thebes11
Contributor
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
It had been nearly a year since I'd blown bubbles underwater. Living in Florida, and certified to dive, this is akin to slapping your grandma. It wasn't that I just wanted to go diving, it's that I NEEDED to go. I had some down time between jobs at work, and my nephew had a few days from the end of his summer job and returning to FSU for his sophomore year, so we decided to go. Leaving Jacksonville at 5:30 p.m. got us into Jupiter at 9:30, where we stayed with some friends.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Not having been in the water in a while, we decided our first dives would be in West Palm Beach since it's shallower than Jupiter. I'd dove (dived?) off the Sirena with Pura Vida before, and loved them, so it was an easy choice. Getting to the boat couldn't be easier, and there is ample parking (although metered, but at $1.00 an hour, it's very reasonable) right near the dock. The DM and deck hand brought our gear and tanks on board for us, and we were able to pay right there, so no trip to the dive shop was necessary. Very convenient.
Pura Vida
The boat left a bit late, at 10:20, and we were in the water at just after 11:00. This is a nice change, as I'm not a huge early morning person. The extra sleep was nice. Only downside is you miss lunch, making for hungry divers exiting the boat. There is an upside, even to this, though, but more on that later.
Dive #1: Flower Gardens. 56 fsw, 58min, 84F, 50-60 ft. viz, moderate current, 32%EANx
This was a nice relaxing dive, I don't think I had to kick more than 10 or 15 times. Angels, green and spotted morays, juvenile and teenage drums and a few lion fish. The DM (who's name I have forgotten, sorry), was very good at pointing out things I may have otherwise missed. The group overall stayed together, and buddy pairs surfaced as needed. They did not make everyone surface at once, which was nice since most of the boat was on air.
We were served water, soda, cookies and crackers on the S.I.
Dive #2: The Trench. 60 fsw, :50min, 81F, 50-60 ft. viz, moderate current, 32%EANx
Many of the same suspects. This dive was highlighted by a 4 foot free swimming spotted moray. My nephew and I followed him for about 5 minutes. It was easily the largest free swimmer I've seen, including green morays.
We got back to the dock at 2:30, and were leaving the parking lot by 3:00. Like I said earlier, the late departure makes for hungry divers. Luckily, the Brass Ring Pub is only about a two minute drive away. I can't recommend this place highly enough if you like wings, burgers and cold beer. Just wonderful. My nephew and I split an order of wings, hot and wet, and each had a cheeseburger. Serious food coma ensued, which made dropping our tanks off at Scuba Works in Jupiter quite an effort.
Brass Ring Pub
Splitting an order of wings was not quite enough, so for dinner, my nephew, I, and the people we were staying with headed to a bar called “Lucky's” in Jupiter Farms for a late dinner. The wings are totally different, but every bit as tasty. I also got a fish sandwich, not recommended, and my nephew got the garbage nachos, highly recommended.
Friday, August 19, 2011
Jupiter is one of my favorite dive locations. I hadn't dove with Scuba Works in years, but heard the new owners were really focused on customer service and that they carried fewer divers on their boat. I'm always for more space, so figured I'd give them another try. I'm very glad I did. We booked two tanks on Friday and four tanks on Saturday. I bought a 10 tank fill card, and the Sandy, one of the owners, sold the additional two fills necessary at the discounted price. On top of that, since there wasn't time to fill the tanks between the trips on Saturday, she did not charge me any rental fee for the shop tanks they had waiting when we got back from the AM trip.
Scuba Works
We arrived at the shop at 7:00, picked up the tanks, paid our fee and made a short, 5 minute drive to the Castaway Marina, where there boat is docked. What a cool place! You actually get to the dock by walking through a wonderful outdoor tiki bar called The Square Grouper. We dropped our tanks and gear off curbside, and the DM and deck hand brought them to the boat for us.
The Square Grouper
After parking, we walked through the bar to the boat, chose our spot (we were there first!) and set up our gear. Captain Al did a good job on the boat briefing, and made sure everyone on board had safety markers. Rob, the DM checked to see who was diving air and who had nitrox and confirmed that everyone had computers. He also gave us informative dive briefings.
The boat, Blue Tang, is large, it could easily carry 18 divers, but Scuba Works only put on a maximum of 12. That leaves plenty of room to move, lounge and socialze.
