Wayward Son
Contributor
Diving Southeast Florida On The Cheap
-or-
What I Did With My Weekend Vacation
I've returned From plundering the sea & have booty!!!
Back in June I found out that Rush was in concert in West Palm Beach, FL, on saturday 02 October. Well, I have friends just south of that, so can easily get a place to crash for a short trip. Hmmm, rock concert on saturday night, seems like I should be able to squeeze a dive or 2 in...
A plan rapidly emerged. I'd drive down on friday, as it's a 9 hour trip and crash with one of my friends. We should be able to get a tank in friday evening, 2 tanks saturday and 2 or 3 on sunday, then drive home on monday.
While boat charters run a little cheaper there than up here, I really didn't have the cash to spare for them so that meant diving on the cheap. Not a problem in this area.
Starting down in Miami and running north for a good long ways, the SE coast is blessed with lots of public beaches and reefs that can be reached from them for nice, long, shallow dives. Lobster hunting is quite doable on them, but spear fishing is rather limited as the fish most likely to be found tend to be smaller until you get a bit farther out.
Another alternative that's popular is to use dive kayaks to get to reefs farther out in 20 - 25 FSW. The hunting is better on them as they don't get dove as much. These tend to be 1/2 mile or more from the beach. Some divers do actually swim out to them and back, no kayack. A bit more than I care to take on though.
Pick a site, find parking and put $3.00 or so in the meter and you're good to go. Typically you'll need to gear up, walk across a bit of beach and them spend 15 minutes or so getting out to the first part of the reef in 10 to possibly 15 FSW. In some places if you cross that reef you will find sand, but another 5 minutes or so swimming due west will put you on another section of reef a few feet deeper. Not all places though, so it pays to know what's out there before just taking off.
Fill Express banks nitrox in 32, 36 and 40% for the same price as air, so there's no reason not to use it to reduce nitrogen loading.
Jenny (Scuba_Jenny), a dive buddy of mine who lives in Hollywood, agreed to dive with me for the weekend. She does a LOT of beach diving, so this is a plus. We decided to hit the rock pile for the friday evening dive. We got in the water while still light and ended in the dark. She had a tank with only 2000 PSI in it, so this dive was only an hour long. I caught 5 lobsters and we saw an octopus and 2 lion fish. Despite our best efforts, both of those are still alive. As they are an invasive, predatory species that reproduce rapidly we have a kill on site policy towards them.
Saturday day morning we dove another reef, caught 3 bugs. That dive lasted 1:45. Due to commitments she had regarding her daughter being at certain places at certain time, the 2nd dive was limited to 45 minutes. We found no bugs but 1 lion fish that again lived. I did take my little 24 inch JBL gun with me but it had an old band and the band failed on the first dive. I was unable to find a replacement of the correct size for the weekend. Some of the dive shops in the area are now selling little 2 foot long pole spears just for killing these beasts, but the 2 we stopped at did not have any.
Then we had a mad rush on to drop her daughter off, get showered & changed for the concert, hit Fill Express for fills on the way to the show and then the show itself.
Sunday we hit another place that has both an artificial reef and natural reef. Known as The Jacks, the artificial reef is a bunch of concrete jacks, just like the children's toy, but made from concrete and 3 feet tall. Hundreds of them were dropped in a straight line running due west out to sea. They end at a ledge several hundred yards off the beach.
This is a physically tough dive. We parked at the north end of a parking lot in a park. That's the closest you can get to the jacks on land. The water is about 100 yards away, but the jacks are about 1 mile farther north. The plan is to start the dive at the jacks, work them out to the ledge and then follow the ledge south. When we hit about 1500 PSI, turn SW and angle back towards the beach near where we parked.
So we gear up at the car, walk to the water, walk along the water a few hundred yards north, get out in the water until it takes the weight of the gear, walk backwards a few hundred more yards, then put on fins and surface swim a few hundred more until we get over hard reef. At last drop down on scuba and swim the rest of the way until we hit the jacks and start hunting.
Total time from leaving the car to reaching the jacks is about 40 minutes.
Our first dive we bagged 2 bugs and got 1:54 total BT. Back at the car we pondered where to do our 2nd dive of the day. As the wind was picking up and it was getting rougher, we decided to just go ahead and to this dive again, but to plan to hit the ledge a bit south of the jacks and work parts of it we hadn't on the first.
