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I've done blue heron 3 or 4 times now. Its about 2 hours south of me and my car gets 35mpg. I've yet to see it be worth the gas. I keep hearing that it's good but be viz so far has been around 10 feet at high slack. And that dive is really tide important, you'll end up getting sucked out at best.

Boat dive, around pompano about $80 for 2 tanks, keys is a little higher, better water.
 
I've done blue heron 3 or 4 times now. Its about 2 hours south of me and my car gets 35mpg. I've yet to see it be worth the gas. I keep hearing that it's good but be viz so far has been around 10 feet at high slack. And that dive is really tide important, you'll end up getting sucked out at best.

Boat dive, around pompano about $80 for 2 tanks, keys is a little higher, better water.

Cruises to the bahamas is cheap, takes care of room and board, terrific water.
 
I am a snowbird who spend several months each year in Florida.

First, Florida is a big state. It is a day's drive from South Florida to Pensacola (the Oriskany).

I have been in the Pensacola area 11 days over the years with the hope of diving the Oriskany Never did it. That was always in the winter. The weather was always too bad. Even when it was sunny and calm in Pensacola, they assured us things were bad out at sea. One time that I was there I checked around to realize that the operators pretty much had their boats out of the water for maintenance, figuring no one would dive then. One operator asked me if I realized that water temperatures were too cold--who would dive under those conditions?

In the last 5-6 years, whether it is climate change or something else, the winter months in SE Florida have been plagued by persistent windy weather preventing any real diving. A decade ago, I could dive most days of my time there. In the last few years, it is far below half. I talked with a dive operator about this, and he confirmed that he was running fewer than half the days in the winter that he did a decade before. It was killing him financially. He sold the business a few weeks ago.
 
I've done blue heron 3 or 4 times now. Its about 2 hours south of me and my car gets 35mpg. I've yet to see it be worth the gas. I keep hearing that it's good but be viz so far has been around 10 feet at high slack. And that dive is really tide important, you'll end up getting sucked out at best.

Boat dive, around pompano about $80 for 2 tanks, keys is a little higher, better water.

Agreed... I consider BHB a backup dive for days when it’s too rough to go out. I would not travel to Florida specifically to do that dive. There’s just too many other, better options.
 
Come and see the caverns of North Florida--take a 2 day cavern class. Loads of fun and learn a LOT.
 
I never understood the "mystique" of Blue Heron Bridge either. Parking and tide timing is always a hassle. When I dove the site I've always had to waste a lot of extra time to get there early enough to get a spot only to sit around waiting on the tide. There are always dozens of people at each reef with giant cameras sitting on the bottom taking photos of.....? something. But I can't ever tell because I can't get close enough. The photographers never move and they get pretty angry if anyone gets to close to them..... The vis is no better than the Gulf of Mexico.

Caves and caverns are fun diving, but I doubt many BHB type divers are going to be down for that type of experience.
 
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I never understood the "mystique" of Blue Heron Bridge either. Parking and tide timing is always a hassle. When I dove the site I've always had to waste a lot of extra time to get there early enough to get a spot only to sit around waiting on the tide. There are always dozens of people at each reef with giant cameras sitting on the bottom taking photos of.....? something. But I can't ever tell because I can't get close enough. The photographers never move and they get pretty angry if anyone gets to close to them..... The vis is no better than the Gulf of Mexico.

Caves and caverns are fun diving, but I doubt many BHB type divers are going to be down for that type of experience.

When I first came across it, and I'm still a NEWBIE diver, and all the posts that it was basically a world class dive and it was within driving distance of me, I was excited. We watched videos I read reviews, we packed the car and decided to do the snorkel trail since my wife and son don't dive. So what we found is this...

Blue Heron Bridge is a BRIDGE that is in the middle of a ghetto. You will be walking past bedrolls and dirty diapers underneath the bridge. It's nowhere close to as bad as some locations/bridges I've been to, but it's obviously a place to be homeless. If you leave anything on the 'beach', it will be stolen. If you leave your car unlocked, it will be broken into.

They do run lifeguards on the 'beach' area and there is a marked point you shouldn't be swimming past as there are boats etc. There is a marked swimming section, no diving there. You have to swim past it before you submerge. The snorkel section is fairly narrow but you can dive there as well.

If you want even a chance at seeing anything, you want to be in the water during slack high tide. You have a narrow window, if you miss it, you miss it and the tide is in/out pretty hard and you need to stay in the snorkel area again.

Viz, I've seen really nice pics, but I've never seen it in person.

About 2 years ago an aquarium came through and wiped out the livestock. They collected everything that moves and shipped it out of state. They had permits to collect throughout the state, and they filled them all instead in 1 tiny portion of the state. It's still rebuilding. They've been shut out of florida now, so good idea guys...

Ive dove it a couple times, once on my own and once or twice in a group. Besides having someone to talk to, I've yet to see it be any better.

2 weeks ago my dive group was headed down for a 10am slack. My daughter and I were going to go, weren't thrilled about having to be up and on the road at 7 for bhb, but we haven't dove in a little while. The LDS tells one of our people that due to the covid thing, it's been really popular and if you don't want to hike your gear a mile to be there 'well before' 8 am. The thought of being up at 3am to be on the road at 4, to dive bhb.... no. Just no. I had clients in town anyway and it was an easy decision to spend the day with them instead.

