drrich2
Contributor
Gonna go long on this review. Designing it for people like I was, considering Jupiter for a new dive destination against other options. I trust people with more extensive experience here will point out where my experience is not representative of usual conditions. My photos were shot with an old Canon G10 compact camera in a Canon housing, Underwater Scene Mode setting, usually with Flash Off but occasionally turned on for close in work. I did no post processing or cropping, aside from reducing resolutions, so you can see what pics looked like when they came out of the camera.
My Profile: Rec. diver, main experience 8 1-week trips to Bonaire plus a smattering of Caribbean dives on cruise ship stops & some quarry diving, who discovered Floridas got good diving (plus amenities for non-diving family & access to U.S. health care, in case our pre-toddler gets sick), and had a great time doing 20 dives in 5 days with Rainbow Reef Dive Center out of Key Largo September 2013. As good or better than my Caribbean diving! I aim for water temp.s of 75+ degrees as I dont like wearing wetsuits.
Site Profile: Jupiter, Florida. By reputation, warm-water (at least part of the year) drift diving with access to see big animals, a good chance to see Goliath grouper (especially during the annual aggregation which this is prime time for), sharks (theres an annual lemon shark migration, but I didnt make that) and loggerhead sea turtles (which I missed somehow). Viz. said to be less than West Palm Beach or the Florida Keys, and the dives tend to be deeper, but if you want to see the big stuff out of Florida, Jupiter is the place. Its close enough to West Palm Beach & Blue Heron Bridge that one could try them, but I did not. Driving this area was not difficult; your skills dont need to be ready for major metropolitan areas like Houston, New York City, etc We made a lot of U-turns getting around.
Dive Op. Profile: Jupiter Dive Center. Strongly reputable op. often mentioned on ScubaBoard, which is where I heard of it. Has a dive shop where you can rent HP Steel 120s with Nitrox (EAN 36 was provided, a fine choice for the dives we did), 2-tank boat trips (looks like Saturdays & Sundays often offer morning and afternoon trips, although I never tried to do both and judging from the times we tended to get back, I doubt itd be feasible to consistently do both trips every day, if you even wanted to do 4 dives with those profiles per day). They do some 3-tank trips; judging from their online scheduling map looks like thats mainly Friday and Sunday. On a 7 day trip, diving 6 of them, with a 3-tank trip in there somewhere, you can probably get 13 dives in (maybe 14?). I did 10 dives in 5 days, spent one with family then flew home. They rent sizes besides 120s.
Jupiter has more than one strongly reputable op. Captain Sl8rs op. is highly rated. I heard of and contacted JDC 1st, Im a conservative meat & potatoes guy and a straight-forward name like Jupiter Dive Center appeals to me, and given strong positive experience from fellow ScubaBoard members, I went with them. I likeem a lot, but Im not here to play My op. is better than your op.
One tip: Entering JDCs street address into my wifes recent model Garmin put us some ways off, so I phoned for directions. Your 1st day, plan on getting there extra early, and have their phone number available. I dont think this is rare.
Dive Day Work-flow (for morning dives): Shop opens at 8 a.m.; I got there around that time. Wife pulled around behind the shop & dropped me & gear off by the benches area at the head of the dock. I go in, fill out the liability release, check in at the counter, pay $40 & tax ($42.40) for 2 EAN 36 HP steel tanks, analyze right there (theres also an analyzer for DIN tanks), print name & mix on tape & stick on tanks. I can haul them out & down the pier to near the boat. Odds are I can get permission & board, pick a spot, & get my BCD & reg. on a tank right away. I bought the buy 5 trips, get 1 free deal the 1st day. I didnt see a big dry box (e.g. trunk or chest) up front for keeping things dry, so I bought a dry box for keeping my wallet & iPhone safe from water & blunt trauma. A shop staffer provided me a fin bag to help keep stuff together at no charge.
