Johnoly
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Thanks for the conditions, We are going to try to find them Thursday.
Palm Beach Dive Thread
- Thread starter Divin'Papaw
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I heard yesterday was horrible too. Very few lobsters or lionfish to be found, slightly south current, low vis.
johndiver999
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Yesterday (Monday) the Jupiter wreck treck was cold, green and ripping. Went to Area 51 and Tunnels.
Viz in Area 51 was good (60’?) but not a bug to be found and I covered some ground.
By the time we dropped on Tunnels, the viz had deteriorated. Current ripping north and west and again, no bugs, lions or much wildlife other than jellys.
Viz in Area 51 was good (60’?) but not a bug to be found and I covered some ground.
By the time we dropped on Tunnels, the viz had deteriorated. Current ripping north and west and again, no bugs, lions or much wildlife other than jellys.
Yeah, to borrow an aeronautical term, I spend a lot of time yawing on Jupiter and Palm Beach dives.
I went out with Pura Vida on Saturday to see some Goliath Groupers. Windy had 3.5 ft seas listed for the day. The morning was probably more 2-3ft seas and by noon, it laid down.
Dive 1
The plan was to dive the Corridor Wreck Trek, starting at the Ana Cecilia. The dive guide did a recon drop to check vis and currents. It wasn't good news. We had a light SW current and 10-15 ft of vis. The captain radioed the boat in Breakers and they reported 5ft of vis and were heading back to the marina. We opted to give it a go and went diving. As my buddy Joy and I descended, it seemed like we went through a green, brown, and blue hazy colors of water. If not for my buddy, I would not of had any visual reference to know where anything was. I had to look at my computer just to confirm I was actually descending. We landed about 15-20ft away from the bow of the boat. All I could see was a darkness and swam towards it. Not a bad drop. Apparently, there were several less experienced divers on the boat and many of them surfaced for various reasons (anxiety, nervousness, etc). The plan was the dive guide would meet everyone at the 30 min mark at the back of the boat and we'd make the jump to the Mizpah. Joy and I were the last ones to leave the bow as far we could tell. We didn't see any Goliath Grouper. We poked around and did a couple of easy swim throughs. We got to the rear of the boat around the 23 min mark. We don't recall seeing the dive guide anywhere and I assumed he was ahead of us. We waited a couple of minutes and there was no sign of the dive guide, though 2 divers joined up with us. The only sign of life appeared, a medium sized southern ray swam right past us in the sand. I signaled to Joy to make the trek to the Mizpah, and the other 2 divers followed. About halfway, the other 2 divers got nervous and surfaced. We ran into the Mizpah and swam around for 15-20 minutes. There weren't any Goliath Grouper there either and we surfaced. We were the last ones to board the boat. The dive guide had decided not to navigate to the Mizpah and whomever was with him, they stayed on the Ana C.
Dive 2
The captain was ready to cancel and head back into shore after the first dive. I have no idea if that means you get a credit or you just lose out. His impression was most of the boat wasn't comfortable with another dive, but then there was a lot of grumbling, including from myself. I suggested a ledge dive and he declined the idea. He asked who wanted to do a second dive and everyone except 4 people raised their hands. His new plan was to drop on the Mizpah and everyone stay there. I figured it was better than no dive and I already knew there weren't any Goliath Grouper there. I told the dive guide that Joy and I were going to swim the sandy perimeter. Not that it mattered, we never saw the dive guide on the site. We did see a few divers here and there, but no group. Visibility was 15 ft at best. We swam around in circles and didn't find anything worth noting. Actually, Joy works at one of the oceanography centers and she was interested in seeing various hogfish, which she successfully did. No, not the larger ones I love to eat, but the smaller tropical versions. Joy has a Cressi dive computer, and she was getting NDL warnings. Meanwhile, my Shearwater is telling me I have 25 minutes. For the life of me, I couldn't get my reel and DSMB out of my pocket. I finally got it worked out and we ascended.
Dive 1
The plan was to dive the Corridor Wreck Trek, starting at the Ana Cecilia. The dive guide did a recon drop to check vis and currents. It wasn't good news. We had a light SW current and 10-15 ft of vis. The captain radioed the boat in Breakers and they reported 5ft of vis and were heading back to the marina. We opted to give it a go and went diving. As my buddy Joy and I descended, it seemed like we went through a green, brown, and blue hazy colors of water. If not for my buddy, I would not of had any visual reference to know where anything was. I had to look at my computer just to confirm I was actually descending. We landed about 15-20ft away from the bow of the boat. All I could see was a darkness and swam towards it. Not a bad drop. Apparently, there were several less experienced divers on the boat and many of them surfaced for various reasons (anxiety, nervousness, etc). The plan was the dive guide would meet everyone at the 30 min mark at the back of the boat and we'd make the jump to the Mizpah. Joy and I were the last ones to leave the bow as far we could tell. We didn't see any Goliath Grouper. We poked around and did a couple of easy swim throughs. We got to the rear of the boat around the 23 min mark. We don't recall seeing the dive guide anywhere and I assumed he was ahead of us. We waited a couple of minutes and there was no sign of the dive guide, though 2 divers joined up with us. The only sign of life appeared, a medium sized southern ray swam right past us in the sand. I signaled to Joy to make the trek to the Mizpah, and the other 2 divers followed. About halfway, the other 2 divers got nervous and surfaced. We ran into the Mizpah and swam around for 15-20 minutes. There weren't any Goliath Grouper there either and we surfaced. We were the last ones to board the boat. The dive guide had decided not to navigate to the Mizpah and whomever was with him, they stayed on the Ana C.
Dive 2
The captain was ready to cancel and head back into shore after the first dive. I have no idea if that means you get a credit or you just lose out. His impression was most of the boat wasn't comfortable with another dive, but then there was a lot of grumbling, including from myself. I suggested a ledge dive and he declined the idea. He asked who wanted to do a second dive and everyone except 4 people raised their hands. His new plan was to drop on the Mizpah and everyone stay there. I figured it was better than no dive and I already knew there weren't any Goliath Grouper there. I told the dive guide that Joy and I were going to swim the sandy perimeter. Not that it mattered, we never saw the dive guide on the site. We did see a few divers here and there, but no group. Visibility was 15 ft at best. We swam around in circles and didn't find anything worth noting. Actually, Joy works at one of the oceanography centers and she was interested in seeing various hogfish, which she successfully did. No, not the larger ones I love to eat, but the smaller tropical versions. Joy has a Cressi dive computer, and she was getting NDL warnings. Meanwhile, my Shearwater is telling me I have 25 minutes. For the life of me, I couldn't get my reel and DSMB out of my pocket. I finally got it worked out and we ascended.
DiveFlag = Target
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OP
Sounds like the biggest issue was the inexperienced, anxious divers on the boat and not the viz. I've done dives with PV before when 10' viz was the best we could find. We all gladly did 2 dives because it's better than not diving at all. I used to dive in pea soup rock quarries in Indiana in the winter in 45 degree water, so ANY dive in South Florida is worth doing to me!!
DiveFlag = Target
Registered
Captain Dean and on the deck were David and Miguel(?).
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