Blue Heron Bridge Trolls

[iluvtheocean]

i could see the park charging an entrance fee to the park for the day.... say $1.50 -- not unreasonable -- most Broward county parks do that. Have the funds collected go towards maintaining & improving the park. I wonder what Pura Vida & Force-E are saying about the new shop/charter having dominion over what they can and can't do in the park? i mention those 2 in particular since they are known for the night dive events.

 

[Biminitwist]

It has been slow for nudies but I can never tell if that is just me.
Jaded as we are, we now rate dives on "new" finds or never seen behaviors both of which have been popping lately.
Luck or seasonal I'm not sure. The bristle worms are attacking everything, we saw a few 9 arm star fish with missing limbs racing around with one arm straight up being chomped on by said worm. Also 3 b worms hunting in a pack till they cornered and ate a fast snapping shrimp.
Various wrasses are mating up a storm with colorful super males zipping around drab harems.
The area referred to seems less barren lately but the fresh water seems to knock it back.
Judging by the number of eggs on every existing hydroid it will be a banner year.

Wish I spent more time with the sargassum weed posse at the beginning but who knew, last few times it has been pretty dead.
Like my battery by the time we dragged back 3+ hours latererv: Still got a little sea turtle video to throw on the hard drive pile for future editing....

Our friends are returning to that area I showed you a while back but they are still young uns.

If you come back down we will try to use it as an excuse to drive back up.

No guarantees though as that was an extra lucky day! Did I mention the red lipped white spotted long nose batfish.

Whoot!

John

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

Any ID confirmation from our hardcore turtle specialists (Jenny) would be appreciated!

it's a little loggerhead. Probably lost or from a nearby nest that has yet to swim to the gulfstream. What happened to it?

 

[danvolker]

Not to get sucked into this but it will be a question of jurisdiction.
They won't be sworn officers and can do no more than any civilian in regards to reporting Actual breaking of the law vs "things we wish wouldn't happen".
We need to ban collection of tropical fish and enforce it.
IF they can enact it then that will fall to the park ranger or FWC, whoever reports it.
I am adding FWC's number to my speed dial but it usually happens when we are far from the car.
I know Dan has always lobbied for making BHB a sanctuary, I just don't think a dive kiosk will we much of a substitute.
John

Think Sandra has better shots (we were quite shallow and surge was an issue) but Kelly was kind enough to share this;

I think this turtle by Biminitwist is a great shot! .... And anyone that has ever tried to shoot a baby turtle on the surface knows how insanely hard this is!!!

Here are a couple of Sandra's...

 

[Randy g]

Friday July 11th night dive

Revised version

[video=youtube;2lLWuIf6_ok]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XxLCIozU5g&list=UUNTlL96d3zwU4xxnaKN7_dw[/video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lLWuIf6_ok&list=UUNTlL96d3zwU4xxnaKN7_dw

 

[danvolker]

Friday July 11th night dive

[video=youtube;2lLWuIf6_ok]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lLWuIf6_ok&list=UUNTlL96d3zwU4xxnaKN7_dw[/video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lLWuIf6_ok&list=UUNTlL96d3zwU4xxnaKN7_dw

Wow...some great shots! I think I enjoyed watching this more than I enjoyed my last night dive there !

 

[DiveDivaDM]

I was just chatting with some of the top people from county Parks yesterday...not about this specifically, but the conversation did cover this...

The County just awarded a contract to Little Deeper Charters and Stuart Dive.....they will be in the building at the Northwest corner of the park, where the Sherrif or marine unit boats are docked....and they will most likely have some form of kiosk out closer to the Bridge( no one knows exactly this point yet, but the assumption is that they will want to be in front of as many divers as possible, so being at the far back side of the park wont be enough for them).....In any event, THEY would become the authority charged with good behaviors, or bad behaviors at the Bridge....divers will go to them...they will make a determination of how to handle each incident...whether themselves with warnings, or by tapping the LEO's on the shoulder, and asking them to handle the issue in question....They will help us deal with the collectors, the spearfihermen, and hopefully the irresponsible classes of 20 students trampling places like Nudiworld with their drills and silting 100 foot vis into 10 foot vis...
And yes...they will have dominion over other shops at the BHB...which will not be popular with the other operators....but it is the Park's first attempt to really be able to address the specific DIVE related problems at the park--which really require the knowledge and experience base of a Dive Industry professional to know how to navigate all the issues that arise daily with divers at the BHB.

If you guys have a wish list or gripe list, this would be a REALLY GOOD TIME to post it....and potentially get some of your ideas implemented.