Depart around 9 a.m. I think we ran anywhere from 8 to 18 divers, tending towards about 13, but the boats (Republic IV and VII) are wide and comfortable, and dives didnt feel like a mob scene. There are 3 crew; 1 Captain, 1 Deck Hand/1st Mate & 1 Guide (who pulls a float & flag via reel). On the trip out (maybe 40 minutes?), the guide gives a site briefing. 10 Minutes before expected arrival, we get the 10 minute warning, and you get into your wetsuit & gear. Soon youll all scoot on your butts side-ways down the bench to the back of the boat. Guide goes in 1st, and theres a yell Dive, dive, dive on both sides of the boat, one after the other, divers giant stride off at an outward angle to minimize risk from the ladder, and group around the guide. Soon the guide says lets go down, and you go down, follow with the group, on dive 1 planning max. bottom time 25 minutes on air, or 45 on nitrox, to allow for decent time on the 2nd dive. Dive 1 is the deepest.
Did I mention they have snacks (I saw bags of pretzels) and free cans of Pepsi & Diet Pepsi? Now thats a commitment to hydration! There was a water cooler, too.
Dive 2 runs much the same. We generally dove 45 minutes bottom time and worked our way up to the safety stop & then out. My dives generally ran around 50 55 minutes. The group waits by the float and the captain comes, swings around & backs the boat up to you. Its pretty easy to go up the ladder with your fins on, which is recommended. Somebody chose to take his off 1st and lost one.
All the staff were nice, likeable and professional. Im rather twitchy and a deck hand politely asked me about it one day headed back, wondering if I might have DCS. Good eye, Brian! Nope; Im just weird.
End of the Dive Day those willing form a tank line & we hand tanks person to person to get them from boat to pier. Time for tips (Deck Hand and Guide work for tips) and there are 2 big rinse tanks as you leave the pier. I think we tended to get back around 1:30 to 2 p.m. maybe? One day we stopped to refuel the boat.
Dive Sites: I dove the Jupiter Wreck Trek 3 times (2 smaller wrecks, the Zion & Miss Jenny, and one larger one, the ESSO Bonaire), the MG111 twice (some attached stuff is called Warriors Reef) (part of it looks like someone blew up a Mayan temple, part of it like someone blew up a high school auditorium) those are the 2 sites with wrecks/wreckage that large numbers of Goliath grouper cluster around and in. Once each I dove Loggerhead, Scarface, Area 51, Captain Mikes Reef and Tunnels. These are reef dives. I picture it this way. Imagine you are off-shore hovering over the sand, facing the mainland. Someone lays out a giant strip of hamburger meat in a long line parallel to shore, in front of you. Now, he smashes it flat. The reefs vary in how flat that rock/reef layer is, and how much cracks run into it, and how lushly coral and particularly gorgonians contribute to a grasslands look. Its not as lush as the better Bonaire reefs, and its much more level, not much sloping hillside (unlike Bonaire). The sand might be around 90 feet deep. Youre out over the sand (or near it) at the edge of that rock/reef shelf, with mild current moving you along (we dove into current a bit at Tunnels).
---------- Post added September 14th, 2014 at 10:36 PM ----------
You could see sharks occasionally, maybe some Goliath grouper, a range of angelfish species and other things (I found a big green moray and a big crab; also saw a school of rainbow parrotfish with a midnight blue parrotfish with them, saw this on 2 different dives, and one guy said he saw 2 dolphin chasing a reef shark maybe 4 feet long; I didn’t see that). I saw a big black-trip reef shark (Wreck Trek), maybe 4 – 5 reef sharks (all at Tunnels) & 2 nurse sharks (both are Captain Mike’s Reef). I can’t realistically guess how many Goliath grouper I saw. Never saw barracuda while diving here, though. Saw 2 hawksbill sea turtles.
You may see a little spear fishing and lobstering.
Dive Conditions: Viz. around 40 to 50 feet or so for me. Current usually mild, sometimes minimal, one day fairly strong but nothing that would impress somebody used to Cozumel. All 5 days I dove, definitely thermocline. Sometimes 2. I found one at 50 – 55 feet, one at 70 feet on the nose. Under the thermocline the water was quite chilly. Give some time to acclimate at the thermocline, I could stand it, but I’m big & chunky (6’1”, around 275 lbs., tolerate cold better than most) & still got cold. I’m the only person who dove without a suit all 5 trips. Most wore full wetsuits, a few shorties, one women wore a dry suit. Had I wished, I could’ve ‘rode the thermocline’ on all dives without being left behind. Sometimes I did, if there was nothing special to drop down and see. It was common to hear in dive briefings that a sight was ’90 feet to the sand’ (hence EAN 36 with a MOD of 95 feet is a good choice). I’m told cold water at depth isn’t the norm and results from upwellings, which occur erratically. It was chilly deep every day I dove.
