Blue Heron Bridge Trolls

[Biminitwist]

Kev-
Not to beat a dead horse but that last pic is what I know as a Buffalo Trunkfish, making the prior green iterations juvenile buffalo trunkfish but I thought we had established that.
Maybe you should follow my example and just take more pictures leaving editing to future generations....

and Jet I will vouch for the the FWC/Spearfishing angle: they could not have showed up any faster if the park ranger had been yelling "Bin Laden" into the radio....
She just stressed that they (Phil Foster Park Rangers) handled illegal tropical collection all the time, mostly weekends.....
Good to know (if you can find one)
John

 

[jet126]

I managed to get up there early yesterday morning. It was so beautiful - warm, clear blue water - that I totally lost track of time. I finished my dive by the shopping carts and headed in from there.

Close to shore I came across two teenagers using nets and a slurp gun. I surfaced with them, as one said to the other "Did you get it?" I asked them if they had a permit to collect and in unison one said "yes" and the other said "no." In my best mom voice I said "we'll let the lifeguard sort out who's telling the truth."

The lifeguard did sort it out - the kids did not have a permit and he made them leave the water. They claimed the gear was new and they were just practicing. He told me afterwards it's getting near impossible with the number of snorkelers who swim outside the guarded area.

I took the time, even though I was already horribly late for work, to snap this photo. I really don't know how it could be any clearer - or how anyone can claim ignorance. But I think with the new snorkel trail more and better signage is needed. There were snorkelers out there yesterday morning, almost to the boat channel, with no dive flag.

 

[mntlblok]

Imagination

Kev-
Not to beat a dead horse but that last pic is what I know as a Buffalo Trunkfish, making the prior green iterations juvenile buffalo trunkfish but I thought we had established that.
Maybe you should follow my example and just take more pictures leaving editing to future generations....
John

"in the background of what I assume to be a nearly full grown trunkfish, is a "large-ish" greenie, which I hadn't noticed in the pics prior to "processing"."

It ain't easy to see, but in both those pics, just behind the buffalo trunkfish, is an out-of-focus greenie - I think. Look closely and use yer imagination.


had it been a snake. . .



OK, I broke down and cropped, lightened, saturated, and cranked the contrast *way* up. I need some spotters. . .

No way to take more pitchers. My batteries are now running all the way down on these four hour outings. *But*, just yesterday, I made my way into the folder of the dives from my most recent trip! I could conceivably get caught up - except that I occasionally turn the video on for some of these critters. I'm over a year behind on those.

*And*, what do you have against dead horses??

Kevin

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I managed to get up there early yesterday morning. It was so beautiful - warm, clear blue water - that I totally lost track of time. I finished my dive by the shopping carts and headed in from there.

Close to shore I came across two teenagers using nets and a slurp gun. I surfaced with them, as one said to the other "Did you get it?" I asked them if they had a permit to collect and in unison one said "yes" and the other said "no." In my best mom voice I said "we'll let the lifeguard sort out who's telling the truth."

The lifeguard did sort it out - the kids did not have a permit and he made them leave the water. They claimed the gear was new and they were just practicing. He told me afterwards it's getting near impossible with the number of snorkelers who swim outside the guarded area.

I took the time, even though I was already horribly late for work, to snap this photo. I really don't know how it could be any clearer - or how anyone can claim ignorance. But I think with the new snorkel trail more and better signage is needed. There were snorkelers out there yesterday morning, almost to the boat channel, with no dive flag.

View attachment 132719

There is no enforceable law against tropical collection at the bridge:

the sign should be removed.

there was a lot of information on this thread:


http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/fl...tion-protection-discussion-5.html#post5841884

 

[chrisayres]

We were looking at coming out to BHB on Friday the 31st, but it looks like HT is 8:30am and 8:50 pm, according to this chart. The AM slot is too early for us to get there and the PM slot is too late. I guess we're out of luck for a decent dive at the bridge that day. Can anyone recommend another place to dive nearby that doesn't require a boat? We're doing the boat trip the next day.

 

[ConchyJoe]

There is no enforceable law against tropical collection at the bridge:

the sign should be removed.

there was a lot of information on this thread:


http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/fl...tion-protection-discussion-5.html#post5841884

I am not sure why you are coming over here with this information. There is an enforceable law. It clearly states that a proper saltwater fishing license is required. There are also live landing and live well requirements attached to that saltwater fishing license and specific to collecting Tropicals. So if you are bringing them ashore and tossing them in a bucket without some sort or aeration, you are indeed breaking the law.

And if everyone takes action like John has, these laws will become even more enforceable than they already are..

Hope that helps..

 

[danvolker]

We were looking at coming out to BHB on Friday the 31st, but it looks like HT is 8:30am and 8:50 pm, according to this chart. The AM slot is too early for us to get there and the PM slot is too late. I guess we're out of luck for a decent dive at the bridge that day. Can anyone recommend another place to dive nearby that doesn't require a boat? We're doing the boat trip the next day.

The mitigation reef in front of the beach at the Ocean Mall on Singer Island. Actually, about 50 feet to the north, down the beach from the parking lot of the public beach. You can go to Google Earth and pull this up. This is really easy to snorkel. Max depth if you go all the way down to the second series of reefs, which is maybe 300 yards-500 yards north at the end of it, is around 12 feet.
The only issue is carrying your scuba tanks, unless you can tip the beach cabana kids to carry this for you..which is possiblle....Carrying the tanks across the deep sand, for the walk you do to get across this big beach, seems like you are Lawrence of Arabia, crossing the Sahara Desert ! With just snorkels, you don't feel this way.

Other alternative, is on the island of Palm Beach, park at northern most parking meters of public beach, carry gear down to South edge of Breakers Resort, and swim out to mooring bouys where the 20 foot deep reef is...this is a series of patch reefs, that run parallel to the shore at mostly the same depth. They are not continuous, so it is important you are heading in the right direction, or you will stay over sand and could end up on the 60 foot reef a mile out ( bad part of that would be you would dive the reef, be drifting north, and would come in near the Palm Beach Inlet, or on singer Island, no where near your car

 

[chrisayres]

Thanks for the ideas. They sound easy enough. We're all pretty young (I am at least ) so I'm sure a nice walk with all our gear won't be toooo bad! I'll pitch it to the team and see what they think. Anyone else have any ideas for the area?

 

[danvolker]

Thanks for the ideas. They sound easy enough. We're all pretty young (I am at least ) so I'm sure a nice walk with all our gear won't be toooo bad! I'll pitch it to the team and see what they think. Anyone else have any ideas for the area?

Cool...Then I want to hear a report afterwards

 

[mntlblok]

Thanks for the ideas. They sound easy enough. We're all pretty young (I am at least ) so I'm sure a nice walk with all our gear won't be toooo bad! I'll pitch it to the team and see what they think. Anyone else have any ideas for the area?

Lauderdale By The Sea or LBTS. Plenty of info available both on ScubaBoard and Google. Parking is the major issue.

Kevin