. It's still shaped the same, so I would assume it has parking.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

I wore my 5mm with sharkskin vest, double hoods, and got cold. I also got 169 min..at 73° degrees. (Dang, I miss the degree shortcut.. ALT+0176). Found the two pipefish and striated froggie within the first 6 minutes.. not bad! I didn't get good shots, too much particulate in the water thanks to divers entering and almost walking on top of us... I showed Chris the location, and scaddaled out of there to deeper water! LOL

 

[MrChen]

I almost forgot, we happened across a pair of mating octos.

 

[Pipehorse]

I haven't been diving lately. Got an ear infection mid-December. In 35 years of diving I have never developed an ear infection from diving, or an ear infection at all for that matter. Also, I have not been willing to fight the weather and force the issue. Also since early November I have been birding almost everyday.

This is a great time of year for birding in Florida, cooler temperatures and few to no stinging and biting insects. I counted as many species of birds in Palm Beach County by Jan 19 of this year, as I did in all of 2024. Searching for less common and accidental birds really is not anymore different than searching for fish and nudibranchs. Funny thing is, and this might seem counter intuitive, but birds are actually far more difficult to photograph than fish. Yeah I understand, underwater photography in general is a barrier many individuals can not overcome, and therefore might be considered more challenging. However once that barrier is surpassed and its you and the particular animal, birds are way more difficult. See if you can get within 4 inches of a bird, good luck. Find the most common bird, say the pigeons at BHB, try and get a good exposure. They never stop moving! Now try getting a shot of some bird in a tree that always manages to put itself between you and the sun, good luck.

Anyway I digress, last couple posts got me thinking about when was the first time I did any diving at BHB. Not a problem I just look in a hand written log book. Dive No. 688 Feb 29, 2000. Dive No. 699, March 1, 2000. What did I go there looking for? Yes you guessed correctly, seahorses and frogfish. YOU WANT A REAL LAUGH, I did both dives at LOW TIDE, in a drysuit with nitrox. See the below respective Logbook Entries. Yeah I know I spelled stantion as station. Anyway the point being, I can't remember Phil Foster Park being any different than it is today. I recall parking on the westside in that curved area where everybody now launches paddleboards.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

I haven't been diving lately. Got an ear infection mid-December. In 35 years of diving I have never developed an ear infection from diving, or an ear infection at all for that matter. Also, I have not been willing to fight the weather and force the issue. Also since early November I have been birding almost everyday.

This is a great time of year for birding in Florida, cooler temperatures and few to no stinging and biting insects. I counted as many species of birds in Palm Beach County by Jan 19 of this year, as i did in all of 2024. Searching for less common and accidental birds really is not anymore different than searching for fish and nudibranchs. Funny thing is, and this might seem counter intuitive, but birds are actually far more difficult to photograph than fish. Yeah I understand, underwater photography in general is a barrier many individuals can not overcome, and therefore might be considered more challenging. However once that barrier is surpassed and tis you and the particualar animal birds are way more difficult. See if you can get within 4 inches of a bird, good luck. Find the most common bird say the pigeons at BHB, try and get a good exposure. They never stop moving! Now try getting a shot of a some bird in a tree that always manages to put itself between you and the sun, good luck.

Anyway I digress, last couple posts got me thinking about when was the first time I did any diving at BHB. Not a problem I just look in a hand written log book. Dive No. 688 Feb 29, 2000. Dive No. 699, March 1, 2000. What did I go there looking for? Yes you guessed correctly seahorses, and frogfish. YOU WANT A REAL LAUGH, I did both dives at LOW TIDE, in a drysuit with nitrox. See the below respective Logbook Entries. Yeah I know I spelled stantion as station. Anyway the point being, I can't remember Phil Foster Park being any different than it is today. I recall parking on the westside in that curved area where everybody now launches paddleboards.

View attachment 879982View attachment 879984

My wife and I spent last weekend in Jupiter on a non-diving trip. We hit Wakodahatchee and Green Cay for some birding and other wildlife viewing on the way over on Saturday. It was a great weekend, even with the rain yesterday.