Special Considerations: I saw a number of scorpionfish, including one on a wreck some of us were hanging on the edge of by a finger on the higher current day, close to a yard from my hand, and their camouflage is wonderful against those algae-covered wrecks. Be very careful if you must touch. Stay with the group; better yet, stay with the guide. Viz. is not on par with Cozumel. Get nitrox certified before you come; well worth it. Know how much weight you need. Know how to assemble your own gear; this is not a valet op. They’re friendly and supportive, but you should know your weight needs, how to set up your gear, and get in the water with your gas turned on without a nanny. If you’re fresh out of OW training, still awkward and nervous about ocean diving, I suggest a trip to Key Largo and a week with Rainbow Reef Dive Center (and AOW & Nitrox training & certification) before you tackle Jupiter. Nobody asked me about or tried to pair me up with a buddy, which is great because I didn’t want them to (via e-mail I’d asked whether I had to buddy dive or could stick with the guide, & was told I could do the latter). If you go solo and want a buddy, you may need to ask somebody.
Sometimes things come up. I originally scheduled a Sunday 3-tank boat trip, but later a big group wanted to book the whole thing, so I got a call about switching to the 2-tank. Later there was some sort of problem & I was asked to move to the afternoon trip on day 1, which was a blessing since due to flight delays we checked into our hotel at 2 a.m.!!! But I got a free pair of nitrox 120’s one day, and a mesh fin bag with someone saw I didn’t have one, so good things happen, too.
Where We Stayed: Wife likes an oceanview balcony. I didn’t want to pay for Jupiter Beach Resort. We stayed at Jupiter Waterfront Inn. It’s a nice place with a view of the intracoastal. The pier out back is over shallow water, but I saw a moon jellyfish and a juvenile barracuda. They put out apples all day, and in the morning you can get muffins, orange & cranberry juice, and 3 kinds of cereal (all free). No matter what they say about TripAdvisor, I like the little chocolate chip muffins.
We Ate At: Guanabana’s – good food, not cheap, near place since it’s got a ‘paths in the forest’ feel and water front. Jetties – waterfront, good food, not cheap. Coolinary Café – okay but nothing that’d make us go back. Not cheap. Hogsnapper Restaurant and Sushi – nice place, decent food, okay overall.
Non-diving Family – Jupiter Inset Lighthouse (not a long tour, but a trip up for some photos is nice), Hobe Sound National Wildlife Center (little nature center, worth a stop, but I’m not walking sand trails in the blazing sun), Dubois State Park (shallow lagoon area for little ones), Palm Beach Zoo (decent zoo; had a good time), Busch Wildlife Sanctuary (we didn’t make it), Loggerhead Marinelife Center (we didn’t make it), South Florida Science Museum (we didn’t make it), Mounts Botanical Garden (we didn’t make it), McCarthy’s Wildlife Sanctuary (sounded great, but they don’t need children our daughter’s age in), and you may find more but Jupiter doesn’t seem to be a major land attraction area. We decided to do a trip with Sunshine Wildlife Tours since wife wanted to see wild manatees.
My Dive Profiles:
Day 1.
Dive 1. Zion, Ms Jenny, Esso Bonaire. 74 degrees I think. Mild drift dive.
50 Min. dive, max. 84, avg. 65, start 3645, end 1274.
Dive 2. Loggerhead. 54 min, max. 69, ave. 56, start 3246, end 981.
Day 2.
Dive 1: Zion, Ms Jenny, Esso Bonaire. Thermocline just under 70 feet dropped temp. to 71 per VT3, so I tended to stay above that. some of us touched the wreck edge to secure ourselves against the current.
