Palm Beach FL Dive Report - Sat 7/25/2020

[Divin'Papaw]

I went out yesterday morning with Pura Vida based out of the Lake Park marina. Always a great little marina to dive out of! We went south to dive Tear Drop and then Dive-O-Rama. Tear Drop is down by Mar-a-Lago and Dive-O-Rama is off of Palm Beach proper where Worth Ave meets the A1A. It was a beautiful day topside with sunshine, upper 80s, widely scattered showers, and unseasonably comfortable from a humidity perspective. I was surprised at how comfortable it felt out honestly. Surface conditions were pretty choppy with a decent swell (probably 2-3'), 1-3' waves and some surge noticeable down on the reef. The viz was not stellar but it varied widely. At times it was maybe 15-20' but in other locations it was 30' and maybe more. The current was north but very mild and resulted in two very relaxing, enjoyable dives. Water temps were 83-84 down on the reef and a bit cooler on the surface most likely due to summer rains.

I did not see any of the typical larger life (sharks, Goliath Grouper) and surprisingly did not see any turtles. But I spent my time engrossed in the reef life instead. Always a joy!

Below are a few short clips using a GoPro Hero8, no filters with color correction in Dive+. Nice and simple.

Enjoy!!

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Really pretty queen angelfish (or handsome maybe if it's a male) followed by a cute porcupine puffer.


Scrawled Filefish feeding. You can see how their shape is an advantage feeding in the nooks and ledges of the reef.


Stoplight Parrot, Orange-spotted Filefish, then two Green Moray Eels together. I think they may be a mating pair perhaps. Not sure. You typically don't see two together like this. Any thoughts?

 

[Divin'Papaw]

I've never seen so many Sergeant Majors together like this and their colors were so vibrant. It was very cool. Maybe this is normal but I don't recall seeing so many swimming about together in a fairly small space. Any thoughts on this behavior? It was almost a swarm LOL.


Two hermit crabs. Kinda creepy my wife said. LOL

 

[tekkydiver]

Have to love the colorful names the dive ops have come up with for the reef

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Have to love the colorful names the dive ops have come up with for the reef

Yup. They’ve all got their own unique names for them. That’s why I try and describe where they are located when I post reports. I don’t assume the reef name means anything to those who use other charters or their own boats.

 

[deeper thoughts]

Thnx for sharing

 

[scubadada]

You make me wish I was back down, thanks for posting

 

[Catito]

I've never seen so many Sergeant Majors together like this and their colors were so vibrant. It was very cool. Maybe this is normal but I don't recall seeing so many swimming about together in a fairly small space. Any thoughts on this behavior? It was almost a swarm LOL.


Two hermit crabs. Kinda creepy my wife said. LOL

Great videos. Super nice. The water looks clearer than I remember (I was on that same boat). I really like the Pura Vida crew and Zak is a great Captain. Yup, surprising, the bigger loggerheads are gone.

 

[Catito]

I went out yesterday morning with Pura Vida based out of the Lake Park marina. Always a great little marina to dive out of! We went south to dive Tear Drop and then Dive-O-Rama. Tear Drop is down by Mar-a-Lago and Dive-O-Rama is off of Palm Beach proper where Worth Ave meets the A1A. It was a beautiful day topside with sunshine, upper 80s, widely scattered showers, and unseasonably comfortable from a humidity perspective. I was surprised at how comfortable it felt out honestly. Surface conditions were pretty choppy with a decent swell (probably 2-3'), 1-3' waves and some surge noticeable down on the reef. The viz was not stellar but it varied widely. At times it was maybe 15-20' but in other locations it was 30' and maybe more. The current was north but very mild and resulted in two very relaxing, enjoyable dives. Water temps were 83-84 down on the reef and a bit cooler on the surface most likely due to summer rains.

I did not see any of the typical larger life (sharks, Goliath Grouper) and surprisingly did not see any turtles. But I spent my time engrossed in the reef life instead. Always a joy!

Below are a few short clips using a GoPro Hero8, no filters with color correction in Dive+. Nice and simple.

Enjoy!!

By the way, several of us saw five carribean reef squid on the Dive-o-Rama dive with Patrick. I was hoping you filmed them as I only have a bad photo.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

By the way, several of us saw five carribean reef squid on the Dive-o-Rama dive with Patrick. I was hoping you filmed them as I only have a bad photo.

You were on the same boat?! Sorry we didn’t get a chance to meet! It’s tough in these COVID days unfortunately with face masks & no handshakes. Which diver were you?

No I unfortunately didn’t see the squid. I had already separated from the larger group at that point. I was bummed I missed them. Reef squid are awesome!