Dive report - Lemon Shark Dive - Jupiter, FL

[jupitermermaid]

Mike, by all means you are welcome to deploy your safety sausage instead of mine. If we come up near/with the DM, then no, redundant sausages are not needed. We just stay close as a group so we're together when the boat comes to pick us up. The same if we surface where other people are nearby with deployed sausages. The more grouped together people are, the less boat stops the captain has to make. I'm looking forward to diving with you and having a great time! I hope we have good weather and great vis. It's touch and go this time of year, but we can always hope! Our first dive yesterday had only 20'- 30' vis, but on the second one we had more like 60', so we got to see a lot more.....4 sharks, several turtles, 2 morays, a huge slipper lobster that some marine life ate and left the empty shell, and lots of pretty tropicals. A couple SB'ers from NY were on the dive and we went out for lunch afterwards. A good time was had by all.

 

[fl-diver]

NJMike it sounds like you definitely have the right attitude about your upcoming dive. It sounds like jupitermermaid knows very well what she is doing and will guide you to a fun and safe dive.

It seems like as a part of Dive Flag Awareness it would be good to get the Dive Flag criteria expanded to include SMB's. They would obviously need to be standardized.

 

[danvolker]

My two cents.....Whether I am spearfishing in Boynton, or spearfishing in Jupiter, I am pulling either a torpedo buoy with flag on it, or a traditional flag..this is not so much because of my interest in boaters seeing me--it is my interest in making it easy for MY BOAT to see me, and to stay in my area ( and play chicken with any jerks that look like they are intersecting my path).
I did plenty of dives in the old days with Frank Hammett, where none of us spearfishing would tow a ball--Frank would just figure out where we would come up--most of the time And there were times when we were floating on the surface for a really long time, waiting for him....holding up a speargun with a flag on it.....but again, this is to get picked up.

I would never "trust" a flag or an smb to function to protect me from moron boaters...There are huge numbers of jerks driving boats, that do not give a rat's ass about watching for floats or flags, and this is very unlikely to ever change....For these people, when you are doing your "safety stop", you are listening for boat motors...when you decide to come up, it is with a deflated bc/wing ( something that instructors should start teaching) , and you are scaning 360 even before you hit the surface--and you are ready to jacknife and dive down should one of the morons be headed your way.

If you have a boat watching your flag/position, then this is nice, but it does not mean you don't need to watch out for yourself.

I'll say this another way....divers should assume that there are dozens of criminally negligent boaters out on the reef they are diving on, durring any given day they go out. If you take this to include that some boaters may think it funny to "almost" hit you on the surface, then YOU will probably make choices in your surfacing behavior , that will keep you safe.

If you trust in boaters being nice or caring, you are making a huge mistake with your own life, and those who might follow your lead.

Regards,
Dan V

 

[NJMike]

Well, I WAS feeling good about the upcoming trip.....

 

[danvolker]

Well, I WAS feeling good about the upcoming trip.....

Sorry, the reality is that you might do 100 dives before you have a jerk come near you--and I am sure many divers on this board have NEVER had this happen... For you, this should be entirely a non-issue on this dive trip, particularly if you go out on a good charter boat ( that gets between you and any other boat). This was one of the behaviors that made Lynn Simmons of Splashdown Divers somewhat Iconic among the BOYNTON BEACH dive operators, as she was as effective as a boatload of SEALS in keeping jerks away from her divers And she was also known for her perfect drops.
I am sure Jupiter has some charters that you can trust to do this, and locals like Jupitermaid should be able to tell you which ones they are....I use my own boat now for juno/jupiter, so I don't need to stay up on who is captaining each charter boat in that area anymore.

Dan V

 

[Rescue Diver68]

Not to worry Mike, I felt safer floating at the surface in Jupiter than some of the other destinations I have been. If you and Mermaid both deploy your SMB's you'll be twice as visible. I never once felt like a boat was going to get any where near us while waiting to be picked up by JDC. Of course accidents do happen and there are careless boaters out there, but they aren't just running over people left and right.

 

[jupitermermaid]

You hit on an excellent point, Dan. I think this is one of the skills (listening, looking 360 around, ascending with an uplifted hand first instead of head) that many of us take for granted. Many of us do it instinctively for the most part, but forget to mention often enough to newer divers or those that have not been taught this important part of surfacing. Thanks for the reminder!

BYW, did you ever find out where Frank is and/or what he's doing now?

 

[NJMike]

Okay, I'm back to feeling good about the trip!

 

[LIVES4SHARKS]

I just dove Jupiter on 2/1. I did the 3 tank dive with Jupiter Dive Center. Water was good, but the bottom vis was down, kind of milky, 30-60' depending on the dive site. I didn't see lemons, but I did get some bull sharks, nurse sharks, a giant stingray, spotted eagle rays, grouper, and loggerhead turtles. It was a good day and waves were quite manageable of 2-3ft. I would recommend a safety sausage that you can deploy at depth or at your stop. That way there is plenty of time for boaters to get out of your way before you come up from your stop. It also got the dive boat heading my way before I surfaced. Actually, there were hardly any boaters in our area. It was a great dive trip regardless. The lemons tend to gather in different parts of the reefs. Where they are today, may not be where they are tomorrow.

Have a great time on your trip.
Carolyn:shark2:

 

[Amazz]

I have made nearly 1,000 dives in Jupiter. I live to tell about it. I'm afraid the tone of these posts could have led you to believe you could be left at sea or worse run over by a boat. Just a couple of simple things will greatly reduce your chances of that happening. I highly recommend that you stay with the divemaster. Your DM knows the reefs and knows where certain fish and things hang out. You will likely see the most cool stuff if you stay with the DM. But with current, you can get separated from the DM. No worries. If you are following one of the ledges, you will be in line with the group of divers who may be further north or south of you. Here is one important thing to remember. You generally flow north with the current. If there is no current, then you need to still swim north. If there is a south current, then you will likely go south. But it's best to eyeball the DM on the descent if this occurs. Last time I encountered a South current I had to recall the divers to the surface because we were on a reef where there was nothing to the south of us. Follow the divemaster. That's your best bet. Every time I go on vacation I follow the DM. Here is a picture of my SMB. It's a Carter Bag. I attached 30 ft. of line with a steel bolt on one end and a swivel on the other which attaches to the bag. At 25 ft. I pull it out and just drop the weighted bolt. The line unravels below me. I use my octo to inflate the bag and grab the line or bolt as it passes me. I wouldn't recommend shooting a bag from a greater depth without a lot of practice. There is too much that can go wrong with tangling and getting dragged to the surface. Deploying your SMB at your SS is a good idea imho. You give the boat 3-5 minutes to find you before you surface. You alert other boats that you are a diver down.