54 min, max. 77, ave. 61, start 3399, end 900.
If you have to touch an algae covered reef, be careful. See what I mean?
Dive 2: Scarface. 53 min, max. 74, ave. 57, start 3446, end 1389.
Day 3.
Dive 1 – Area 51. Thermocline around 60 feet. Saw 1 goliath grouper. Sharkk saw 4. One guy saw 2 dolphins chasing a reef shark maybe 4 – 4.5 feet long, appearing to enjoy it, though the shark didn’t. Moderate current. Viz. maybe 50’.
58 min. dive, max. 79 feet, ave. 61 feet, EAN 36, start pressure 3510, end pressure 1183.
Dive 2 – MG111 & Warrior’s Reef. Thermocline around 50-55 feet, and it got cold. Moderate current – hung on the wreck a bit. Viz. maybe 50’. If the VT3 was accurate, once acclimated, I got down into 68 degree water, no wet suit. Gotta wonder if that’s accurate. Phil. mentioned 71 back on the boat.
61 min. dive, max. 63 ft, ave. 49 ft, EAN 36, start pressure 3498, end pressure 1204.
Day 4. Both dives had thermoclines and were chilly at depth but not as cold as yesterday. Sandy (Guide) thought viz. around 40 feet and bottom time on one dive 73, whereas my VT3 said 71. Negligible bottom current on both dives.
Dive #1: Jupiter Wreck Trek. 54 min. dive, max. depth 89 ft, average depth 67 ft, start pressure 3691 psi, end pressure 1355 psi. EAN 36.
Dive #2: MG111 & Warrior’s Reef. 53 min. dive, max. 63 ft, average depth 52 ft, start pressure 3632 psi, end pressure 1699 psi. EAN 36.
Day 5. Viz. around 40 feet at both sites.
Dive 1 – Captain Mike’s Reef. He found it years ago. Saw 2 nurse sharks and 2 goliath grouper and found a big crab. Mild drift dive current. 52 min., 83 ft max., average depth 63 ft, start pressure 3596 psi, end pressure 1558 psi. EAN 36.
Dive 2 – Tunnels. Mild to negligible current. 4-5 reef sharks and some goliath grouper. 53 min., max. depth 72 ft, average depth 60 ft, start pressure 3391 psi, end pressure 1227 psi. EAN 36.
My Profile: Rec. diver, main experience 8 1-week trips to Bonaire plus a smattering of Caribbean dives on cruise ship stops & some quarry diving, who discovered Floridas got good diving (plus amenities for non-diving family & access to U.S. health care, in case our pre-toddler gets sick), and had a great time doing 20 dives in 5 days with Rainbow Reef Dive Center out of Key Largo September 2013. As good or better than my Caribbean diving! I aim for water temp.s of 75+ degrees as I dont like wearing wetsuits.
Site Profile: Jupiter, Florida. By reputation, warm-water (at least part of the year) drift diving with access to see big animals, a good chance to see Goliath grouper (especially during the annual aggregation which this is prime time for), sharks (theres an annual lemon shark migration, but I didnt make that) and loggerhead sea turtles (which I missed somehow). Viz. said to be less than West Palm Beach or the Florida Keys, and the dives tend to be deeper, but if you want to see the big stuff out of Florida, Jupiter is the place. Its close enough to West Palm Beach & Blue Heron Bridge that one could try them, but I did not. Driving this area was not difficult; your skills dont need to be ready for major metropolitan areas like Houston, New York City, etc We made a lot of U-turns getting around.
Dive Op. Profile: Jupiter Dive Center. Strongly reputable op. often mentioned on ScubaBoard, which is where I heard of it. Has a dive shop where you can rent HP Steel 120s with Nitrox (EAN 36 was provided, a fine choice for the dives we did), 2-tank boat trips (looks like Saturdays & Sundays often offer morning and afternoon trips, although I never tried to do both and judging from the times we tended to get back, I doubt itd be feasible to consistently do both trips every day, if you even wanted to do 4 dives with those profiles per day). They do some 3-tank trips; judging from their online scheduling map looks like thats mainly Friday and Sunday. On a 7 day trip, diving 6 of them, with a 3-tank trip in there somewhere, you can probably get 13 dives in (maybe 14?). I did 10 dives in 5 days, spent one with family then flew home. They rent sizes besides 120s.
