Blue Heron Bridge Trolls

[sportxlh]

Would love to do this dive. We need to hook up some time.. when the dang wind is not blowing.. grrhhh

Me too!! this looks like a lot of fun.

Anyone ever tried actually dive Macarthur State Park, which is just a bit north on Singer Island?? ....I've snorkeled it (and saw a nurse shark along with some tropicals), but it seems fairly shallow. I very well could have missed some deeper spots. Obviously, the walk the the beach would be a long haul

 

[zombiesloth79]

I snorkel/freedive at the shallow rockpiles whenever the slack high time for the bridge doesn't work for me. This one of my favorite spots. I haven't seen the variety there that the bridge has, but there are things (like sharks) that you never really get to see at the bridge. The pumphouse jetty down the beach is also a good spot, but as soon as you cross into Palm Beach Shores, there's nowhere to park for non-residents, so you have to walk down from city beach, and it's a bit of a hike. I definitely wouldn't want to do it with full scuba gear.

 

[idive2]

I can actually get a pass to park next to the Marriott at the property immediately to it's south ( Akrin or Afrin or something like that...but this is not available to the public)....What is available is parking at the Ocean Mall/Public Beach.
You would not have to walk north all the way down to the Ocean Palms, but could begin near the north side of the Public beach...

Dan, I took a ride up that way yesterday before work and noticed two Marriott locations. One may have been a vacation rental type resort and the other perhaps just a resort. The one to the south I believe had a new building being put up on or near the same property. Just wondering which resort these blocks are closest to ? I stumbled upon some activities going on up at the MacArthur park so turned out to be a good trip. I'll google maps the area and see if I can determine which marriott these are closest to.

 

[danvolker]

Dan, I took a ride up that way yesterday before work and noticed two Marriott locations. One may have been a vacation rental type resort and the other perhaps just a resort. The one to the south I believe had a new building being put up on or near the same property. Just wondering which resort these blocks are closest to ? I stumbled upon some activities going on up at the MacArthur park so turned out to be a good trip. I'll google maps the area and see if I can determine which marriott these are closest to.

There are actually 3 Marriotts on the beach...one big one, the Vacation club, is on the extreme south end of the island and beach. The next one to the north is the Ocean Palms, which is about 100 yards south of the Hilton....Just immediately north of the Hilton is the Marriott Resort and Spa.

Ocean Palms is the one I have dived off of... I dived the little reef off the Hilton, and it's worm rock reef, but it is a zero interest area for any of us....more like what the tourists you see snorkeling in the sand 10 feet off a beach, anywhere, get to see

 

[idive2]

Okay, got the gps numbers for both sets of blocks and found the ocean palms on google maps.
I see where the larger set of blocks is not far off from the public beach and in a bit closer to shore.
This area near ocean palms only shows about 200 meters out so not that bad at all. If I'm
looking at it correctly looks like about a ESE heading from the beach at the ocean palms Marriott.
Looks like the address is around 3200 N. Ocean Drive and a nearby cross street on west side looks
like Sugar Sands Blvd.

 

[baydive20]

Jenny,

It was great meeting you and Cat for our dive under the bridge. I have never seen so much in such a small space or on the same dive. Thanks for the tour and you can bet we will be back to see all of it.

Good dive this morning. Looked for the lionfish on the boat and couldn't find him. There were 5 of us looking. Then went to the sailboat and found him. The tide had turned and was starting to pick up pretty good. I took a single shot, missed and he disappeared. DRAT. DRAT. DRAT.
Rained like crazy during the dive, and again on exit. We laughed and washed our gear in the runoff from the bridge above. As I was putting away my gear, I realized I lost a fin!!! Asking everybody if they found a fin. Met up with Kevin and some other guys, one of them offering to help me find my fin. He found it within seconds of entering the water. THANK YOU!!! Talking to him after the dive, I learned his buddy got the lionfish at the sailboat, and one other! Whoo hoo!!
Cat saw a turtle. That's two sightings of a turtle, wonder if it's taking up residence..

---------- Post added April 6th, 2012 at 06:43 PM ----------

Free gear rinse today

---------- Post added April 6th, 2012 at 10:52 PM ----------

Some pics from today's dive
Cat found a fire extinguisher. No fires underwater today! LOL

eel

Yeah, it was raining

A couple divers

for Jet. Horseshoe crabs not fighting. A little porn under the bridge! LOL

forgot what kind of cowfish this is.. been watching it over the past few months, and my, how it's grown!

Gear rinse

Not many fish shots, not much turned out very good..

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

Pleasure meeting you and the guys and diving with ya. So glad you had a good time, look forward to diving with ya again soon!

 

[danvolker]

Guys, Sunday at the bridge was another POSTER DAY for why we need to get help from the Park to change the way Classes and individual divers move through the more delicate areas...such as where the nudibranchs are ( since photographers have driven sometimes over 2 hours for this) or such as where physical damage could occur, like where we have some rare oculina corals ( a deep water coral known for providing deep water nursery grounds for fish--usually from 250 feet to 1500 feet deep).
This video was of a certified diver I spoke "politely to" after his dive....where I tried to identify the issues for him, and get change to occur. He, like many new divers at BHB, thought the bottom was dead, and that he should have had no concerns for what his fins were doing....the student classes need to be educated on this as well...See the video...
[video=youtube_share;UVpD08Ko2DY]http://youtu.be/UVpD08Ko2DY?hd=1[/video]
It begins with some Nudibranch video, and then we get run over by this guy....

We may need underwater signs..we may need an awareness program in all the dive shops....I already have the Park willing to meet with the dive Association on getting stairs north of the west and lower bridge, near the bait cleaning stand, where students could enter and do drills in 12 feet of water--about 200 feet out....and to the north of all BHB highlights..silting would be only headed for the mangroves.
The instructors will still want the students to get close to 20 feet, so the other option is getting them on the far east side, by the docs for this.


We actually DO have a bottom that should not be roto-tilled. We SHOULD formulate a plan that can make the BHB less likely to get trashed every weekend...Thoughts?

 

[jimw]

We went yesterday--that guy in the shorty was likely freezing.

The water temp started out at 77F and late in the dive both of my computers indicated 75F. We asked one of the newish divers with us when he started to get cold--he said,"as soon as I got in the water". Despite the not too good viz our group of 6 stayed together well and we saw only a group of 3 other divers--lots of divers though when we got out!!

Dan, I hope you got thru to that "diver"!!

 

[idive2]

It's hard to get down on the students, many know what they should and should not be doing but still
not there yet with the skills. The instructors I'm sure would love to have an organized, controlled class
to show off at the bridge. The reality is it takes time to develop these skills even with the best instructors
and best intentions by the students. I do think the instructors should keep the students in an area that is
mostly sand and from what I have seen they try to do that. There will always be the renegades with nothing but
their own interests in mind but I think with the students all you can do is emphasize the importance of not kicking
or disturbing things and have them try their best. I think most are trying their best, takes a little time.
75F ? Those temperatures are GOIN THE WRONG WAY !!!