So much for a plan...
Somehow we found ourselves at the jacks again. But as we worked the ledge we found holes and overhangs we hadn't seen the first time. The first one held 3 bugs. I used my noose to catch one that turned out to be short, so I released it. The other 2 dug in and we couldn't snare them. So I reached in and grabbed one. Took 3 or 4 minutes to wrassle it out but it was legal, so in the bag. The last one dug in deeper, so I reached in the other side with my right hand and found its tail. I pushed it to my left until I could reach in from that side and get my left hand on it. Again, 3 to 4 minutes before I finally got it out but it too was legal.
A bit later I spotted a couple under a larger overhang. We teamed up on them and pulled a bug out. One by one we caught, gauged and bagged bugs until the hole was empty. We managed 5 bugs on that one.
I found 5 or 6 nurse sharks on this dive, ranging from 3 to 6 feet. We also saw squid on the way back in. Ultimately this turned out to be a solid 2 hour dive and our last for the weekend. During the morning drop I wore layers of skin off the tops of my feet, so the 2nd dive that felt real good..
Totally worth it
Jenny & I managed 5 dives off the beaches totaling 7 hrs 40 minutes bottom time & 19 lobster total bagged, plus shorts we had to release & a few we just couldn't catch. We saw octopus, stingray, squid, lion fish, all manner of reef fish, scorpion fish, nurse sharks, etc. Not too bad for diving off the beach, on public reefs that get dove heavily and where our max depth was 22 FSW.
The 2 Sunday dives in resulted in 11 bugs in the bag for the day:
That 2 hour dive, well, we did suck both tanks down to nuthin' LOL. When I surfaced I had positive pressure, but not enough left to fill my wing. Had to inflate it orally for the remainder of the swim in.
Yes, those gauges are attached to tanks with the valves open, LOL
If you want to dive a LOT and pay very little for it, but don't mind paying a price in physical effort, there are countless miles of beaches and reefs down there just waiting for you to pay them a visit.
I can't wait for the chance to go back again
-or-
What I Did With My Weekend Vacation
I've returned From plundering the sea & have booty!!!
Back in June I found out that Rush was in concert in West Palm Beach, FL, on saturday 02 October. Well, I have friends just south of that, so can easily get a place to crash for a short trip. Hmmm, rock concert on saturday night, seems like I should be able to squeeze a dive or 2 in...
A plan rapidly emerged. I'd drive down on friday, as it's a 9 hour trip and crash with one of my friends. We should be able to get a tank in friday evening, 2 tanks saturday and 2 or 3 on sunday, then drive home on monday.
While boat charters run a little cheaper there than up here, I really didn't have the cash to spare for them so that meant diving on the cheap. Not a problem in this area.
Starting down in Miami and running north for a good long ways, the SE coast is blessed with lots of public beaches and reefs that can be reached from them for nice, long, shallow dives. Lobster hunting is quite doable on them, but spear fishing is rather limited as the fish most likely to be found tend to be smaller until you get a bit farther out.
Another alternative that's popular is to use dive kayaks to get to reefs farther out in 20 - 25 FSW. The hunting is better on them as they don't get dove as much. These tend to be 1/2 mile or more from the beach. Some divers do actually swim out to them and back, no kayack. A bit more than I care to take on though.
Pick a site, find parking and put $3.00 or so in the meter and you're good to go. Typically you'll need to gear up, walk across a bit of beach and them spend 15 minutes or so getting out to the first part of the reef in 10 to possibly 15 FSW. In some places if you cross that reef you will find sand, but another 5 minutes or so swimming due west will put you on another section of reef a few feet deeper. Not all places though, so it pays to know what's out there before just taking off.
Fill Express banks nitrox in 32, 36 and 40% for the same price as air, so there's no reason not to use it to reduce nitrogen loading.
Jenny (Scuba_Jenny), a dive buddy of mine who lives in Hollywood, agreed to dive with me for the weekend. She does a LOT of beach diving, so this is a plus. We decided to hit the rock pile for the friday evening dive. We got in the water while still light and ended in the dark. She had a tank with only 2000 PSI in it, so this dive was only an hour long. I caught 5 lobsters and we saw an octopus and 2 lion fish. Despite our best efforts, both of those are still alive. As they are an invasive, predatory species that reproduce rapidly we have a kill on site policy towards them.
