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Palm Beach Dive Thread
- Thread starter Divin'Papaw
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I don't know the full story. He got bent on Aug 31 and they didn't seek medical attention until they got to the dock. The boat, PBS, got cited for not having a credentialed mariner (amongst other violations) and was shutdown. He was in the ICU. They put in him a chamber. He passed away yesterday.
Written by his daughter today:
Written by his daughter on 9/9:
In other news, it's a week late, but I went out with Stuart Scuba last Friday. We had a very light north current with a west push. Visibility was top to bottom. We did the corridor wreck trek. I saw 4 goliath groupers on the bow of the Ana C, none on the Mizpah, none on PC1174, and none on the Amaryllis. Water temp was 87 degrees. Seas were 2-3 with a long interval. A couple of 3's hit when I was trying to get back on the boat. The water started to chop up as the day progressed.
Dive 2 we dropped on Spearmans Barge. I saw a couple schoolmaster snapper worth shooting, but they dipped around a corner before I could shoot. Further north, there was just nothing. I did see one lobster and caught it. We found a large cement sewer pipe with 3 lionfish on it, and we got 2 of them. My cousin was learning how to shoot lionfish and the first one got away. He figured it out and got the last 2.
Dive 2 we dropped on Spearmans Barge. I saw a couple schoolmaster snapper worth shooting, but they dipped around a corner before I could shoot. Further north, there was just nothing. I did see one lobster and caught it. We found a large cement sewer pipe with 3 lionfish on it, and we got 2 of them. My cousin was learning how to shoot lionfish and the first one got away. He figured it out and got the last 2.
What a tragedy - a dive fatality that was probably easily avoided.
johndiver999
Contributor
water is warm to the bottom - 60-70 ft vis, current varied today between moderate and almost zero.
Kyalami this afternoon out of Riviera Beach Marina and Pura Vida tomorrow morning.
Two impressive dives today.
First dive was on Spearman’s Barge and Mid-Reef. The schools of fish on the big, flat wreck were huge and densely packed. I can toss my DPV behind me like a champ and crush a gas switch coming off a deep technical dive but can’t identify fish on a recreational dive to save my life. Ifeel like am such a rookie!
Second dive was the Princess Anne wreck. I burned up a whole tank at 28m / 91ft watching an adult nurse shark closely accompanied by approximately 200-250 green, bait-sized fish in the shape of a torpedo, enough to conceal a large part of the shark, and about 75-100 Jacks (trevallies) who were swimming in an outer orbit. The interaction amongst the three was absolutely captivating. The nurse shark was patrolling low and slow while the green bait fish swam excitedly but closely around the nurse shark. Periodically and unpredictably the green fish would just explode away from the shark and then just as quickly resume their tight slithering around the nurse shark. The Jacks would also periodically and unpredictably start their own dive bombing. The nurse shark sank down into the exposed ribs of the barge and although all I could see was his tail, it was clear he was working on something as he kicked up a ton of silt. The green fish went absolutely berserk crawling all over the nurse shark to the point it looked like a school of piranhas attacking their prey. What was really strange was the shark finally turned and although I could then clearly see its face, it would suddenly jerk violently but without any clear evidence of feeding. It made me think the shark was suffering from some neurological condition. Other witnesses couldn’t figure out what was going on either.
Anyways, two grey GGs (one adult, one juvenile) with white flecks showed up and kept us company for a bit.
Further like a rookie, my GoPro sat fully charged in the car.
