Palm Beach Dive Thread

[Catito]

Maybe just squirrel

 

[dflaher]

How awesome it must be to live in a place where you can just hop on a boat and dive! Are there shore diving opportunities also?

 

[Divin'Papaw]

How awesome it must be to live in a place where you can just hop on a boat and dive! Are there shore diving opportunities also?

Definitely! The two most popular sites are Blue Heron Bridge & Lauderdale by the Sea. The Blue Heron Bridge site has its own long running dive thread: Blue Heron Bridge Trolls III

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Maybe just squirrel

At the very beginning right? I think it’s a blackbar soldierfish. You see the same fish again about the middle of the video. Here is a photo blown up on my phone.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Thanks for posting and the photos. Good idea! Going out Saturday. Will post. Pura Vida told me that the water is 79F. Burrr!

Looking forward to reading your post. Hopefully the temps will be back into the 80s!

 

[Johnoly]

Date > June 10, 2022
Dive Site > Breakers & Flower Gardens area
Temps > 77 on the bott, 80 at the surface
Current > Screaming at 3 knots on both the deeper dive sites
Viz - 40ft & really hazy in 110ft, but 80ft of viz in shallower nearer the inlet.
Topside, very flat calm, less than 1ft - touch of rain.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Date > June 10, 2022
Dive Site > Breakers & Flower Gardens area
Temps > 77 on the bott, 80 at the surface
Current > Screaming at 3 knots on both the deeper dive sites
Viz - 40ft & really hazy in 110ft, but 80ft of viz in shallower nearer the inlet.
Topside, very flat calm, less than 1ft - touch of rain.

Thx for the report.

Perfect example of how the currents can change markedly from day to day. Tuesday this area had zero current, today it’s a screaming 3 kts. Gotta love Palm Beach County diving!!

 

[Catito]

Thx for the report.

Perfect example of how the currents can change markedly from day to day. Tuesday this area had zero current, today it’s a screaming 3 kts. Gotta love Palm Beach County diving!!

Not sure how to find this forum except by going to your postings:

Palm Beach dives June 11, 2022
Pura Vida Divers
Cpt Jason
DMs Todd, Amber, Nicole

First site: Bath and Tennis
Surface: Flat
Viz: 40 ish
Current: mild
Bottom temp: 79F
Max depth: 55Ft

Not my favorite site. Kind of flat and bare
Highlights:
Sailfish Blenny signaling
Yellow headed jawfish (several pairs in the rubble)
Two nurse sharks resting (appeared to be male and female)
Bluespotted cornetfish


Second site: Teardrop
Better and more interesting site.
Surface: Slight swell
Viz a little better…50ish
Current: mild
Temp at bottom: 79F
Max depth: 57Ft

Highlights:
7 Caribbean squid
Loggerhead
Reef shark
Scorpion fish
Spotted eel
Moray eels
Pygmy Filefish
Bluespotted cornetfish

Any day in the water is better than in the office

 

[Blues Runner]

Thank you for the reports and pics/video Jim. Trigger fish are appropriately named!

 

[Divin'Papaw]

I was able to sneak away yesterday and do a day trip over to Palm Beach. Went out with Pura Vida. They are currently training a number of new guides and a new captain so there were a large number of staff on the boat. In total they had 7 staff ... 2 captains, 3 guides (Todd, Sarah and Nico), and 2 guides in training. There were probably 16 divers (I didn't think to get an exact count). They broke us into 2 groups which was nice.

We did South Double Ledges first dive and North Double Ledges second dive because the conditions were so nice, which is rare at North Doubles. Seas were 1' or less, current was very mild with a slight west push, visibility was a nice, blue 60-70', and water temps were 81-82 with a few areas of "chilly" 79 degree water swirling around at times on South Doubles. It was just beautiful topside. Calm winds, sunny, no rain, just a few scattered clouds. Air temp was upper 80s increasing to around 90.

We saw a nice size hawksbill, a nurse shark that followed my group for at least 10 minutes, a pair of orange filefish which I don't see often (unlike the more common orange-spotted and white-spotted filefish), a lone mid-size goliath grouper, and all of the usual reef fish.

ADDITION:
I forgot to include the dive profiles:
Dive 1 - South Double Ledges - Max depth 74', Avg depth 60', 55 minutes total dive time, EAN36
Dive 2 - North Double Ledges - Max depth 81', Avg depth 61', 55 minutes total dive time, EAN36