We left a bit late because two of the divers were tardy, but we were gone by 8:20. One of the best parts of the Castaway Marina is you can see the ocean from there. No long, idle speed trip to the inlet. My dive computer shows we splashed for our first dive at 8:40!
Dive #3: Area 51, 87fsw, 45min, 82F, 60-70 ft. viz, moderate to strong current, 32%EANx
Sharks! We wanted 'em, we got 'em. Three reefies. The first one was a monster, had to be 5+ft. long. The other two were probably just under 4. The first one came withing seven or eight feet of us. We also saw eels, drums, and the largest arrow crabs I've ever seen in my life. These things must take steroids, just amazing. The only negative, which was a common theme, was the presence of countless moon jellyfish. The good news is there sting is very mild. I got hit twice, and both times, by the time I had removed all my gear, I didn't feel any discomfort.
On the surface interval, we were served animal crackers, oreos, peanut butter crackers, pretzels and FRESH sliced oranges and pineapple! I love fruit on S.I.s, so this was quite a treat. There is something about being in salt water and breathing compressed air that makes pineapple taste better on a boat than any other place on earth.
Dive #4: Lee's Ledge, 83fsw, 38min, 82F, 50-60 ft. viz, mild current, 32%EANx
Saw a lobster, but didn't have my gear. I think I actually saw it flip me off. “Tomorrow, my friend, tomorrow. You'll be mine.” I told him.
A wonderful day on the water. I've been on boats with 20 to 25 divers, I like 12 better. Today there were only ten...even better! Even with an SI, we were still docked and off the boat by 11:15! I really like being that close to the inlet. We lunched at Rancho Chico (if you haven't eaten there, you are missing out!) and had dinner of home prepared fish sandwiches with sauteed green beans and potato salad.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Today was the Big Day. Four dives. We got to the shop again at 7:00, were paid, had our tanks, and were at the dock by 7:15. First again, we go pole position at the very back of the boat! Today Chuck and Angie, a husband wife team, would be our DM/Deck hands (they switch roles on the afternoon trip). DISCLAIMER: I've known Chuck and Angie for quite a while and dove with them when Angie DM'd for another dive op, so I may be biased when I gush about how great they are. This should not take away from how great the actually are!
Again, our gear and tanks were carried from the curb to the boat for us. We were set up by 7:30, so I had time for a nap on the bow until it was time to go. Al was again our captain, gave the same safety briefing and off we went. Chuck let everyone know what to expect and which direction to go. He was spot on and it's evident how well he knows these dive sites. We left about ten after 8, and were wet by 8:30.
Dive #5: Gary's Reef, 92fsw, 39min, 79F, 40-50 ft. viz, RIPPING current, 36%EANx
Wow, just wow. This was an E Ticket Ride. Everyone on the boat was there for lobster, but you had to be good a spotting antenna at about 50 mph. A few times, we did manage to get down into some blow-outs to look for the buggers, but only found one. Of course she was pregnant, and even though we had to let her go, it felt good to have successfully caught one. We also saw a few babies, maybe twice the size of a crawfish.
The surface interval was again the same with snacks and fresh fruit. Did I mention how much I like pineapple on an S.I.? In case I didn't, I like it a lot.
Dive #6: Coffin – Inside Ledge, 79fsw, 41min, 82F, 40-50 ft. viz, strong current, 36%EANx
We went looking for lobster...again unsuccessfully. Saw 4 shorts. This was a nice looking ledge though, lots of things to explore and beautiful structure. Saw more lionfish, eels, angels, arrow crabs and what looked to me to be a stone crab, it was huge. I don't really know my crabs, though, so I may be mistaken.
The boat was back by 11:00, and our afternoon tanks were waiting for us. We brought sandwiches for lunch, and by the time we were done, the hustling crew had the boat turned over, and we were off for our second trip of the day by Noon.
This trip, Angie was our DM, and she gives some of the most entertaining dive briefings. Not only are the informative, but the chick is just damn funny. I believe adding humor is a great way to get people to pay attention to the briefings.
