Blue Heron Bridge Trolls

[tracydr]

We are going to be in Miami for the next couple of days. Rented a car so that we can drive up to the bridge. Can somebody give me details on when to dive and where to park? We'll dive either Friday or Saturday, hubby has to find out the conference schedule first.
I've wanted to dive at Blue Heron Bridge for years!

 

[MB]

The parking will be obvious once you enter the park.

Here's a tide chart. Tides for Port of Palm Beach (Lake Worth), florida - TIDES.net The most common ploy is to enter an hour or so before high tide, and stay until about an hour after. Diving hig tide gives you the best visibility, during the least current. Stay out of the boat channels. Beware the bristle worms and divers, students, and instructors with poor buoyancy. Its a shallow dive, and much of the site has a muck bottom.

And post a report after your dive!
Enjoy.

 

[seeker242]

Can somebody give me details on when to dive and where to park?

Whatever you do, don't park in the long lane spots! Unless you want a $30 parking ticket! Those are only for boat trailers. The parking sign out front is misleading! (grumble grumble)

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

If you've never been there, I would recommend getting a guide. Sure you can go without, however your chances of finding stuff (and navigating) will be much more challenging. Bring a compass. It's easy to drift into the boat channel. Traditional underwater navigation is very challenging because the water flows in so many directions.
Ok. 3 main areas to dive, all them same, all totally different, if that's possible.
The west span, south out from the playground and beach (includes the snorkel trail), and east span. I like to pick a general direction, either east or west, the finish my dive out front.

One last thing. Trip report!

 

[Bbarnes]

Tim:

I am a BHB scuba board "lurker", frequently reading but never posting. I consider myself a bridge "troll" though. I am from Oklahoma but get to the BHB for about 10 - 15 dives per year over the past 4 years or so. I have continually admired your photos and ability to find unusual critters, especially nudibranch. They are the one thing I have never been able to find at the BHB. I know it is a general rule to not post where you find certain critters on the BHB, but I would love your advice on where you find the nudibranch most commonly. From the background of your photos, I am guessing under the bridge on the west end where there is more grass and debris? Is that generally correct? Any specific techniques to finding them? I did not know about the relation of the bumblebee shrimp and urchins and will look into it. Keep posting your top photos, I enjoy them thoroughly.

 

[djtimmy77]

Thanks for the kind words. I sent a message with some general tips.

---------- Post added November 12th, 2015 at 09:20 PM ----------

If you've never been there, I would recommend getting a guide. Sure you can go without, however your chances of finding stuff (and navigating) will be much more challenging. Bring a compass. It's easy to drift into the boat channel. Traditional underwater navigation is very challenging because the water flows in so many directions.
Ok. 3 main areas to dive, all them same, all totally different, if that's possible.
The west span, south out from the playground and beach (includes the snorkel trail), and east span. I like to pick a general direction, either east or west, the finish my dive out front.

One last thing. Trip report!

Also you will see 3 times as much stuff as they will point stuff out you would probably swim right over without them. (and no, I am not a guide for hire)

 

[seeker242]

Do ocean sea conditions have a predictable effect on visibility at the bridge? I'm planning on going this sunday but this is the report for sunday...

SUNDAY
EAST NORTHEAST WINDS 20 TO 25 KNOTS WITH GUSTS TO
AROUND 35 KNOTS. SEAS 9 TO 11 FEET WITH OCCASIONAL SEAS TO
14 FEET.

:shocked2:

 

[BHB ScubaTroll]

Tim:

I am a BHB scuba board "lurker", frequently reading but never posting. I consider myself a bridge "troll" though. I am from Oklahoma but get to the BHB for about 10 - 15 dives per year over the past 4 years or so. I have continually admired your photos and ability to find unusual critters, especially nudibranch. They are the one thing I have never been able to find at the BHB. I know it is a general rule to not post where you find certain critters on the BHB, but I would love your advice on where you find the nudibranch most commonly. From the background of your photos, I am guessing under the bridge on the west end where there is more grass and debris? Is that generally correct? Any specific techniques to finding them? I did not know about the relation of the bumblebee shrimp and urchins and will look into it. Keep posting your top photos, I enjoy them thoroughly.

There are different types of nudibranchs in different areas. When you "photogs" with their heads buried in the gravel, you can be pretty sure that is one thing they are looking for. When you see photogs with their heads buried in the grassy areas, they are looking for a different nudibranch. And, when you see them looking at random sticks... yet another

This is one of the bigger nudibranchs and it will give you some perspective on size (use this as a reference for a large nudi and remember they are usually smaller)

Black-Spotted Sea Goddess


---------- Post added November 13th, 2015 at 05:56 PM ----------

Do ocean sea conditions have a predictable effect on visibility at the bridge? I'm planning on going this sunday but this is the report for sunday...

SUNDAY
EAST NORTHEAST WINDS 20 TO 25 KNOTS WITH GUSTS TO
AROUND 35 KNOTS. SEAS 9 TO 11 FEET WITH OCCASIONAL SEAS TO
14 FEET.

:shocked2:

With these types of conditions the water on the surface will have a slight chop, but below the surface it could be 30' of vis.
It's a crap-shoot until the rains come. The water runoff into Lake Worth from the rains is when the vis goes down noticeably

 

[djtimmy77]

The big waves on sunday could certainly affect vis quite a bit. Wind driven waves like this sunday usually isn't as bad as ground swell waves which totally wreck vis.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Saturday was hazy with maybe 15 ft visibility. Water was almost warm (my son packed the gear and forgot my wetsuit) and no animals were "handled" on the whole outing.

We saw 3 groups of divers venturing into the channel. Two groups were along the edge and a quick swim to them and a tug on the float and a few hand signals and they got back where they needed to be.

However, one lady, was cruising right down the center of the channel heading south. I filmed that a little and then took a chance and swam out into the middle of the channel and got her to head back as well. Somebody is gonna get killed there.

[video=youtube_share;caBjqAklDmI]http://youtu.be/caBjqAklDmI[/video]