riceowls
Contributor
How are the conditions now? Are the groupers gone? What other bid staffis available? Trying to see if I should drive up from pompona where we are staying or just dive there.
Jupiter Dive Thread
- Thread starter CosbySweater
- Start date
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51 Spades (half of Area 51 and half of Spadefish) was our first drop. Lumpy seas but calm below the surface. Vis was great with a mild north current. 1mm suit was fine. Saw one lemon, two reef and one nurse shark.
Cpt Kirles was our second drop. It was a Jupiter cornucopia. We were guffawed, saying at the surface “What didn’t we see?” Three rays with the first being the largest ray I’ve ever seen. The DM (Erick) was equally impressed. One loggerhead and two hawksbill. Two GGs, one was relatively sedate with a necrotic right pectoral. Three sharks (although I think one was a lapper). One green moray.
Kyalami crew did great.
Cpt Kirles was our second drop. It was a Jupiter cornucopia. We were guffawed, saying at the surface “What didn’t we see?” Three rays with the first being the largest ray I’ve ever seen. The DM (Erick) was equally impressed. One loggerhead and two hawksbill. Two GGs, one was relatively sedate with a necrotic right pectoral. Three sharks (although I think one was a lapper). One green moray.
Kyalami crew did great.
The aggregation is over. There are resident GG's all year round if you dive the right spots. You just won't see a mass aggregation on the wrecks. This year's aggregation was disappointing, likely due to low vis or ripping currents. I did 3 dive charter trips and never saw an aggregation.
Was just reading another thread were the OP couldn't go diving in Cozumel because of "Norte", so they went birding with a guide instead.
I put bird in the search function and this thread popped up.
So 366 days after the above posts from @CosbySweater and @Divin'Papaw we have similar weather conditions. What @Divin'Papaw wrote still holds true we have fantastic bird watching in south Florida, but especially Palm Beach County. When the weather turned to crap after the hurricane I switched gears to birding from scuba diving. Yeah I know its a diving thread, so going to do a little hijacking anyway.
Anybody who reads my threads here knows I normally go on and on about fish. Often I pull interesting stats from REEF.org to highlight certain species or areas. For example the species most rich site in the Tropical Western Atlantic is BHB, with 480 species observed. The next site, is not even close, Bari Reef In Bonaire with 430 species.
There is another organization devoted to birds. Ebird.org. Because so many people watch birds, Ebird.org has lots of members, and lots of contributions. The result is an incredible database. Here are some stats, worldwide. 10,957 species, 101,988,861 checklists, and 1,062,053 members.
More locally, maybe because of actual square mileage Palm Beach County is the leader in species count than surrounding and nearby counties, Martin, Broward, Miami Dade, Monroe, Collier, Hendry and Glades. The high species count by an individual in Palm Beach County is 314.
There is great information provided on where to find birds, in a given local, right down to on an hourly basis if you want it. Just go to the site and hit the explore tab, find a local hot spot, find interesting rare species in your area, join so you can start your own life list. Be careful though, it can be addictive. Since October there has been a Bananaquit hanging out at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center. Many who have been to the Caribbean would recognize this bird, sometimes called sugar birds. Not at all shy about landing on your coffee cup, if your having breakfast in St. Croix. But they are RARE in Florida.
Ebird.org app can be loaded on to a phone, makes it easy to do a bird list anywhere. Merlin app can be loaded on to a phone as well. Merlin app can make recording and tell you the likely identity of a bird by its song or call.
Below images are of Red Cockaded Woodpeckers, a threatened species that FWC has been trying to revive in south Florida. These images were taken at the Dupuis Wildlife and Environmental Area at a known nesting location (found from ebird). There is another known nesting area in the Hungryland Wildlife and Environmental Area not far from my home, but still have not observed birds there myself.
I put bird in the search function and this thread popped up.
So 366 days after the above posts from @CosbySweater and @Divin'Papaw we have similar weather conditions. What @Divin'Papaw wrote still holds true we have fantastic bird watching in south Florida, but especially Palm Beach County. When the weather turned to crap after the hurricane I switched gears to birding from scuba diving. Yeah I know its a diving thread, so going to do a little hijacking anyway.
Anybody who reads my threads here knows I normally go on and on about fish. Often I pull interesting stats from REEF.org to highlight certain species or areas. For example the species most rich site in the Tropical Western Atlantic is BHB, with 480 species observed. The next site, is not even close, Bari Reef In Bonaire with 430 species.
There is another organization devoted to birds. Ebird.org. Because so many people watch birds, Ebird.org has lots of members, and lots of contributions. The result is an incredible database. Here are some stats, worldwide. 10,957 species, 101,988,861 checklists, and 1,062,053 members.
More locally, maybe because of actual square mileage Palm Beach County is the leader in species count than surrounding and nearby counties, Martin, Broward, Miami Dade, Monroe, Collier, Hendry and Glades. The high species count by an individual in Palm Beach County is 314.
There is great information provided on where to find birds, in a given local, right down to on an hourly basis if you want it. Just go to the site and hit the explore tab, find a local hot spot, find interesting rare species in your area, join so you can start your own life list. Be careful though, it can be addictive. Since October there has been a Bananaquit hanging out at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center. Many who have been to the Caribbean would recognize this bird, sometimes called sugar birds. Not at all shy about landing on your coffee cup, if your having breakfast in St. Croix. But they are RARE in Florida.