So to sum it up, if you have your gear already and are already there, and the time is right, go ahead. But don't make it a destination IMO.

I believe we're doing blue grotto shortly (relates because it's in florida, involves water, and has the word blue in it...), never been before so crossing my fingers.
 
When I first came across it, and I'm still a NEWBIE diver, and all the posts that it was basically a world class dive and it was within driving distance of me, I was excited. We watched videos I read reviews, we packed the car and decided to do the snorkel trail since my wife and son don't dive. So what we found is this...

Blue Heron Bridge is a BRIDGE that is in the middle of a ghetto. You will be walking past bedrolls and dirty diapers underneath the bridge. It's nowhere close to as bad as some locations/bridges I've been to, but it's obviously a place to be homeless. If you leave anything on the 'beach', it will be stolen. If you leave your car unlocked, it will be broken into.

They do run lifeguards on the 'beach' area and there is a marked point you shouldn't be swimming past as there are boats etc. There is a marked swimming section, no diving there. You have to swim past it before you submerge. The snorkel section is fairly narrow but you can dive there as well.

If you want even a chance at seeing anything, you want to be in the water during slack high tide. You have a narrow window, if you miss it, you miss it and the tide is in/out pretty hard and you need to stay in the snorkel area again.

Viz, I've seen really nice pics, but I've never seen it in person.

About 2 years ago an aquarium came through and wiped out the livestock. They collected everything that moves and shipped it out of state. They had permits to collect throughout the state, and they filled them all instead in 1 tiny portion of the state. It's still rebuilding. They've been shut out of florida now, so good idea guys...

Ive dove it a couple times, once on my own and once or twice in a group. Besides having someone to talk to, I've yet to see it be any better.

2 weeks ago my dive group was headed down for a 10am slack. My daughter and I were going to go, weren't thrilled about having to be up and on the road at 7 for bhb, but we haven't dove in a little while. The LDS tells one of our people that due to the covid thing, it's been really popular and if you don't want to hike your gear a mile to be there 'well before' 8 am. The thought of being up at 3am to be on the road at 4, to dive bhb.... no. Just no. I had clients in town anyway and it was an easy decision to spend the day with them instead.

So to sum it up, if you have your gear already and are already there, and the time is right, go ahead. But don't make it a destination IMO.

I believe we're doing blue grotto shortly (relates because it's in florida, involves water, and has the word blue in it...), never been before so crossing my fingers.

BHB isn't for everyone but your post has quite a few exaggerations. But it's your opinion and you're of course welcome to it. It's clearly not a site you care for and that's just fine. I couldn't care less what other people think of BHB. Makes no difference to me. Fewer cars in the parking lot.

Personally I love diving BHB. Yes, you've got to know the site, when it's busy vs not, how to dive it, and how to handle the logistics of the site. But that comes from diving it alot. I dive there 1-2 times a month. I have seen things at BHB that are very difficult to see elsewhere especially all in one place. It is a nursery for many species allowing you to see many life phases of alot of species. It's not for everyone (thankfully) but to me it is a very special place.

Plus it’s free. Free parking and free entry. That’s almost unheard of today for a dive site.
 
Agreed... I consider BHB a backup dive for days when it’s too rough to go out. I would not travel to Florida specifically to do that dive. There’s just too many other, better options.

It's both honestly. To some it is worth traveling halfway across the world to dive it. For others it beats not diving at all when blown out. Just like any type of diving it isn't everyone's cup-of-tea. IMO if you come to SEFL and NOT dive BHB you are missing a gem. You many not like it or you may think it is one of the most magical dive sites around. Until you dive it you won't know which camp you fall into.
 
That’s part of why I didn’t dive there when I was down last year. For a recreational dive...I’m not sure if the juice is worth the squeeze (to me).

Don’t get me wrong...I’m sure it would be an awesome dive, but I wouldn’t be content with a plan to just hit the top of the stack. From the reading that I’ve done, the impression I’ve gotten is that operators don’t consider the nav bridge (~120’) to be a recreational dive.

That and depth wise...that would be pushing it, based on my experience (max of 113’).

A group of us chartered out of Pensacola for the Oriskany about a month ago. Only 2 certified tech divers on-board and neither filed a tech dive plan (charter operation requires a dive plan for planned tech dives). Everyone went to the flag bridge, the windows are at 132' on the bottom bridge right now(we placed a medal of a former crew-member on the ship there for his family as a memorial to him). There's more than enough to see and enjoy from 85-130' for two dives in a rec configuration staying within NDLs without needing to touch the deck etc. in my opinion. A beautiful wreck.

They definitely briefed staying within NDL's and "suggested" staying within certification level recommended limits for everyone, but it didn't seem like they were going to be too strict about enforcing it unless a diver showed they shouldn't be there for some reason. I do plan on going back for a tech dive eventually, but it was a lot of fun even staying within NDL's. You can get 20-30 minutes on the wreck pretty easy depending on your depth profile and what % eanx you choose..
 
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