Dive #7: Juno Lob, 94fsw, 44min, 84F, 40-50 ft. viz, moderate current, 36%EANx
I've seen dive t-shirts that say, “Lobster Fear Me” and “Will Dive for Food”. I need one that says, “Lobster Mock Me” or “Every Bug is Safe”. No keepers, but again, some very interesting bottom. Only thing I saw not previously mentioned was a trigger. Even bugless, it was a great dive.
Same S.I., same snacks, same fruit.
Dive #8: Zion – Bow, 75fsw, 50min, 86F, 30-40 ft. viz, mild current, 36%EANx
Final dive of the trip and Jupiter saved her best for last! We came down off the wreck and followed Angie, who let us directly there. We immediately saw a Goliath grouper. We followed him around the back of the bow and saw two of the largest lionfish I'd ever seen. Angie and another diver, Bobbi, cleaned the wreck of about 15 of the little devils, keeping 5 of the largest ones. We headed NNE from the bow, passed over the anchor and though we had headed in the wrong direction. Believe the briefing, however, we went just a little further and found some structure. With about 15 minutes of NDL left, lo and behold, we got two lobster! Yay, us guys! Both legal, both large, neither pregnant! I think we may have sold some Nitrox classes on the boat that day, when the air divers realized we would have go skunked if not for that extra 15 minutes the EANx36 bought us.
After diving, Chuck, Angie, Bobbi, my nephew and I met up at Miller's Ale House, and I had a very good Jambalaya. We had a few beers, and everyone was wiped. We were in bed by 8:00. The drive back to Jacksonville on Sunday was uneventful.
Epilogue:
I was very pleased with the dive ops we chose. Both Pura Vida and Scuba Works were professional, personable, safety oriented and just a lot of fun. I've never dove with anyone in WPB other than Pura Vida, so I can't really compare them to anything else. I've dove with three ops in Jupiter, and I'd dive with any of them again in a heartbeat. Scuba Works had the fewest divers on the boat than any of the other trips I've been on though, which I rate as a huge advantage. Add in the amazingly short boat ride to the dive sites (I'm prone to mal-de-mer), and you get an op surpassed by none.
The trip has only been over for 24 hours, and I miss Jupiter already. I promise not to wait a year for my return!
It had been nearly a year since I'd blown bubbles underwater. Living in Florida, and certified to dive, this is akin to slapping your grandma. It wasn't that I just wanted to go diving, it's that I NEEDED to go. I had some down time between jobs at work, and my nephew had a few days from the end of his summer job and returning to FSU for his sophomore year, so we decided to go. Leaving Jacksonville at 5:30 p.m. got us into Jupiter at 9:30, where we stayed with some friends.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Not having been in the water in a while, we decided our first dives would be in West Palm Beach since it's shallower than Jupiter. I'd dove (dived?) off the Sirena with Pura Vida before, and loved them, so it was an easy choice. Getting to the boat couldn't be easier, and there is ample parking (although metered, but at $1.00 an hour, it's very reasonable) right near the dock. The DM and deck hand brought our gear and tanks on board for us, and we were able to pay right there, so no trip to the dive shop was necessary. Very convenient.
Pura Vida
The boat left a bit late, at 10:20, and we were in the water at just after 11:00. This is a nice change, as I'm not a huge early morning person. The extra sleep was nice. Only downside is you miss lunch, making for hungry divers exiting the boat. There is an upside, even to this, though, but more on that later.
Dive #1: Flower Gardens. 56 fsw, 58min, 84F, 50-60 ft. viz, moderate current, 32%EANx
This was a nice relaxing dive, I don't think I had to kick more than 10 or 15 times. Angels, green and spotted morays, juvenile and teenage drums and a few lion fish. The DM (who's name I have forgotten, sorry), was very good at pointing out things I may have otherwise missed. The group overall stayed together, and buddy pairs surfaced as needed. They did not make everyone surface at once, which was nice since most of the boat was on air.
We were served water, soda, cookies and crackers on the S.I.
Dive #2: The Trench. 60 fsw, :50min, 81F, 50-60 ft. viz, moderate current, 32%EANx
Many of the same suspects. This dive was highlighted by a 4 foot free swimming spotted moray. My nephew and I followed him for about 5 minutes. It was easily the largest free swimmer I've seen, including green morays.
