Trip Report Florida Dive Trip June 27 to July 7, 2020

[scubadada]

@drrich2 as per @JimBlay I saw a huge number of Loggerheads, many Greens, and a lesser number of Hawksbills during my recent visit to Boynton Beach and Jupiter Back in the high life again

I would imagine @Trailboss123 will be reporting the same from his dives in Boynton today

 

[Trailboss123]

Day 2 in the books. We drove to Boynton Beach Dive Center to pick up our tanks at 7:30am. Since we have a large group and diving Nitrox we opted for a large fill tank punch card in order to save quite a bit of money. Then over the 2 blocks to the marina where Captain Jim, who made a point of greeting me with some love from @scubadada and I shared the love back. Captain Jim had everything moving efficiently and we were all loaded and rolling out of the marina at about 8:30am. We had a pretty calm seas 1 foot or so and light winds. We motored south to dive the Delray Ledge first. Water temp was a balmy 82 compared to 78-79 yesterday in West Palm. Amazing what a couple of degrees can do to bring up the comfort level. Current was quite mild and we spent the whole dive in 60-65 feet poking around all of the holes and cut outs along the western ledge. The amount and variety of fish species never ceases to amaze me on the Boynton reefs. Just like a Caribbean cornucopia and lots of schooling fish. Saw quite a few groups of juvenile high hats in the cracks and holes. A couple of more extremely large Loggerheads a few nurse sharks, etc. Visibility was a bit lower than expected with some green water. Probably 40- 45 feet. Seemed like blue water was coming back in though, by the end of the morning. We will see tomorrow. 2nd dive was at Green Roof. Current had picked up, which kept us over on the western ledge again to try and tuck in and avoid the high speeds. All the same reef life and loads of fun. A couple more loggerheads a decent size nurse shark at the end of the dive. A number of large porcupine fish, large scorpion fish and some nice scrawled file fish. Oh, and lots of barracuda- big ones.

Tomorrow we are back to Boynton to dive with Loggerhead for 2 afternoon dives and a night dive.

 

[scubadada]

Hi Greg,

Who was your mate today, Josh, Gia, Dave? They are all very good, helpful if you need anything, quite nice. Josh has been with Jim for more than 3 years, he's a very good diver and occasionally is able to jump in for a short dive if the boat is not full. I hope you have a chance to meet Capt Alex and his significant other, Maricela. Alex and Maricela both dive off Loggerhead when it is not full and Alex drives when Jim doesn't. Both very nice people. Alex knows the Boynton Reef like nobody else.

I'm living vicariously through your posts, thanks. Have 3 great dives tomorrow. The predictions look excellent through your stay in SE Florida

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Since you all are staying on Singer Island thought you might enjoy this local PBS program. They mention BHB (starting around 20:30) and interview Shana the owner of Pura Vida Dive Ctr.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Here is the Boynton Beach episode. They interview Capt Alex back when he was with Starfish starting at 4:00.

 

[Trailboss123]

Hi Greg,

Who was your mate today, Josh, Gia, Dave? They are all very good, helpful if you need anything, quite nice. Josh has been with Jim for more than 3 years, he's a very good diver and occasionally is able to jump in for a short dive if the boat is not full. I hope you have a chance to meet Capt Alex and his significant other, Maricela. Alex and Maricela both dive off Loggerhead when it is not full and Alex drives when Jim doesn't. Both very nice people. Alex knows the Boynton Reef like nobody else.

I'm living vicariously through your posts, thanks. Have 3 great dives tomorrow. The predictions look excellent through your stay in SE Florida

Thanks Craig- you very much nailed it- We had Dave as mate and Alex and Maricela were fun diving with us today. Alex does know those reefs like nobody's business!

 

[Trailboss123]

You mentioned staying not far from Blue Heron Bridge; not planning to hit it? I've only dove there once, and would like to go back. Wish it were practical to hit more than once a day, though the roughly 1 1/2 hour dive time partially makes up for that.

Glad you got to see the loggerheads; 2 trips with a total of 17 dives for Jupiter, FL, and I've seen one loggerhead sea turtle there (the only one I've seen in the wild). And glad I saw that. Strange how one can miss things on a given trip.

Hey Richard- yes, we are scheduled to do Blue Heron Bridge on Tuesday. 2 morning dives with Loggerhead in Boynton and time enough to get back to West Palm for a BHB shore dive and catch the tides right. We are all looking forward to it. Will be my 3rd time, but first time doing it with a local and knowledgeable guide who should be able to direct us to all the critters we want to see.

 

[AdivingBel]

Sounds like you left the mal de mer in the rearview. That's gotta feel better. Enjoy the rest of your diving.

 

[scubadada]

Here is the Boynton Beach episode. They interview Capt Alex back when he was with Starfish starting at 4:00.

If you make it to the Castor, especially with Alex, you will have to meet his very special friend, Wilbur

 

[Trailboss123]