Jupiter Dive Thread

[NothingClever]

I've been doing the same 5am, one day down & back drive, but from Orlando for 30 years & thousands of Jupiter dives. It's a great 1 day dive addiction (or 2 day this week for mini-season)

Hah!

You’ve been my Jupiter dive HERO for how much you get out! Here all this time I thought you lived close by. With 30 years of commuting under your belt, I’m thinking sympathy for my west-to-east trips is going to be in short supply .

I do think driving down Friday night will be a great option to get on the 08:00am trips out of WPB. I found a couple of bakeries within striking distance of the WPB location and open early (06:00) so I can pick up breakfast for the crew and the early guests.

Got the clandestine van bit down pat .

 

[MrChen]

Forgot one thing. One more new ‘insurance driven’ change has been implemented. Nothing as significant as the move to requiring AOW & Nitrox, but they now record your gas pressure upon boarding the boat after each dive. They ask you your pressure even before helping remove your fins on the back of the boat.

I'm surprised no one has commented on this. They want to log your before and after pressure to what end?

 

[MrChen]

I dove Saturday and Sunday with Pura Vida. I have dive credits I purchased last year and thanks to @Divin'Papaw for pointing out that they expire in a year. This was my first weekend back in the water since a medical procedure 7 weeks ago. I usually dive with my buddy on his boat, but it's a lot more work than being catered to on a charter, and I wanted to take it easy.

On Saturday, I went on the deep boat.

The first dive was Juno Ledge and was a good dive. There was a nice current down below, perfect for drift diving. About 10 minutes in a goliath grouper decided to be my dive buddy and hung out with me for the remaining length of the dive, though he did kind of ditch me when a 4-5ft reef shark started treating me like I had a fish. The dang thing would be swimming by and turn straight at me, swim at me, turn off 4-5ft away, circle around, and do it again. This happened a few times. I decided to end my dive, it was time anyways. As I fired my DSMB, my goliath buddy appeared one more time to see me off. Once my DSMB line tensioned, I was lifted from 75ft to 55ft rapidly. The surface current was ripping. It wasn't until I got above 25 ft that it stopped pulling me. Visibility was around 50ft. Seas were 2ft with an occasional 3.

The second dive with Mid Reef. Vis dropped a little, maybe 40ft. I saw absolutely nothing on this dive. Same ripping surface current.

-- Moved rest to palm beach thread --

 

[scubadada]

I'm surprised no one has commented on this. They want to log your before and after pressure to what end?

JDC was already doing this during my visit in May. I asked Adam, the day he was mate, why this was being done. He replied that it was an insurance requirement. He was not sure how/when the information was being turned over to the insurance company or how they might be using it. I did not have the opportunity to ask Gerry about it, perhaps someone else can.

I have been asked for this kind of information before, a couple of well-known operators in the Cayman Islands come to mind.

 

[Johnoly]

This was my first weekend back in the water....

Welcome back and thanks for the conditions report !!

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Hah!

You’ve been my Jupiter dive HERO for how much you get out! Here all this time I thought you lived close by. With 30 years of commuting under your belt, I’m thinking sympathy for my west-to-east trips is going to be in short supply .

I do think driving down Friday night will be a great option to get on the 08:00am trips out of WPB. I found a couple of bakeries within striking distance of the WPB location and open early (06:00) so I can pick up breakfast for the crew and the early guests.

Got the clandestine van bit down pat .

We live in Bonita Springs which is right between Ft. Myers and Naples. I've done the day trip thing many times and still do on occasion. I can get to Jupiter in around 3 hrs or a tad longer, Riviera Beach in about 2 hrs 45 min, Boynton Beach in around 2 hr 30 min, and Ft. Lauderdale/Pompano in about 2 hrs. I too far prefer the 10 am departures for the day trips. I'm an early riser so I can get out of here by 5 am when needed, but I don't prefer it.

I typically prefer to stay the weekend and treat it as a mini vacation. I don't do any dive travel (my wife doesn't dive), so I spend my scuba travel money on weekends in Palm Beach county instead. I tend to stay at AirBNBs which are homier and typically less than a hotel room. I try and get over once a month on average. I then add in day trips on occasion for weekdays that I can get away or already have off work.

 

[CosbySweater]

I'm surprised no one has commented on this. They want to log your before and after pressure to what end?

Just “after” pressure. As others said it’s an insurance requirement. No ones looking at your gauge, they’re just taking your word.

 

[CosbySweater]

I got out this afternoon for some late mini season action with JDC. Light boat. Only 6 divers. Two were crew. Hit some lobster bottom to the North to start. Very nice spot with plenty of good bottom to go round. There was evidence the site had been hit before us. While it wasn’t loaded with bugs I managed several healthy ones. Visibly was 70+ and 84 degrees. Beautiful blue water. Topside was 2’s.

Second dive was to the east of the main ledge. Great viz again and a few bugs here and there but nothing spectacular. I ended the afternoon with 5 which is plenty for me. I like to eat them fresh and I don’t like to freeze them so I only need to take enough for a few meals for me and the girlfriend.

Overall a nice afternoon on the tail end of mini season. Was great to get out and take advantage of the nice viz we’re having.

 

[Johnoly]

Overall a nice afternoon on the tail end of mini season. Was great to get out and take advantage of the nice viz we’re having.

Glad you got out. It was 3 full days of mini-season and everything was really picked over. We'll have to wait for a nearby tropical storm with drenching rain to move both the deep and ICW bugs out to the dive reefs.

 

[MrChen]

Glad you got out. It was 3 full days of mini-season and everything was really picked over. We'll have to wait for a nearby tropical storm with drenching rain to move both the deep and ICW bugs out to the dive reefs.

We didn't even bother trying to dive the WPB/Jupiter area for mini season. We took the boat south and launched out Dania Beach. I easily limited on a day 1. I struggled with a lot of eggers and shorts on day 2, but others on the boat limited. We found all the lobsters between 25-30ft.