We got back to the dock at 2:30, and were leaving the parking lot by 3:00. Like I said earlier, the late departure makes for hungry divers. Luckily, the Brass Ring Pub is only about a two minute drive away. I can't recommend this place highly enough if you like wings, burgers and cold beer. Just wonderful. My nephew and I split an order of wings, hot and wet, and each had a cheeseburger. Serious food coma ensued, which made dropping our tanks off at Scuba Works in Jupiter quite an effort.
Brass Ring Pub
Splitting an order of wings was not quite enough, so for dinner, my nephew, I, and the people we were staying with headed to a bar called “Lucky's” in Jupiter Farms for a late dinner. The wings are totally different, but every bit as tasty. I also got a fish sandwich, not recommended, and my nephew got the garbage nachos, highly recommended.
Friday, August 19, 2011
Jupiter is one of my favorite dive locations. I hadn't dove with Scuba Works in years, but heard the new owners were really focused on customer service and that they carried fewer divers on their boat. I'm always for more space, so figured I'd give them another try. I'm very glad I did. We booked two tanks on Friday and four tanks on Saturday. I bought a 10 tank fill card, and the Sandy, one of the owners, sold the additional two fills necessary at the discounted price. On top of that, since there wasn't time to fill the tanks between the trips on Saturday, she did not charge me any rental fee for the shop tanks they had waiting when we got back from the AM trip.
Scuba Works
We arrived at the shop at 7:00, picked up the tanks, paid our fee and made a short, 5 minute drive to the Castaway Marina, where there boat is docked. What a cool place! You actually get to the dock by walking through a wonderful outdoor tiki bar called The Square Grouper. We dropped our tanks and gear off curbside, and the DM and deck hand brought them to the boat for us.
The Square Grouper
After parking, we walked through the bar to the boat, chose our spot (we were there first!) and set up our gear. Captain Al did a good job on the boat briefing, and made sure everyone on board had safety markers. Rob, the DM checked to see who was diving air and who had nitrox and confirmed that everyone had computers. He also gave us informative dive briefings.
The boat, Blue Tang, is large, it could easily carry 18 divers, but Scuba Works only put on a maximum of 12. That leaves plenty of room to move, lounge and socialze.
We left a bit late because two of the divers were tardy, but we were gone by 8:20. One of the best parts of the Castaway Marina is you can see the ocean from there. No long, idle speed trip to the inlet. My dive computer shows we splashed for our first dive at 8:40!
Dive #3: Area 51, 87fsw, 45min, 82F, 60-70 ft. viz, moderate to strong current, 32%EANx
Sharks! We wanted 'em, we got 'em. Three reefies. The first one was a monster, had to be 5+ft. long. The other two were probably just under 4. The first one came withing seven or eight feet of us. We also saw eels, drums, and the largest arrow crabs I've ever seen in my life. These things must take steroids, just amazing. The only negative, which was a common theme, was the presence of countless moon jellyfish. The good news is there sting is very mild. I got hit twice, and both times, by the time I had removed all my gear, I didn't feel any discomfort.
On the surface interval, we were served animal crackers, oreos, peanut butter crackers, pretzels and FRESH sliced oranges and pineapple! I love fruit on S.I.s, so this was quite a treat. There is something about being in salt water and breathing compressed air that makes pineapple taste better on a boat than any other place on earth.
Dive #4: Lee's Ledge, 83fsw, 38min, 82F, 50-60 ft. viz, mild current, 32%EANx
Saw a lobster, but didn't have my gear. I think I actually saw it flip me off. “Tomorrow, my friend, tomorrow. You'll be mine.” I told him.
A wonderful day on the water. I've been on boats with 20 to 25 divers, I like 12 better. Today there were only ten...even better! Even with an SI, we were still docked and off the boat by 11:15! I really like being that close to the inlet. We lunched at Rancho Chico (if you haven't eaten there, you are missing out!) and had dinner of home prepared fish sandwiches with sauteed green beans and potato salad.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Today was the Big Day. Four dives. We got to the shop again at 7:00, were paid, had our tanks, and were at the dock by 7:15. First again, we go pole position at the very back of the boat! Today Chuck and Angie, a husband wife team, would be our DM/Deck hands (they switch roles on the afternoon trip). DISCLAIMER: I've known Chuck and Angie for quite a while and dove with them when Angie DM'd for another dive op, so I may be biased when I gush about how great they are. This should not take away from how great the actually are!
