Palm Beach Dive Thread

[Johnoly]

I think I did 2.5 miles on the first dive.

When I'm driving the boat and get a reading like this, I'm really glad I'm running 2 GPS's and watching their data numbers,, shaking my head saying " Well they can't both be wrong". Any captain will tell you, Dive flags will lie to you but bubbles won't. I'll pull up next to our dive flag to make sure there's bubbles coming up next to it, cause divers can lose a flag in strong current. And that why we stay off our phones when driving. Eyes on the water looking for 2nd backup flags or fish floats !!

Thanks for the condition report @MrChen !!

 

[MrChen]

When I'm driving the boat and get a reading like this, I'm really glad I'm running 2 GPS's and watching their data numbers,, shaking my head saying " Well they can't both be wrong". Any captain will tell you, Dive flags will lie to you but bubbles won't. I'll pull up next to our dive flag to make sure there's bubbles coming up next to it, cause divers can lose a flag in strong current. And that why we stay off our phones when driving. Eyes on the water looking for 2nd backup flags or fish floats !!

Thanks for the condition report @MrChen !!

We also launched markers every 15 minutes

 

[NothingClever]

Maybe my range estimation is getting rusty but this was the M/V Ana Cecilia at 50m or greater distance on Saturday.

 

[Johnoly]

We also launched markers every 15 minutes

LOL!! It's very effective and we've done that TOO !!. For just drift diving & harvesting we live & die on GPS bearing and distance readings at pre-timed intervals and shared out loud. The marker lets you adjust your expected exact end point, and it will usually put you within 300ft of a diver's bubbles.

 

[PBcatfish]

When I'm driving the boat and get a reading like this, I'm really glad I'm running 2 GPS's and watching their data numbers,, shaking my head saying " Well they can't both be wrong". Any captain will tell you, Dive flags will lie to you but bubbles won't. I'll pull up next to our dive flag to make sure there's bubbles coming up next to it, cause divers can lose a flag in strong current. And that why we stay off our phones when driving. Eyes on the water looking for 2nd backup flags or fish floats !!

Thanks for the condition report @MrChen !!

A couple of days ago I was sea trialing a boat. The B&G chartplotter showed me just on land, about 100 yards to the east of my actual position as I went up the ICW. It showed me nearly 1/4 mile south of my actual location when I exited the inlet. I was curious if the instrument was off or if I was getting a bad signal. During sunspot activity a few months ago, I got a single bad location on an otherwise good unit. That bad reading showed me 14 miles away from where I was & again, just on land, near water. The only other time I had issues like that with GPS was during Desert Storm when selective availability was known to be in use. That's back when sorties in the thousands were flying out of Aviano. In the last couple of decades, GPS has been very accurate for me.

That aside, it's good to hear of someone with common sense keeping watch over divers. I had an experience in this area when a dive watcher in my boat turned up the stereo, failed to see a safety sausage 100 yards from the boat, failed to answer repeated hails on the VHF, & then tried to chase off another dive boat as they dropped off his lost diver by his boat. The quality of dive shepherds does vary. I don't dive with that guy anymore.

 

[johndiver999]

First day of lobster season. Current was screaming - by end of day even in 85 ft it was barely doable, probably 4 mph, 25/30 ft vis on bottom with current stirring things up. Lotsa lobsters with eggs and tough finding ones to keep. Blew off 3 rd dive because of current and some weather.

 

[PBcatfish]

First day of lobster season. Current was screaming - by end of day even in 85 ft it was barely doable, probably 4 mph, 25/30 ft vis on bottom with current stirring things up. Lotsa lobsters with eggs and tough finding ones to keep. Blew off 3 rd dive because of current and some weather.

Weather got tough in a hurry

 

[Johnoly]

Current was screaming

We were out there today. It was a 'rock-climbing' day. Scooters were almost useless and couldn't fight to go backwards. If you were the dive master carrying the flag, you probably need Rotator Cuff Shoulder surgery now.

 

[Pipehorse]

Went to the bridge for diving on Wednesday. Swimming was prohibited so I headed over to Singer Island and did a dive on the mitigation reef. Thursday I checked Phil Foster Park Website and in red lettering it stated swimming was still prohibited. So I went to the Singer Island Mitigation reef again to go diving. On my way home noticed a green flag was up at Phil Foster Park and the swimming prohibition had been removed from the website.

Both Wednesday and Thursday water was blue on the mitigation reef, but with large particulate, visibility was still 50ft, with 83f sea temp. Current was especially strong to the north on both days. Lots of Tarpon loitering about, lots of fish on patch reefs and artificial reefs. Did REEF surveys on both days. Spent most of my time looking for macro subjects. Respectively Atlantic Guitarfish, Porkfish, Caribbean Warty Anemone, Unknown to Me Species of Gastropod, and Tesselated Blenny.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

@Pipehorse I'll have to check out the mitigation reef one of these days! Where do you park? How far is the walk in gear from your vehicle?