To avoid the crowds at both BHB and LBTS I drove down to Dania Beach yesterday to do the Erojacks again. My plan was to use the state park for access. But when I arrived at about 0840 park rangers had the park road blocked off. I asked a ranger how long the park was going to be closed. He replied, "I don't know". I asked what's going on, he replied, "A police investigation". While I thought to myself what kind of police investigation warrants closing a 310 acre park, I came to the conclusion that any further conversation would be fruitless, and not get me any closer to my ultimate destination of the Erojacks on scuba. So I made the left turn and headed towards the Dania Beach parking lot.
I drove to the the north end of the parking lot and parked, there were more people than I would expect for this time of day., but I guess people were getting an early Memorial Day Weekend start. As I was getting my gear ready I was wondering if park rangers were guarding the entrance to the park along the beach. For those not familiar, a very small amount of beach to the north of the parking lot is Dania Beach, the rest is the State Park. The section of beach south of the Erojacks is easier to access from Dania Beach than the State Park. There is a large sign that says "No Trespassing State Park", but is ignored by everybody walking along the beach.
I geared up and started walking north. Recall, from Dania Beach the Erojacks are about 1300 feet away. As I got about two hundred yards up the beach a couple with snorkel gear asked me if I intended to dive the jacks. I said yes, and they pointed out that there was a LEO another two hundred yards up the beach that had told them they couldn't snorkel there. I replied, "what they are investigating the water as well". My plan was to enter the water long before the LEO could ever reach me. However, the LEO started walking south as beach goers were walking north, and he allowed several to pass. I passed him going north, and he said nothing, so apparently the "investigation" had come to an end.
In the first post of this thread I mentioned I was unsure if there was some kind of marker for the Erojacks. Well there is, a post with what looks like a bright orange life preserver case on top it. I entered the water somewhat south of that marker and intercepted the western end of the jacks almost immediately by swimming northeast. Visibility in the shallow water was about 20ft with a greenish haze to it. Visibility further out in water greater than 15ft in depth was 40ft with blue color. Sea temp was 82F. Current was to the south. Swell was minimal when I started the dive at 0925 but picked up throughout the 150 minutes I spent under water. I was wondering about the swell, since the wind was minimal. I guess the swell was from tropical disturbance further up north.
I slowly made my way east along the erojacks, stopping to tie off my flag line frequently. The visibility was nice so it put me in a wide angle view frame of mind. So very little searching for the more diminutive invertebrates and fish. A few Tarpon put in an appearance, but they were being shy and so stayed near the edge of visibility range.
Lots of Balloonfish in the same location as last time, and in general along the erojacks. I have given it some thought and believe the Balloonfish just enjoy the cover of the erojacks. Normally Balloonfish will hover in gorgonians for cover. The patch reef surrounding the jacks is filled with gorgonians, so I think the Balloonfish just congregrate on the jacks instead of using gorgonians as they normally do.
Lots of Blue Stripe Grunts, lots of White Grunts. so many that I marked Abundant for both species on the REEF survey. "Abundant" on the REEF survey means and amount of one species>100. "Many" on a REEF survey means an amount 100>but >10, normally Blue Stripe and White Grunts are in the Many range not Abundant range.
The snorkelers I mentioned earlier passed by heading east, and then heading back west about the time I reached the halfway mark. Shortly after that nine divers passed by heading east. I figured that they were tourists or new divers because not a single one them had any exposure protection. Meanwhile yours truly is in a 3 mil and barely keeping warm enough. The only one of them to slow down was carrying the flag. She had to back track to uncross her flag line from mine. About three quarters of the way to the end the nine divers passed me heading west. It always strikes me as a little odd that divers don't stop to look more closely at things, maybe they were in wide angle mode as well.
When I reached the end of the jacks (it took 90 minutes to get 1300feet) I stayed in the vicinity for a while making fish observations. This last 75 foot portion of the jacks that intersects with the ledge tends to have the greatest concentration of fish. Its at this point in the dive, that having been forced to use the Dania Beach entrance from the south, instead of the park from the north became a blessing in disguise. I turned south and leisurely drifted with the current along the western facing ledge.
The ledge heading south seems better defined than the ledge heading north. Lots of schooling grunts hanging above and below the ledge. Observed a small Green Sea Turtle, and large Cornet fish but was unable to capture either video or still photography. When I thought I had covered about 750 feet, I popped up to confirm my location to the pier. A little more than a 100 yards to the north, perfect! I think the patch reef adjacent to the jacks the best for finding mollusks of the family Cyphoma, i.e. Spotted Cyphoma, Fingerprint Cyphoma, and Flamingo's Tongue. So I headed west south west taking my time across the patch reef to finish the dive about 75 yards north of the parking lot. Respectively, Juvenile Longfin Damsel, Porkfish, True Tulip, Western Shallow End of Erojacks, Spotted Cyphoma, Swimming East Video, Swimming East Video, Swimming South Video, and Swimming South Video.
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