Saturday day morning we dove another reef, caught 3 bugs. That dive lasted 1:45. Due to commitments she had regarding her daughter being at certain places at certain time, the 2nd dive was limited to 45 minutes. We found no bugs but 1 lion fish that again lived. I did take my little 24 inch JBL gun with me but it had an old band and the band failed on the first dive. I was unable to find a replacement of the correct size for the weekend. Some of the dive shops in the area are now selling little 2 foot long pole spears just for killing these beasts, but the 2 we stopped at did not have any.
Then we had a mad rush on to drop her daughter off, get showered & changed for the concert, hit Fill Express for fills on the way to the show and then the show itself.
Sunday we hit another place that has both an artificial reef and natural reef. Known as The Jacks, the artificial reef is a bunch of concrete jacks, just like the children's toy, but made from concrete and 3 feet tall. Hundreds of them were dropped in a straight line running due west out to sea. They end at a ledge several hundred yards off the beach.
This is a physically tough dive. We parked at the north end of a parking lot in a park. That's the closest you can get to the jacks on land. The water is about 100 yards away, but the jacks are about 1 mile farther north. The plan is to start the dive at the jacks, work them out to the ledge and then follow the ledge south. When we hit about 1500 PSI, turn SW and angle back towards the beach near where we parked.
So we gear up at the car, walk to the water, walk along the water a few hundred yards north, get out in the water until it takes the weight of the gear, walk backwards a few hundred more yards, then put on fins and surface swim a few hundred more until we get over hard reef. At last drop down on scuba and swim the rest of the way until we hit the jacks and start hunting.
Total time from leaving the car to reaching the jacks is about 40 minutes.
Our first dive we bagged 2 bugs and got 1:54 total BT. Back at the car we pondered where to do our 2nd dive of the day. As the wind was picking up and it was getting rougher, we decided to just go ahead and to this dive again, but to plan to hit the ledge a bit south of the jacks and work parts of it we hadn't on the first.
So much for a plan...
Somehow we found ourselves at the jacks again. But as we worked the ledge we found holes and overhangs we hadn't seen the first time. The first one held 3 bugs. I used my noose to catch one that turned out to be short, so I released it. The other 2 dug in and we couldn't snare them. So I reached in and grabbed one. Took 3 or 4 minutes to wrassle it out but it was legal, so in the bag. The last one dug in deeper, so I reached in the other side with my right hand and found its tail. I pushed it to my left until I could reach in from that side and get my left hand on it. Again, 3 to 4 minutes before I finally got it out but it too was legal.
A bit later I spotted a couple under a larger overhang. We teamed up on them and pulled a bug out. One by one we caught, gauged and bagged bugs until the hole was empty. We managed 5 bugs on that one.
I found 5 or 6 nurse sharks on this dive, ranging from 3 to 6 feet. We also saw squid on the way back in. Ultimately this turned out to be a solid 2 hour dive and our last for the weekend. During the morning drop I wore layers of skin off the tops of my feet, so the 2nd dive that felt real good..
Totally worth it
Jenny & I managed 5 dives off the beaches totaling 7 hrs 40 minutes bottom time & 19 lobster total bagged, plus shorts we had to release & a few we just couldn't catch. We saw octopus, stingray, squid, lion fish, all manner of reef fish, scorpion fish, nurse sharks, etc. Not too bad for diving off the beach, on public reefs that get dove heavily and where our max depth was 22 FSW.
The 2 Sunday dives in resulted in 11 bugs in the bag for the day:
That 2 hour dive, well, we did suck both tanks down to nuthin' LOL. When I surfaced I had positive pressure, but not enough left to fill my wing. Had to inflate it orally for the remainder of the swim in.
Yes, those gauges are attached to tanks with the valves open, LOL
If you want to dive a LOT and pay very little for it, but don't mind paying a price in physical effort, there are countless miles of beaches and reefs down there just waiting for you to pay them a visit.
I can't wait for the chance to go back again