Ebird.org app can be loaded on to a phone, makes it easy to do a bird list anywhere. Merlin app can be loaded on to a phone as well. Merlin app can make recording and tell you the likely identity of a bird by its song or call.
Below images are of Red Cockaded Woodpeckers, a threatened species that FWC has been trying to revive in south Florida. These images were taken at the Dupuis Wildlife and Environmental Area at a known nesting location (found from ebird). There is another known nesting area in the Hungryland Wildlife and Environmental Area not far from my home, but still have not observed birds there myself.
After 40 days of sucking my thumb in surface interval self-pity while my hobby van has been under repairs at the collision center (accident was not my fault), I'm finally diving on Sunday with Kyalami out of Jupiter.
OP
CosbySweater
Contributor
How was it??
Chilly and pretty lumpy topside. The inlet was relatively calm but one had to really hang on tighter than normal during the drive out.
Went to Lemon Drop.
Six adult sharks habituated to the sound of a boat motor, divers and free hors d’oeuvres greeted us at ~6m as we started our descent. Some folks dropped down but I lingered as long as I could then got on with my own descent.
At the seabed (28m) we had a southern current but viz degraded to 3m. Worst I’ve seen it since 2019. Two adult sharks visited us briefly and left. There was no sighting a landmark beyond my bearing to navigate to so I was on my compass like a Boy Scout at an orienteering course. Several of us lost interest in waiting for something to appear in our narrow field of view so we ascended a bit. Viz improved a little but not much.
My orientation kept drifting to the southwest and a few times due west. As I kept correcting to 180*, it made me feel like I was going in circles. Trust the compass.
We cut the dive short at 35 minutes with absolutely nothing to do or see.
Pick ups were a lot of work for the Captain with divers getting scattered and separated quickly during the time two to three were negotiating a heaving ladder. I never hand up my fins and yesterday validated this choice. I had both fins off and over my wrists and was only able to get one hand on the ladder. The swell sent the ladder skyward while my twinset decided it wasn’t quite ready to get out of the water yet. Scrambled to get my fins back on while the Captain had to reset. Nothing like being absolutely powerless.
Lots of boat coats came out during the SI. Others commented they had the same sensation of going in circles while navigating.
Second drop was also Lemon Drop. We spared ourselves the descent into murkiness and just hovered at 10m. Five healthy adult supermodel sharks with flawless skin showed up and acted like cats weaving in and out of us, as if they hadn’t eaten in days. This lasted a full 50 minutes.
One hunter team dropped down for lobster (got five) and was treated to a hammerhead cruising by only to be casually shooed away by a bullshark.
Overall, seeing a group of perfect specimen sharks so up close and personal was certainly thrilling but was muted by how completely unnatural it was. The one or two charters that feed sharks (Kyalami does not) are changing the behavior of the shark population and that just strikes me as unethical, selfish, greedy, impatient, etc. I’m perfectly satisfied seeing one or two sharks in passing on a dive.
Went to Lemon Drop.
Six adult sharks habituated to the sound of a boat motor, divers and free hors d’oeuvres greeted us at ~6m as we started our descent. Some folks dropped down but I lingered as long as I could then got on with my own descent.
At the seabed (28m) we had a southern current but viz degraded to 3m. Worst I’ve seen it since 2019. Two adult sharks visited us briefly and left. There was no sighting a landmark beyond my bearing to navigate to so I was on my compass like a Boy Scout at an orienteering course. Several of us lost interest in waiting for something to appear in our narrow field of view so we ascended a bit. Viz improved a little but not much.
My orientation kept drifting to the southwest and a few times due west. As I kept correcting to 180*, it made me feel like I was going in circles. Trust the compass.
We cut the dive short at 35 minutes with absolutely nothing to do or see.
Pick ups were a lot of work for the Captain with divers getting scattered and separated quickly during the time two to three were negotiating a heaving ladder. I never hand up my fins and yesterday validated this choice. I had both fins off and over my wrists and was only able to get one hand on the ladder. The swell sent the ladder skyward while my twinset decided it wasn’t quite ready to get out of the water yet. Scrambled to get my fins back on while the Captain had to reset. Nothing like being absolutely powerless.
Lots of boat coats came out during the SI. Others commented they had the same sensation of going in circles while navigating.
Second drop was also Lemon Drop. We spared ourselves the descent into murkiness and just hovered at 10m. Five healthy adult supermodel sharks with flawless skin showed up and acted like cats weaving in and out of us, as if they hadn’t eaten in days. This lasted a full 50 minutes.
One hunter team dropped down for lobster (got five) and was treated to a hammerhead cruising by only to be casually shooed away by a bullshark.
Overall, seeing a group of perfect specimen sharks so up close and personal was certainly thrilling but was muted by how completely unnatural it was. The one or two charters that feed sharks (Kyalami does not) are changing the behavior of the shark population and that just strikes me as unethical, selfish, greedy, impatient, etc. I’m perfectly satisfied seeing one or two sharks in passing on a dive.
Brant Emery
Contributor
The major problem with shark feeding is that the sharks did not read the email telling them to be calm.
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