Blue heron bridge

[Jordanc88]

Blue heron bridge Sunday anyone want to meet I'm driving from Orlando if anyone wants to ride with

 

[seeker242]

Be sure to get there very early as parking on a summer weekend is usually super crowded!

 

[Dan]

Be sure to get there very early as parking on a summer weekend is usually super crowded!

How about on Friday? The high tide is at noon. When should we be there?

Thanks.
Dan

 

[seeker242]

How about on Friday? The high tide is at noon. When should we be there?

Thanks.
Dan

Not sure, never went on a weekday

 

[Texasguy]

At least 2 hours in advance. It is a big parking lot (strangely free of charge for parking). Your strategy is to get something close to Southwest corner. There is Publix on the other side of the bridge, you can walk there (once you park in the park) for drinks, snacks, and A/C, to waste some time. Also swimming available there, if you are into spending some time in the water. Normal restrooms are on premises.

I want to note that there was many what seemed like shady characters. So, watch, cover your stuff in the car. While overall my trips were harmless, just want to note that many weirdos occupy the same space there.

It is possible that most get-together areas, tables, and benches will be taken by other divers and etc. You may need to bring a tarp for base of operation somewhere on the grass, unless you do your gearing from a trunk.

What is notable there are starfish. Never seen such huge m-ther f-kers. Not on the reefs, not else where. Seen some pics of polar diving where same sized starfish were captured, just never seen diving normal reefs or wrecks.

Possibly there will be swimmers and freedivers. Just to note a pain to get your flag through these groups, I used to park my flag and explore around free of it.

Overall, I was not impressed. It was ok but not mind blowing. The area is rather small and you have many people trying to concentrate on it, above and below. Except for the starfish, nothing really touched my heart.

 

[Dan]

At least 2 hours in advance. It is a big parking lot (strangely free of charge for parking). Your strategy is to get something close to Southwest corner. There is Publix on the other side of the bridge, you can walk there (once you park in the park) for drinks, snacks, and A/C, to waste some time. Also swimming available there, if you are into spending some time in the water. Normal restrooms are on premises.

I want to note that there was many what seemed like shady characters. So, watch, cover your stuff in the car. While overall my trips were harmless, just want to note that many weirdos occupy the same space there.

It is possible that most get-together areas, tables, and benches will be taken by other divers and etc. You may need to bring a tarp for base of operation somewhere on the grass, unless you do your gearing from a trunk.

What is notable there are starfish. Never seen such huge m-ther f-kers. Not on the reefs, not else where. Seen some pics of polar diving where same sized starfish were captured, just never seen diving normal reefs or wrecks.

Possibly there will be swimmers and freedivers. Just to note a pain to get your flag through these groups, I used to park my flag and explore around free of it.

Overall, I was not impressed. It was ok but not mind blowing. The area is rather small and you have many people trying to concentrate on it, above and below. Except for the starfish, nothing really touched my heart.

Thanks for the tips.

How about this video. If that's a meh to you, may be you need to head out to the Muck diving Mecca, i.e. Lembeh:

 

[Johnoly]

Blue heron bridge Sunday....

Remember that they often close the parking gates if the lot is full. And with high tide at 1:16 and seas forecasted to be flat calm, that lot could fill up by 9:30 easily on a sunday with weather that nice. It's not just divers at the lot, a majority is also all the Peanut island partiers getting picked up too.

 

[Texasguy]

Thanks for the tips.

How about this video. If that's a meh to you, may be you need to head out to the Muck diving Mecca, i.e. Lembeh:

Well, I could show you videos of some rare critters too. Thus, it is childish to suggest that this is some sort of repeatable encounter. With such odds you can dive any place and find something semi-rare. However, diving Datura Ave gives me a much better result and it is a way larger playground with comparable amount of critters to see. Blue Heron Bridge irks me because it is like diving in a public swimming pool. People are everywhere, swimmers are everywhere, divers everywhere. Hard to get that peaceful vibe that I like about scuba diving. Don't get me wrong, it is ok to dive Blue Heron once in a while, it is just does not live up to the hype. Reading the posts one might get an impression like it is the pearl of Florida diving, which it is not. It is simply a very easy dive for all levels of scuba divers. I bet that the newly certified are ecstatic about the place due to the depth, small area, proximity to the shore, it is as safe as a sandbox for kids. However, if you have been there and here, the dive is just that, meh.

