Planning a Mid-June trip to FL with the main focus on the Blue Heron Bridge which my buddy and I have never dove. The week we are looking at has high tide in the AM, so we plan to rent tanks and dive the bridge 2-3 mornings. It seems as if we would have enough time after those dives to do an afternoon boat dive in the area, as well. I do not know this area very well and Jupiter does sound appealing for the afternoon tanks. I think I dove WPB area once and clearly it was not memorable, but perhaps it was just a day with less desirable conditions and therefore not so great.
Any thoughts on putting a plan like this together? Likely we would be diving 3 days total.
Very doable plan if you're diving during the
weekend. Several operators in both Jupiter and WPB do afternoon trips on weekends. Typically the afternoon trips leave at either 1:00 or 1:30 which, depending on high tide, should give you plenty of time for a morning dive at BHB. I've done morning dives at the bridge and afternoon dives on the boats many times.
The only operator (that I know of) running
weekday afternoon trips in the area is Jupiter Dive Center
Jupiter is excellent diving. June is right smack in the middle of turtle nesting season so you should see several logger heads and greens out on the reefs. Additionally, there are resident goliath grouper, lemon sharks, reefies, and nurse sharks patrolling in June as well.
Don't write off WPB. The diving off WPB is EXCELLENT! WBP has shallow reefs, deep reefs, and several wreck treks all within a few miles of the inlet. The WPB boat operators are located close to the bridge, so it may be logistically easier to dive out of WPB than Jupiter if you're diving the bridge in the morning.
June is good time of year to dive in this area as the sea conditions are generally more favorable than in the spring. Water temps should be in the low 80s and you can expect visibility from 40' on a bad day to 100+ on a good day.
A couple boat operators in both Jupiter and WPB to consider (again, the only one offering weekday afternoon trips is Jupiter Dive Center):
Jupiter: Jupiter Dive Center, ScubaWorks, Jupiter Scuba Diving (Kyalami)
WPB: Pura Vida Divers, Narcosis, Walker's
Also, of note - if you've never done the BHB before, a dive guide will be worth their weight in gold. They will be able to show you things you'd never be able to find on your own. Pura Vida Divers has daily guides for hire at the bridge and they are a quarter mile from the park. Force-E also has dive guides for hire and they're also right down the road from the park. Both offer tank, flag, and weight rentals.