Jupiter has more than one strongly reputable op. Captain Sl8rs op. is highly rated. I heard of and contacted JDC 1st, Im a conservative meat & potatoes guy and a straight-forward name like Jupiter Dive Center appeals to me, and given strong positive experience from fellow ScubaBoard members, I went with them. I likeem a lot, but Im not here to play My op. is better than your op.
One tip: Entering JDCs street address into my wifes recent model Garmin put us some ways off, so I phoned for directions. Your 1st day, plan on getting there extra early, and have their phone number available. I dont think this is rare.
Dive Day Work-flow (for morning dives): Shop opens at 8 a.m.; I got there around that time. Wife pulled around behind the shop & dropped me & gear off by the benches area at the head of the dock. I go in, fill out the liability release, check in at the counter, pay $40 & tax ($42.40) for 2 EAN 36 HP steel tanks, analyze right there (theres also an analyzer for DIN tanks), print name & mix on tape & stick on tanks. I can haul them out & down the pier to near the boat. Odds are I can get permission & board, pick a spot, & get my BCD & reg. on a tank right away. I bought the buy 5 trips, get 1 free deal the 1st day. I didnt see a big dry box (e.g. trunk or chest) up front for keeping things dry, so I bought a dry box for keeping my wallet & iPhone safe from water & blunt trauma. A shop staffer provided me a fin bag to help keep stuff together at no charge.
Depart around 9 a.m. I think we ran anywhere from 8 to 18 divers, tending towards about 13, but the boats (Republic IV and VII) are wide and comfortable, and dives didnt feel like a mob scene. There are 3 crew; 1 Captain, 1 Deck Hand/1st Mate & 1 Guide (who pulls a float & flag via reel). On the trip out (maybe 40 minutes?), the guide gives a site briefing. 10 Minutes before expected arrival, we get the 10 minute warning, and you get into your wetsuit & gear. Soon youll all scoot on your butts side-ways down the bench to the back of the boat. Guide goes in 1st, and theres a yell Dive, dive, dive on both sides of the boat, one after the other, divers giant stride off at an outward angle to minimize risk from the ladder, and group around the guide. Soon the guide says lets go down, and you go down, follow with the group, on dive 1 planning max. bottom time 25 minutes on air, or 45 on nitrox, to allow for decent time on the 2nd dive. Dive 1 is the deepest.
Did I mention they have snacks (I saw bags of pretzels) and free cans of Pepsi & Diet Pepsi? Now thats a commitment to hydration! There was a water cooler, too.
Dive 2 runs much the same. We generally dove 45 minutes bottom time and worked our way up to the safety stop & then out. My dives generally ran around 50 55 minutes. The group waits by the float and the captain comes, swings around & backs the boat up to you. Its pretty easy to go up the ladder with your fins on, which is recommended. Somebody chose to take his off 1st and lost one.
All the staff were nice, likeable and professional. Im rather twitchy and a deck hand politely asked me about it one day headed back, wondering if I might have DCS. Good eye, Brian! Nope; Im just weird.
End of the Dive Day those willing form a tank line & we hand tanks person to person to get them from boat to pier. Time for tips (Deck Hand and Guide work for tips) and there are 2 big rinse tanks as you leave the pier. I think we tended to get back around 1:30 to 2 p.m. maybe? One day we stopped to refuel the boat.
Dive Sites: I dove the Jupiter Wreck Trek 3 times (2 smaller wrecks, the Zion & Miss Jenny, and one larger one, the ESSO Bonaire), the MG111 twice (some attached stuff is called Warriors Reef) (part of it looks like someone blew up a Mayan temple, part of it like someone blew up a high school auditorium) those are the 2 sites with wrecks/wreckage that large numbers of Goliath grouper cluster around and in. Once each I dove Loggerhead, Scarface, Area 51, Captain Mikes Reef and Tunnels. These are reef dives. I picture it this way. Imagine you are off-shore hovering over the sand, facing the mainland. Someone lays out a giant strip of hamburger meat in a long line parallel to shore, in front of you. Now, he smashes it flat. The reefs vary in how flat that rock/reef layer is, and how much cracks run into it, and how lushly coral and particularly gorgonians contribute to a grasslands look. Its not as lush as the better Bonaire reefs, and its much more level, not much sloping hillside (unlike Bonaire). The sand might be around 90 feet deep. Youre out over the sand (or near it) at the edge of that rock/reef shelf, with mild current moving you along (we dove into current a bit at Tunnels).