First dive was on Spearman’s Barge and Mid-Reef. The schools of fish on the big, flat wreck were huge and densely packed. I can toss my DPV behind me like a champ and crush a gas switch coming off a deep technical dive but can’t identify fish on a recreational dive to save my life. I
Second dive was the Princess Anne wreck. I burned up a whole tank at 28m / 91ft watching an adult nurse shark closely accompanied by approximately 200-250 green, bait-sized fish in the shape of a torpedo, enough to conceal a large part of the shark, and about 75-100 Jacks (trevallies) who were swimming in an outer orbit. The interaction amongst the three was absolutely captivating. The nurse shark was patrolling low and slow while the green bait fish swam excitedly but closely around the nurse shark. Periodically and unpredictably the green fish would just explode away from the shark and then just as quickly resume their tight slithering around the nurse shark. The Jacks would also periodically and unpredictably start their own dive bombing. The nurse shark sank down into the exposed ribs of the barge and although all I could see was his tail, it was clear he was working on something as he kicked up a ton of silt. The green fish went absolutely berserk crawling all over the nurse shark to the point it looked like a school of piranhas attacking their prey. What was really strange was the shark finally turned and although I could then clearly see its face, it would suddenly jerk violently but without any clear evidence of feeding. It made me think the shark was suffering from some neurological condition. Other witnesses couldn’t figure out what was going on either.
Anyways, two grey GGs (one adult, one juvenile) with white flecks showed up and kept us company for a bit.
Further like a rookie, my GoPro sat fully charged in the car.
I've seen similar behavior with a big ball of bait fish encircling a Goliath Grouper so that the big guy could not be seen. When a predator would approach the bait, the ball would break open & the approaching predator would become prey for the big guy that had been cloaked in the bait ball, as the GG tried to suck him in. It was an interesting symbiotic relationship between the larger predator & the small bait fish working together to thwart the mid sized predator. It was more interesting to watch than any movie I have seen.
I would have burned up a whole tank on the PA too, if I ran into what you saw. That must have been quite a show. In 100 dives, I consider myself lucky to run across something like that once. Sounds like a GREAT dive. Thanks for posting.
Went out with Pura Vida Divers today. Captain Dean (owner), Dave, Mike and Quinne were the crew.
Juno Ledge never disappoints. Four goliath groupers today, one was parked perfectly in a large fissure in the ledge which provided some excitement for everyone. Super interesting folds, cracks and overhangs to the reef terrain. Beautiful soft corals and hundreds and hundreds of healthy schooling fish. Love this dive!
The Corridor was next. Captain Dean gauged the current well and gave us a perfect drop (like an elevator ride!) just in front of the bow of the Ana Cecilia. Visibility was excellent today. I was diving one of my twinsets so I chose to stay relatively high (18m / 60ft) on the lee side of the pilot house and the rest of the wrecks to preserve gas. We got through all the wrecks and I had plenty of gas left but only just enough time remaining to dive beyond the Amaryllis. I mashed the gas by kicking with the current and confirmed my navigational cues to China Barge and onward to Brazilian Docks. As I started winding myself up to my SS I was treated to a nurse shark patrolling the seafloor. All in all, this second dive was a great rehearsal for the extended range drift dive that we’ve put on the books in early October with Pura Vida. I’ve been getting a lot of positive feedback from folks about the extended trek so I’m looking forward to it.
Juno Ledge never disappoints. Four goliath groupers today, one was parked perfectly in a large fissure in the ledge which provided some excitement for everyone. Super interesting folds, cracks and overhangs to the reef terrain. Beautiful soft corals and hundreds and hundreds of healthy schooling fish. Love this dive!
The Corridor was next. Captain Dean gauged the current well and gave us a perfect drop (like an elevator ride!) just in front of the bow of the Ana Cecilia. Visibility was excellent today. I was diving one of my twinsets so I chose to stay relatively high (18m / 60ft) on the lee side of the pilot house and the rest of the wrecks to preserve gas. We got through all the wrecks and I had plenty of gas left but only just enough time remaining to dive beyond the Amaryllis. I mashed the gas by kicking with the current and confirmed my navigational cues to China Barge and onward to Brazilian Docks. As I started winding myself up to my SS I was treated to a nurse shark patrolling the seafloor. All in all, this second dive was a great rehearsal for the extended range drift dive that we’ve put on the books in early October with Pura Vida. I’ve been getting a lot of positive feedback from folks about the extended trek so I’m looking forward to it.
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