Palm Beach Dive Thread

[scubadada]

In general, I enjoy the reef dives more than the wreck dives from Palm Beach. Of course, I had a phenomenal dive on the Ana Cecilia on my last visit.

Trip Report Post in thread 'Florida 25 #3'

Jul 11, 2025

I really like the JDC 3-tanker ... BUT ... this is a perennial issue. Getting enough divers booked for the trip to run...

Ha, I did a very interesting 3 tanker with JDC today. It was scheduled to go with 5, there was 1 no show, it went with 4.

Republic VII with Capt. Phil, Brandon (2 dives) and Amy (1 dive). It was a nice, warm, sunny day with seas around 2 feet. We got back in the afternoon just before a big thunderstorm. The drive home was hair raising.

The first dive was on the Ana Cecilia and the Corridor. We got down on the Ana Cecilia and it was cold. I got a low of 67...

• scubadada

• 

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Camouflaged octopus on the Ana C. These are AMAZING animals. If we’d not seen it move, we would have never known that this was an octopus. How many times do we go right by them and have no clue that they’re there. Probably on just about every dive!

 

[Divin'Papaw]

As I mentioned above, on my ascent at the end of the Corridor Wreck Trek Sunday, I was passed by two juvenile African Pompano. As I was ascending and managing the DSMB line and my spool, I was slow to get my camera up. This is a lousy still from the video I shot as they are too far away and there is alot of particulate in the water column. But still, they are clearly African Pompano. Always a cool sight!!!

 

[tekkydiver]

I (finally) signed up for a Grouper dive on Sept 7 with Kyalami out of Riviera Beach. 8 am. Still some spots open. Anyone want to jump on?

how deep are the GG dives out of Jupiter....

 

[scubadada]

how deep are the GG dives out of Jupiter....

Wreck Trek is about 90 feet, MG-111 is about 60-65 feet

 

[tekkydiver]

Wreck Trek is about 90 feet, MG-111 is about 60-65 feet

Was just wondering about bottom times

 

[scubadada]

Was just wondering about bottom times

JDC has a bottom time of 45 min, run time low 50s min.

 

[Johnoly]

how deep are the GG dives out of Jupiter....

In just Jupiter the GG's largest groups traditional gathering spots & sand depths are:

Hole in the Wall - 130ft
Jupiter Wrek-Trek – 90ft
Beginning of Tunnels reef – 80ft
MG111 – 70ft

They will usually hover 15ft above the sand. In Jupiter, the big groups of GG's move every day or 2 to a different spot. Or a large group of 50 will split in half. Also depending on currents & viz, they may only move 750-1000 ft infront or behind the above listed 4 sites and you need to search for them. That's why local captain knowledge in Jupiter is so critical. A great captain will not only be on the phone with other local captains to get reports, but also using his bottom finder to clearly see the “herd” before/after/on top of the dive site cause they show up on the screen. If I dive a site, I'll jump & instantly kick into the current and get to the sand. Then just be silent and listen for booms or look for bait balls with feeding jacks and which way they are going from the site. You may have to do some underwater rock/sand crawling to see the big group that everyone else missed. I've seen 200 all together at the Hole and then I've been burned & seen only 3 at the popular wrek trek cause they moved. Throw in a hurricane storm and they'll move again. Local knowledge and a great captain is key to finding the GG's. But when you see 50-100 GG's stacked on top of each other, it's SO WORTH IT !!!

 

[atestani]

Camouflaged octopus on the Ana C. These are AMAZING animals. If we’d not seen it move, we would have never known that this was an octopus. How many times do we go right by them and have no clue that they’re there. Probably on just about every dive!

View attachment 914302

Thanks for this... where are you seeing these and what is the full species name of them?

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Thanks for this... where are you seeing these and what is the full species name of them?

This one was on the Ana Cecilia, the first wreck in the Corridor Wreck Trek off of Singer Island. This one was either a Caribbean Reef Octopus or Common Octopus. I’m not certain which.