---------- Post added September 14th, 2014 at 10:36 PM ----------
You could see sharks occasionally, maybe some Goliath grouper, a range of angelfish species and other things (I found a big green moray and a big crab; also saw a school of rainbow parrotfish with a midnight blue parrotfish with them, saw this on 2 different dives, and one guy said he saw 2 dolphin chasing a reef shark maybe 4 feet long; I didn’t see that). I saw a big black-trip reef shark (Wreck Trek), maybe 4 – 5 reef sharks (all at Tunnels) & 2 nurse sharks (both are Captain Mike’s Reef). I can’t realistically guess how many Goliath grouper I saw. Never saw barracuda while diving here, though. Saw 2 hawksbill sea turtles.
You may see a little spear fishing and lobstering.
Dive Conditions: Viz. around 40 to 50 feet or so for me. Current usually mild, sometimes minimal, one day fairly strong but nothing that would impress somebody used to Cozumel. All 5 days I dove, definitely thermocline. Sometimes 2. I found one at 50 – 55 feet, one at 70 feet on the nose. Under the thermocline the water was quite chilly. Give some time to acclimate at the thermocline, I could stand it, but I’m big & chunky (6’1”, around 275 lbs., tolerate cold better than most) & still got cold. I’m the only person who dove without a suit all 5 trips. Most wore full wetsuits, a few shorties, one women wore a dry suit. Had I wished, I could’ve ‘rode the thermocline’ on all dives without being left behind. Sometimes I did, if there was nothing special to drop down and see. It was common to hear in dive briefings that a sight was ’90 feet to the sand’ (hence EAN 36 with a MOD of 95 feet is a good choice). I’m told cold water at depth isn’t the norm and results from upwellings, which occur erratically. It was chilly deep every day I dove.
Special Considerations: I saw a number of scorpionfish, including one on a wreck some of us were hanging on the edge of by a finger on the higher current day, close to a yard from my hand, and their camouflage is wonderful against those algae-covered wrecks. Be very careful if you must touch. Stay with the group; better yet, stay with the guide. Viz. is not on par with Cozumel. Get nitrox certified before you come; well worth it. Know how much weight you need. Know how to assemble your own gear; this is not a valet op. They’re friendly and supportive, but you should know your weight needs, how to set up your gear, and get in the water with your gas turned on without a nanny. If you’re fresh out of OW training, still awkward and nervous about ocean diving, I suggest a trip to Key Largo and a week with Rainbow Reef Dive Center (and AOW & Nitrox training & certification) before you tackle Jupiter. Nobody asked me about or tried to pair me up with a buddy, which is great because I didn’t want them to (via e-mail I’d asked whether I had to buddy dive or could stick with the guide, & was told I could do the latter). If you go solo and want a buddy, you may need to ask somebody.
Sometimes things come up. I originally scheduled a Sunday 3-tank boat trip, but later a big group wanted to book the whole thing, so I got a call about switching to the 2-tank. Later there was some sort of problem & I was asked to move to the afternoon trip on day 1, which was a blessing since due to flight delays we checked into our hotel at 2 a.m.!!! But I got a free pair of nitrox 120’s one day, and a mesh fin bag with someone saw I didn’t have one, so good things happen, too.
Where We Stayed: Wife likes an oceanview balcony. I didn’t want to pay for Jupiter Beach Resort. We stayed at Jupiter Waterfront Inn. It’s a nice place with a view of the intracoastal. The pier out back is over shallow water, but I saw a moon jellyfish and a juvenile barracuda. They put out apples all day, and in the morning you can get muffins, orange & cranberry juice, and 3 kinds of cereal (all free). No matter what they say about TripAdvisor, I like the little chocolate chip muffins.