Dan, I am curious how Stuart Scuba was chosen over other LOCAL dive shops such as Force E or PV for example. Why not award the contract to a local dive shop? That would seem to make more sense. Were the local dive shops given the opportunity to get the contract? Who knows the bridge better than a local dive shop? I am sure the folks at Stuart Scuba are fine folks however, I don't see them at the bridge as often as the local dive shops. While we are from PSL we do try to support the local economy while diving the bridge. I shop at mostly Force E but get banked nitrox from PV. We eat locally after a dive. It just seems to make more sense to have supported a local dive shop with the contract. This will be interesting. Wow, we go away on a dive trip and come back and all hell has broken loose.

Oh, and Dan ..... what "top people?" Isn't that a line from Raiders of the Lost Arc?

 

[Biminitwist]

Thanks Dan, I was but a lowly spotter, Kelly like Sandra was fighting the working distance, low vis to get the shot.
Love you can see the egg horn. I told Sandra I thought it was a loggerhead but I am no expert.

Jenny- We hope it got away but there were two people who pretty clearly wanted to take it had we not been there.
Hopefully it was far enough out to escape unlike their bucket of other doomed critters.
John

Batfish would turn away constantly but think it is the rarer long nose, great red lips.

 

[danvolker]

Dan, I am curious how Stuart Scuba was chosen over other LOCAL dive shops such as Force E or PV for example. Why not award the contract to a local dive shop? That would seem to make more sense. Were the local dive shops given the opportunity to get the contract? Who knows the bridge better than a local dive shop? I am sure the folks at Stuart Scuba are fine folks however, I don't see them at the bridge as often as the local dive shops. While we are from PSL we do try to support the local economy while diving the bridge. I shop at mostly Force E but get banked nitrox from PV. We eat locally after a dive. It just seems to make more sense to have supported a local dive shop with the contract. This will be interesting. Wow, we go away on a dive trip and come back and all hell has broken loose.

Oh, and Dan ..... what "top people?" Isn't that a line from Raiders of the Lost Arc?

Hi DiveDiva...
KNow you do know that I had nothing to do with the Park issuing a contract to a vendor....the local shops had been approached for years, and offered a Request for Proposals so that the Park could rent out space on the North West side of the park...it would require somewhere between $30,000 and $100,000 from what I read of the last RFP I saw 2 years ago....and more important than the money to the Park, was the promise to offer major services to the people using the park--to enhance the park. For years, no one was interested, and this included Force E and Pura Vida, and JASA. It was just not what they do, and they did not want to experiment.....Apparently Stuart Scuba and Little Deeper felt that the time was right to experiment with what they could do to increase services and park experience quality....From the RFP, it was clear that this was the real deal maker for the Park, not so much what they could charge the vendor.

Top people of the Park? As you may have heard, I was working closely with the County Park service, meeting frequently with their staff and management teams over Project Seahorse----we are instituting a youth outreach, teaching the little local kids to swim, and to snorkel at the BHB. As you may know, many of the local families at the BHB have both kids and parents in the water, and they don't swim....We worked with a bunch of kids for the Event in JUne, and all the kids are now excited about the underwater wonders of the BHB....and the non-swimmers now want to learn to swim, to see what is blowing the minds of their friends.... www.projectseahorse-bhb.org

 

[Arubandi07]

Hi DiveDiva...
KNow you do know that I had nothing to do with the Park issuing a contract to a vendor....the local shops had been approached for years, and offered a Request for Proposals so that the Park could rent out space on the North West side of the park...it would require somewhere between $30,000 and $100,000 from what I read of the last RFP I saw 2 years ago....and more important than the money to the Park, was the promise to offer major services to the people using the park--to enhance the park. For years, no one was interested, and this included Force E and Pura Vida, and JASA. It was just not what they do, and they did not want to experiment.....Apparently Stuart Scuba and Little Deeper felt that the time was right to experiment with what they could do to increase services and park experience quality....From the RFP, it was clear that this was the real deal maker for the Park, not so much what they could charge the vendor.

Top people of the Park? As you may have heard, I was working closely with the County Park service, meeting frequently with their staff and management teams over Project Seahorse----we are instituting a youth outreach, teaching the little local kids to swim, and to snorkel at the BHB. As you may know, many of the local families at the BHB have both kids and parents in the water, and they don't swim....We worked with a bunch of kids for the Event in JUne, and all the kids are now excited about the underwater wonders of the BHB....and the non-swimmers now want to learn to swim, to see what is blowing the minds of their friends.

Dan, with all due respect, probably more along the lines of "Damn, there's money to be made!! Now, let's figure out how to deal with that part of the deal ..."

But, whatever the motive, let's see what happens next, ... Always open for a positive surprise. Got a few of those along my way through life