Trip Report Florida 25 #4

[scubadada]

I flew down from Philadelphia yesterday. Airport was busy, plane was full, uneventful.

I did 2 tanks with Walker's out of Riviera Beach this morning. Last night had a lot of lightining, thunder, and rain. Today started cloudy, no rain, ended up mainly clear. Captain JP, guide Mike, mate Christina. So nice to see Christina back on the boat! Seas were around 2 feet, mild to moderate north current, water temperature very warm, 86-87 degrees, visibility 30-35 feet.

We drove all the way down to Paul's Reef for the first dive. There was minimal current. Nothing very special, a couple large schools of spadefish and all the usual reef fish. The second dive was on Breakers, a large lemon shark, some reef squid, many spadefish, all the usual suspects.

Very nice start to this short stay, over 2 hours of dive time. I mainly came down to pick up my gear for a 2 week trip to Bonaire on the 24th with my wife and needed to get a little work done in the townhouse.

Tomorrow I will be in Boynton

 

[scubadada]

Two dives with Starfish out of Boynton today. Capt. Motti, mate Hannah. Seas were generally flat, around a foot. There was a mild north current, visibility around 30-35 feet, water temp 86 degrees. The first dive was sunny and bright, the second dive turned dark and we surfaced in a summer thunderstorm, lightning, thunder, low clouds, and a deluge.

I usually dive in Boynton by myself but dived with an old friend today. I first dived with Steve 5 or 6 years ago when he was a new diver to the area. He is now one of the very experienced locals. He had the flag, first dives I've made in Boynton for a long time without carrying a flag, so relaxing. Thanks Steve.

The first dive was on Boynton Ledges, I call it Black Condo. Nothing special but tons of the usual reef fish Boynton is known for on a beautiful high relief reef. The second dive was on Briny Breezes, we swam back and forth from the main ledge to the nice, scattered reef features to the west. Again, nothing special but huge rivers of schooling grunt and all the usual suspects.

Another more than 2 hours of great diving.

Tomorrow is a day off to take care of my townhouse.

 

[Johnoly]

Seas were around 2 feet, mild to moderate north current, water temperature very warm, 86-87 degrees, visibility 30-35 feet.

Really warm water temps which should be a blast furnace for fueling a hurricane. But it's been really quiet and this is the Peak week usually. Thanks for the conditions.

a 2 week trip to Bonaire

Let us know how you think Bonaire reefs are compared to the Boynton & WPB reefs. Some divers say better and some say no big fish just small ones.. Have a great vacation down there!!

 

[scubadada]

...Let us know how you think Bonaire reefs are compared to the Boynton & WPB reefs. Some divers say better and some say no big fish just small ones.. Have a great vacation down there!!

Hi @Johnoly

I've done 12 trips to Bonaire starting in 2004 and have just under 400 dives. I was last there in May of this year and in Oct 2024. I've been diving in Palm Beach County since 2009 and have a little under 1400 dives in Boynton Beach, West Palm Beach, and Jupiter.

When people ask me about Palm Beach, I generally tell them that I find the 3 locations complementary and love diving all three. Our local reefs are very good, as good or better than many Caribbean sites I have visited.

In general, I would describe Bonaire as also being complimentary to our local reefs. Regarding sea life, I would probably give the edge to Bonaire though it is quite different than SE Florida. I have seen only a single reef shark and a couple of small nurse sharks in Bonaire. They do have many tarpon and tiger grouper. Bonaire has many turtles, mostly green and hawksbill, some loggerhead. There are many Morays, spotted, green, goldentail, chain, and I have seen a few purplemouth and viper. Sharptail eels are very common and you often see them hunting with their entourage. Just like locally, Bonaire has a plentiful array of usual reef fish, butterfly fish, angels, filefish, parrotfsh... One thing that makes Bonaire stand out are the frogfish and seahorses. Octopuses are quite common. Eagle rays are frequently seen. There are large schools of fish, boga, brown and blue chromis, gangs of blue tangs... The largest school of fish I have seen was boga in Bonaire.

Reefs all over the Western Atlantic and Caribbean have suffered from SCTLD and coral bleaching, Bonaire is no exception. Much of the hard coral has been adversely affected. On my last visit, there was reasonable recovery occurring from the last bleaching. It will be interesting to see what another summer has done.

Of course, the plentiful shore diving sites makes Bonaire quite unique. There are also some northern sites that are not accessible from shore and all the sites off Klein Bonaire. The year around warm water, good visibility, and general lack of much current makes Bonaire my wife's favorite place to dive. I love to dive with my wife . I have many trip reports in the Bonaire forum.

 

[fish_defender]

Interesting, I wonder what explains the lack of sharks in Bonaire. They have had no shark fishing since 2015. Perhaps there are no adjacent populations to provide the 'rescue effect'.

 

[scubadada]

Interesting, I wonder what explains the lack of sharks in Bonaire. They have had no shark fishing since 2015. Perhaps there are no adjacent populations to provide the 'rescue effect'.

I have wondered about that also. Bonaire's isolation from other areas with sharks is a common explanation.

Though I have not seen them, mantas and whalesharks are occassionally seen in Bonaire.

 

[Johnoly]

Bonaire my wife's favorite place to dive.

You can't beat that,,,Have fun!!

 

[scubadada]

Two dives with Starfish out of Boynton today. Capt. Chris, mate Zach, Ren was also on the boat guiding. Sunny and warm, seas less than a foot, mild to moderate south current, visibility 30-35 feet. The water is very warm, 86-87 degrees.

First dive Gulfstream and Clubhouse. Beautiful high relief reef with all the usual reef fish. Second dive was up north, Table Tops and south. All the usual suspects.

I took two divers and had the flag today. We just beat a thunderstorm getting back to the marina. Now pouring rain again with lightning and thunder overhead.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Ren!!! I miss seeing Ren regularly.

 

[scubadada]

Last day of diving for this short visit. Did two tanks with Walker's this morning. It rained much of the night, this morning was quite fair with some blue sky. Seas were a bit up today, generally around 2-3 but with some bigger, particularly on the way back in. Water temp remained very warm at 86-87 degrees and visibility was 30-35 feet. I heard from several different people that the visibility in Jupiter yesterday was dismal.

Went out with Capt. Mike, guide Christina, mate Andrea. Our 1st dive was at Tear Drop. We expected a north current but it turned out to be mild south. We went south on Tear Drop and had a perfectly good dive. We moved slowly and were able to appreciate the reef life including some gorgeous giant anemones, orange filefish, a large free swimming green moray and all the usual reef fish. We did our second dive at Turtle Mound into Breakers, counting on the south current. We met the very friendly adolescent goliath grouper , Jasper on Turtle Mound. Very gregarious, making close passes, following, and coming in for a chin rub. Reminded me very much of the young Wilbur on the Castor in Boynton Beach back in the day. There was also an octopus lair on Turtle Mound, easily identified by the pile of shells. The octopus was home. Breakers was a very nice reef drift with a nice juvenile drum and more giant anemones. For @Johnoly, though I was not really looking, there were several lobster on each of the dives today. I don't think anyone was hunting.

Eight good dives over 5 days in West Palm and Boynton, I consider myself very lucky. Until next time...