We Ate At: Guanabana’s – good food, not cheap, near place since it’s got a ‘paths in the forest’ feel and water front. Jetties – waterfront, good food, not cheap. Coolinary Café – okay but nothing that’d make us go back. Not cheap. Hogsnapper Restaurant and Sushi – nice place, decent food, okay overall.
Non-diving Family – Jupiter Inset Lighthouse (not a long tour, but a trip up for some photos is nice), Hobe Sound National Wildlife Center (little nature center, worth a stop, but I’m not walking sand trails in the blazing sun), Dubois State Park (shallow lagoon area for little ones), Palm Beach Zoo (decent zoo; had a good time), Busch Wildlife Sanctuary (we didn’t make it), Loggerhead Marinelife Center (we didn’t make it), South Florida Science Museum (we didn’t make it), Mounts Botanical Garden (we didn’t make it), McCarthy’s Wildlife Sanctuary (sounded great, but they don’t need children our daughter’s age in), and you may find more but Jupiter doesn’t seem to be a major land attraction area. We decided to do a trip with Sunshine Wildlife Tours since wife wanted to see wild manatees.
My Dive Profiles:
Day 1.
Dive 1. Zion, Ms Jenny, Esso Bonaire. 74 degrees I think. Mild drift dive.
50 Min. dive, max. 84, avg. 65, start 3645, end 1274.
Dive 2. Loggerhead. 54 min, max. 69, ave. 56, start 3246, end 981.
Day 2.
Dive 1: Zion, Ms Jenny, Esso Bonaire. Thermocline just under 70 feet dropped temp. to 71 per VT3, so I tended to stay above that. some of us touched the wreck edge to secure ourselves against the current.
54 min, max. 77, ave. 61, start 3399, end 900.
If you have to touch an algae covered reef, be careful. See what I mean?
Dive 2: Scarface. 53 min, max. 74, ave. 57, start 3446, end 1389.
Day 3.
Dive 1 – Area 51. Thermocline around 60 feet. Saw 1 goliath grouper. Sharkk saw 4. One guy saw 2 dolphins chasing a reef shark maybe 4 – 4.5 feet long, appearing to enjoy it, though the shark didn’t. Moderate current. Viz. maybe 50’.
58 min. dive, max. 79 feet, ave. 61 feet, EAN 36, start pressure 3510, end pressure 1183.
Dive 2 – MG111 & Warrior’s Reef. Thermocline around 50-55 feet, and it got cold. Moderate current – hung on the wreck a bit. Viz. maybe 50’. If the VT3 was accurate, once acclimated, I got down into 68 degree water, no wet suit. Gotta wonder if that’s accurate. Phil. mentioned 71 back on the boat.
61 min. dive, max. 63 ft, ave. 49 ft, EAN 36, start pressure 3498, end pressure 1204.
Day 4. Both dives had thermoclines and were chilly at depth but not as cold as yesterday. Sandy (Guide) thought viz. around 40 feet and bottom time on one dive 73, whereas my VT3 said 71. Negligible bottom current on both dives.
Dive #1: Jupiter Wreck Trek. 54 min. dive, max. depth 89 ft, average depth 67 ft, start pressure 3691 psi, end pressure 1355 psi. EAN 36.
Dive #2: MG111 & Warrior’s Reef. 53 min. dive, max. 63 ft, average depth 52 ft, start pressure 3632 psi, end pressure 1699 psi. EAN 36.
Day 5. Viz. around 40 feet at both sites.
Dive 1 – Captain Mike’s Reef. He found it years ago. Saw 2 nurse sharks and 2 goliath grouper and found a big crab. Mild drift dive current. 52 min., 83 ft max., average depth 63 ft, start pressure 3596 psi, end pressure 1558 psi. EAN 36.
Dive 2 – Tunnels. Mild to negligible current. 4-5 reef sharks and some goliath grouper. 53 min., max. depth 72 ft, average depth 60 ft, start pressure 3391 psi, end pressure 1227 psi. EAN 36.
