Johnoly
Contributor
- Messages
- 4,284
- Reaction score
- 6,011
- # of dives
- 2500 - 4999
In your excellent videos, that viz still looks really good compared to the dark stuff we still have. Nice dive report.
Trip Report Erojacks Artificial Reef at Dania Beach/ Mizell-Johnson State Park
- Thread starter Pipehorse
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
“Erojacks”? Those were invented in South Africa and we know them as “dolosse”. I wonder how that name change came to be?
My understanding is they were first developed during WWII to as a deterrant from German landings in Europe.
A quickie google search for Erojacks brings up pages and pages about the site the OP is referring to. Very possible they have different names world wide.
A quickie google search landed me on Wikipedia that indeed says they were originally developed in S. Africa, thus proving my original information I was told many years ago is incorrect.
The shape of the Jacks in Dania is not as rounded as the photos shown on the wiki page.
There is another reef off Ft. Lauderdale, and is a longer swim out, and harder to find.
SubseaSports
Contributor
I vaguely recall that barge. I did it as an evening/night dive one time. It was cool, but yeah, a long ways out.. If I recall just about straight off the bathrooms in the parking lot. And that is some wide beach there too..
bassplayer
Contributor
I dove the Dania erojacks yesterday
(Thanks @Pipehorse for the above reports, very useful for orientation.)
some notes:
Decided to try a shore dive saturday afternoon, figured this might be a good choice vs LDBTS due to vast parking lots
First tried to go via the park as recommended, but there was something happening with sheriffs at the park entry, so i looped back to the parking by the marina and pier.
Parking area was crowded but there was open space here and there from people leaving.
It was definitely a hike to get out to the jacks, if i dove this every day i think i'd be getting a couple of lighter tanks and a more padded bcd. i walked about halfway and swam the rest.
Found the jacks right away, looked up and noticed there seems to be a flag marking their position just off the beach to the west.
it took me about an hour to get to the east end of the jacks at a semi-leisurely pace, then i looped around and came back on the other side.
Sightings included a couple of nurse sharks in the gaps and cracks, a fairly large spiny lobster roaming around in the open, (near multiple empty lobster shells, be careful buddy), a small turtle, all the usual reef fish (and it seemed an active time), and a very large number of what i think you call balloonfish based on the thread? (i would have said porcupinefish - they look like Diodon holocanthus to me but could be wrong. pic attached for ID purposes)
visibility wasn't great, maybe 20-25 feet, but still very diveable. overall an enjoyable shore dive and the fact that it's possible to show up and park on a busy weekend is a nice feature.
(Thanks @Pipehorse for the above reports, very useful for orientation.)
some notes:
Decided to try a shore dive saturday afternoon, figured this might be a good choice vs LDBTS due to vast parking lots
First tried to go via the park as recommended, but there was something happening with sheriffs at the park entry, so i looped back to the parking by the marina and pier.
Parking area was crowded but there was open space here and there from people leaving.
It was definitely a hike to get out to the jacks, if i dove this every day i think i'd be getting a couple of lighter tanks and a more padded bcd. i walked about halfway and swam the rest.
Found the jacks right away, looked up and noticed there seems to be a flag marking their position just off the beach to the west.
it took me about an hour to get to the east end of the jacks at a semi-leisurely pace, then i looped around and came back on the other side.
Sightings included a couple of nurse sharks in the gaps and cracks, a fairly large spiny lobster roaming around in the open, (near multiple empty lobster shells, be careful buddy), a small turtle, all the usual reef fish (and it seemed an active time), and a very large number of what i think you call balloonfish based on the thread? (i would have said porcupinefish - they look like Diodon holocanthus to me but could be wrong. pic attached for ID purposes)
visibility wasn't great, maybe 20-25 feet, but still very diveable. overall an enjoyable shore dive and the fact that it's possible to show up and park on a busy weekend is a nice feature.
Attachments
Similar threads