Again, our gear and tanks were carried from the curb to the boat for us. We were set up by 7:30, so I had time for a nap on the bow until it was time to go. Al was again our captain, gave the same safety briefing and off we went. Chuck let everyone know what to expect and which direction to go. He was spot on and it's evident how well he knows these dive sites. We left about ten after 8, and were wet by 8:30.
Dive #5: Gary's Reef, 92fsw, 39min, 79F, 40-50 ft. viz, RIPPING current, 36%EANx
Wow, just wow. This was an E Ticket Ride. Everyone on the boat was there for lobster, but you had to be good a spotting antenna at about 50 mph. A few times, we did manage to get down into some blow-outs to look for the buggers, but only found one. Of course she was pregnant, and even though we had to let her go, it felt good to have successfully caught one. We also saw a few babies, maybe twice the size of a crawfish.
The surface interval was again the same with snacks and fresh fruit. Did I mention how much I like pineapple on an S.I.? In case I didn't, I like it a lot.
Dive #6: Coffin – Inside Ledge, 79fsw, 41min, 82F, 40-50 ft. viz, strong current, 36%EANx
We went looking for lobster...again unsuccessfully. Saw 4 shorts. This was a nice looking ledge though, lots of things to explore and beautiful structure. Saw more lionfish, eels, angels, arrow crabs and what looked to me to be a stone crab, it was huge. I don't really know my crabs, though, so I may be mistaken.
The boat was back by 11:00, and our afternoon tanks were waiting for us. We brought sandwiches for lunch, and by the time we were done, the hustling crew had the boat turned over, and we were off for our second trip of the day by Noon.
This trip, Angie was our DM, and she gives some of the most entertaining dive briefings. Not only are the informative, but the chick is just damn funny. I believe adding humor is a great way to get people to pay attention to the briefings.
Dive #7: Juno Lob, 94fsw, 44min, 84F, 40-50 ft. viz, moderate current, 36%EANx
I've seen dive t-shirts that say, “Lobster Fear Me” and “Will Dive for Food”. I need one that says, “Lobster Mock Me” or “Every Bug is Safe”. No keepers, but again, some very interesting bottom. Only thing I saw not previously mentioned was a trigger. Even bugless, it was a great dive.
Same S.I., same snacks, same fruit.
Dive #8: Zion – Bow, 75fsw, 50min, 86F, 30-40 ft. viz, mild current, 36%EANx
Final dive of the trip and Jupiter saved her best for last! We came down off the wreck and followed Angie, who let us directly there. We immediately saw a Goliath grouper. We followed him around the back of the bow and saw two of the largest lionfish I'd ever seen. Angie and another diver, Bobbi, cleaned the wreck of about 15 of the little devils, keeping 5 of the largest ones. We headed NNE from the bow, passed over the anchor and though we had headed in the wrong direction. Believe the briefing, however, we went just a little further and found some structure. With about 15 minutes of NDL left, lo and behold, we got two lobster! Yay, us guys! Both legal, both large, neither pregnant! I think we may have sold some Nitrox classes on the boat that day, when the air divers realized we would have go skunked if not for that extra 15 minutes the EANx36 bought us.
After diving, Chuck, Angie, Bobbi, my nephew and I met up at Miller's Ale House, and I had a very good Jambalaya. We had a few beers, and everyone was wiped. We were in bed by 8:00. The drive back to Jacksonville on Sunday was uneventful.
Epilogue:
I was very pleased with the dive ops we chose. Both Pura Vida and Scuba Works were professional, personable, safety oriented and just a lot of fun. I've never dove with anyone in WPB other than Pura Vida, so I can't really compare them to anything else. I've dove with three ops in Jupiter, and I'd dive with any of them again in a heartbeat. Scuba Works had the fewest divers on the boat than any of the other trips I've been on though, which I rate as a huge advantage. Add in the amazingly short boat ride to the dive sites (I'm prone to mal-de-mer), and you get an op surpassed by none.
The trip has only been over for 24 hours, and I miss Jupiter already. I promise not to wait a year for my return!
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