Plus, rubbing shoulders on the parking lot with semi-homless alcoholics is something that I don't enjoy.

 

[Ana]

Well, I could show you videos of some rare critters too. Thus, it is childish to suggest that this is some sort of repeatable encounter. With such odds you can dive any place and find something semi-rare. However, diving Datura Ave gives me a much better result and it is a way larger playground with comparable amount of critters to see. Blue Heron Bridge irks me because it is like diving in a public swimming pool. People are everywhere, swimmers are everywhere, divers everywhere. Hard to get that peaceful vibe that I like about scuba diving. Don't get me wrong, it is ok to dive Blue Heron once in a while, it is just does not live up to the hype. Reading the posts one might get an impression like it is the pearl of Florida diving, which it is not. It is simply a very easy dive for all levels of scuba divers. I bet that the newly certified are ecstatic about the place due to the depth, small area, proximity to the shore, it is as safe as a sandbox for kids. However, if you have been there and here, the dive is just that, meh.

Plus, rubbing shoulders on the parking lot with semi-homless alcoholics is something that I don't enjoy.

Thank you Texas guy, I didn't think there were others sharing that thought, and from Texas? hmmm how about that....
For the life of me I can't understand the intense attraction to this particular bridge. Yes there are a lot of cool creatures, but how about the big ocean next to it? those same creatures can be found there too. Why would someone drive 50 minutes and more from Broward or Dade (or wherever) at a particular time to fight for parking and deal with suspicious characters when you can do the same within 5 minutes. Depending on your zip code, sometimes these people have beach dives literally on their backyards but they complete the pilgrimage on almost every tide.

Vortex in the panhandle has the same attraction for some. I've know people that drive from the square states 16 hours and more to dive and stop 35minutes short of the Gulf to dive in Vortex, when I had the opportunity to visit some years ago, I was soooo excited. To be oh so lucky to go to Vortex !!!! Son of a .... was I upset when I saw it with my own eyes, a freaking hole in the ground filled with human legs and elbows.

Granted diving in blue heron is about a thousand times better than Vortex, but I could only understand diving the bridge if either my place is within walking distance or it was far far very far away from the ocean... Then again a part of me is glad about this, the more people diving at the bridge the higher my chances of not seeing them while I'm diving in the ocean.

 

[Dan]

Thank you Texas guy, I didn't think there were others sharing that thought, and from Texas? hmmm how about that....
For the life of me I can't understand the intense attraction to this particular bridge. Yes there are a lot of cool creatures, but how about the big ocean next to it? those same creatures can be found there too. Why would someone drive 50 minutes and more from Broward or Dade (or wherever) at a particular time to fight for parking and deal with suspicious characters when you can do the same within 5 minutes. Depending on your zip code, sometimes these people have beach dives literally on their backyards but they complete the pilgrimage on almost every tide.

Vortex in the panhandle has the same attraction for some. I've know people that drive from the square states 16 hours and more to dive and stop 35minutes short of the Gulf to dive in Vortex, when I had the opportunity to visit some years ago, I was soooo excited. To be oh so lucky to go to Vortex !!!! Son of a .... was I upset when I saw it with my own eyes, a freaking hole in the ground filled with human legs and elbows.

Granted diving in blue heron is about a thousand times better than Vortex, but I could only understand diving the bridge if either my place is within walking distance or the real thing was far far very far away from the ocean... Then again a part of me is glad about this, the more people diving at the bridge the higher my chances of not seeing them while I'm diving in the ocean.

That BHB muck diving is just a warm up (checkout dive) for the reef diving trip to see the Goliath Grouper Spawning on the next day (Saturday).