OP
Day 3 and 4 of the Florida dive trip are in the books. Day 3 ended up being a four dive day with two afternoon dives, a twilight dive and a night dive with Loggerhead out of Boynton Beach. It was a long day, to say the least. We didn't pull back into the marina until after 10:30pm.
Dive one in the early afternoon was up north at Horseshoe. We had two new additions to our dive group and are now SIX strong. Matt and Grace are friends of mine from Portland, OR and very well traveled and experienced warm and cold water divers. They were supposed to be diving in Port Hardy, BC, Canada right now, but with the travel restrictions going into Canada, they opted to join me in Florida. This is their first time here. Anyway, we were meet at Horseshoe with very green 83 degree water and about 30 feet of cloudy visibility and moderate current. Topside conditions were ideal though. No swell to speak of really. From there we moved onto a dive site called Football Field. This dive site is on the east side of the reef and we got dropped at the beginning of a patch of reef that was quite nice. We traveled north with the current and were told that this "football field" of reef would peter out into sand, at which point, we would need to make a jump across a section of sand to the west and connect back into the main reef.
We indeed hit the end of the football field and ran into sand. Had the visibility been better, we might have been able to see across to the other side. As it was, we ventured across with very poor visibility and zero current and I think we were all wondering if something went wrong and we were doomed to being stuck over sand forever. Not to fear, reef came into view just when we were about to give up hope. The rest of the dive was awesome with lots of Loggerheads, large nurse sharks sleeping and swimming and all of the rest of the usual.
After getting back from the afternoon dives, we got wind that the dive sites south of the inlet were enjoying blue water and 75 foot viz by comparison to our experience. Our twilight and night dives were to be with Captain Alex, who made us aware and suggested we head south. Given that my group of 6 experienced divers were the only ones on the boat, he suggested we do a dive site that is not done often, but would be known to @scubadada
He said he would drop us at the very southern edge of the Boynton reef system at a drop point called 007 on the eastern side of the reef. We would move in a north easterly direction over one tongue and groove section after another (which he named Grouper Hole) in 60-90 feet of water. We would then make our way back NW across the reef and end our dive on the Boynton Ledge. Dive plan was executed to perfection and I would have to say that this was maybe the best dive I have had so far in S. Florida over the years. Water was indeed blue and viz was excellent, but getting dark due to twilight. Grouper Hole area was awesome! Reef ridges dropping down to sand, followed by another ridge and so on. About 5 of them. Very interesting topography! Due to low dive pressure, it was full of lionfish. Our group did their part and killed at least 25-30 lionfish.
Back on the boat, we all recounted how much we loved the dive and what made it special, while gearing up for the night dive. We decided to do Boynton Ledge for the night dive and it couldn't have been better. So full of life. All the night critters out. Crabs galore, spotted morays out and about, lobster.... Just a great and relaxing dive full of color with our dive lights shining on the reef ledge.
By the time we got back to West Palm, showered and settled, we were in bed about 12:45am. Back up at 6:30am this morning to have breakfast and prep for the day and then back to Boynton. Today was a 2 dive affair. It was just our group and a dive instructor and his 2 students doing AOW. We decide to stay south since Viz was so good there yesterday. WOW- would a great choice! We were met with Cozumel like blue water and nearly 100 foot visibility. The current was running south instead of its normal north. So, we started the first dive at the north end of Delray Ledge and rode it to its southern edge. Another excellent dive filled with nurse sharks, a couple of Lemon Sharks, lobsters, green and spotted morays, a stingray, turtles, etc.
Our last dive today was at Lynn's Reef. Not much to say except that the current was continuing to run south, we had some cold thermocline throughout the dive. Viz continued to be excellent with blue water and more of the same. Seas were still and flat all morning. Couldn't have been better!
Tomorrow is 2 more morning dives in Boynton, followed by an afternoon dive at Blue Heron Bridge.
More to come...
Dive one in the early afternoon was up north at Horseshoe. We had two new additions to our dive group and are now SIX strong. Matt and Grace are friends of mine from Portland, OR and very well traveled and experienced warm and cold water divers. They were supposed to be diving in Port Hardy, BC, Canada right now, but with the travel restrictions going into Canada, they opted to join me in Florida. This is their first time here. Anyway, we were meet at Horseshoe with very green 83 degree water and about 30 feet of cloudy visibility and moderate current. Topside conditions were ideal though. No swell to speak of really. From there we moved onto a dive site called Football Field. This dive site is on the east side of the reef and we got dropped at the beginning of a patch of reef that was quite nice. We traveled north with the current and were told that this "football field" of reef would peter out into sand, at which point, we would need to make a jump across a section of sand to the west and connect back into the main reef.
We indeed hit the end of the football field and ran into sand. Had the visibility been better, we might have been able to see across to the other side. As it was, we ventured across with very poor visibility and zero current and I think we were all wondering if something went wrong and we were doomed to being stuck over sand forever. Not to fear, reef came into view just when we were about to give up hope. The rest of the dive was awesome with lots of Loggerheads, large nurse sharks sleeping and swimming and all of the rest of the usual.
After getting back from the afternoon dives, we got wind that the dive sites south of the inlet were enjoying blue water and 75 foot viz by comparison to our experience. Our twilight and night dives were to be with Captain Alex, who made us aware and suggested we head south. Given that my group of 6 experienced divers were the only ones on the boat, he suggested we do a dive site that is not done often, but would be known to @scubadada
He said he would drop us at the very southern edge of the Boynton reef system at a drop point called 007 on the eastern side of the reef. We would move in a north easterly direction over one tongue and groove section after another (which he named Grouper Hole) in 60-90 feet of water. We would then make our way back NW across the reef and end our dive on the Boynton Ledge. Dive plan was executed to perfection and I would have to say that this was maybe the best dive I have had so far in S. Florida over the years. Water was indeed blue and viz was excellent, but getting dark due to twilight. Grouper Hole area was awesome! Reef ridges dropping down to sand, followed by another ridge and so on. About 5 of them. Very interesting topography! Due to low dive pressure, it was full of lionfish. Our group did their part and killed at least 25-30 lionfish.
Back on the boat, we all recounted how much we loved the dive and what made it special, while gearing up for the night dive. We decided to do Boynton Ledge for the night dive and it couldn't have been better. So full of life. All the night critters out. Crabs galore, spotted morays out and about, lobster.... Just a great and relaxing dive full of color with our dive lights shining on the reef ledge.
By the time we got back to West Palm, showered and settled, we were in bed about 12:45am. Back up at 6:30am this morning to have breakfast and prep for the day and then back to Boynton. Today was a 2 dive affair. It was just our group and a dive instructor and his 2 students doing AOW. We decide to stay south since Viz was so good there yesterday. WOW- would a great choice! We were met with Cozumel like blue water and nearly 100 foot visibility. The current was running south instead of its normal north. So, we started the first dive at the north end of Delray Ledge and rode it to its southern edge. Another excellent dive filled with nurse sharks, a couple of Lemon Sharks, lobsters, green and spotted morays, a stingray, turtles, etc.
Our last dive today was at Lynn's Reef. Not much to say except that the current was continuing to run south, we had some cold thermocline throughout the dive. Viz continued to be excellent with blue water and more of the same. Seas were still and flat all morning. Couldn't have been better!
Tomorrow is 2 more morning dives in Boynton, followed by an afternoon dive at Blue Heron Bridge.
More to come...
. As you can appreciate, this is not a dive for just any group of divers. There are several dives like this in Boynton Beach for the more experienced diver. They can be quite challenging, especially with brisk current.
