Go-Pro Video: Snorkeling with the Twins

[dumpsterDiver]

A few clips from snorkeling yesterday in the Palm Beach Inlet near the Pump House. They can already kill me on a bike and it won't be long before they will be abusing me while snorkeling...

[video=youtube;ZqRVbaHs520]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqRVbaHs520&feature=share&list=UU1utDku8vJ RJYgBZImLyLJQ[/video]

 

[Dave C]

Great video. There is a lot of diversity there, and I especially liked the snook. Your daughter has some BIG fins!

Is there walk-in access to this site, or do you have to go by boat? We used to take Xmas vacations to the WPB area when I was a kid in the 1960s. Once I remember we rented a Boston Whaler all day for $20 (yes, that's what it cost!), went out the inlet, and snorkeled around the rocks. I don't remember seeing all this stuff, though.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Thanks, You get in at the beach, but public parking is about 1/3 mile north at the public beach. Kinda a long walk, but it is free. The currents can be a challenge there. She got those new fins recently and really likes them since they are soft and flexible and made for kids or small women.

 

[danvolker]

A few clips from snorkeling yesterday in the Palm Beach Inlet near the Pump House. They can already kill me on a bike and it won't be long before they will be abusing me while snorkeling...

[video=youtube;ZqRVbaHs520]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqRVbaHs520&feature=share&list=UU1utDku8vJ RJYgBZImLyLJQ[/video]

DD, I love this video!!!! Great job in capturing how much fun this can be, and what the area looks like!
I hate the way this dive is next to impossible in the current climate of parking at the South end of the Island. My solution I will suggest, is that guests of the Hilton or the Marriott Resort, speak with the Beach services guys, and offer them enough dollars ( $10...$20 ??) so that they will run them down to the Pumphouse on the ATV and Trailer systems they have, and collect them and hour or so later....After all, this IS either the best Beach Dive in Florida, or one of the top 3....To me, it is the #1 beach dive on the Eastern Seaboard of the US, including all of Florida. A handful of us locals know how to plan our logistics so that we can easily get to the Pumphouse and dive it--most divers living in Palm Beach County have no clue, and certainly no hotel guests will be able to think of an easy way to do this....other than Beach Services.

Anyway, good job on the video!!!

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Thanks Dan, I don't know if I would recommend that spot as a place for tourist scuba divers. The current rips and we noticed at a location just inside the inlet, the current was pulling us pretty hard out (south) toward the center of the inlet, which would put you under heavy boat traffic in a few moments.

The speed and agility of freediving can be a big advantage in high energy environments. Also, at the tide cycle when we were there, a scuba diver would have a very hard time getting back around the jetty and back to the beach. When the tide is coming in, it is more of a one way ticket, which means scrambling up the sharp, slippery rocks with scuba gear a few hundred yards west (inside the inlet).

I didn't put it in the video, but another snorkeler got in trouble, could not swim back against the current (with silly scuba fins) and was apparently afraid to take the ride into the inlet, so he was determined to try to climb up the rocks at the point of the jetty where the wave energy was highest. He finally gave up and I think his buddy helped tow him back to the pump house beach.