The continuing sagas of the Blue Heron Bridge

[billmackbarnes]

We braved the chilly 69 degree water for 132 mintues again Sunday (today).

Halcyon was having scooter demo days and Brownies was having third lung demos too, so we went exploring some new territory.

We were rewarded with seeing 2 shark suckers. Odd thing was, there was no shark! The shark suckers were hanging out by what was left of a large fish carcass. They were not eating it. Just swimming or more wiggling near it. I looked at them for awhile to see if they were camera shy, but they did not seem to mind. I say wiggling because they were swimming or kind of flopping sideways but they were not moving forward or backwards. I was wondering if they were kind of like some sharks and had to stay swimming. Then the two of them sat down on the sand side by side. Then they got up again and started swimming again. One sat in the sand why the other one swam over it then beside it. Over it then beside it. Sometimes they both did it. The way they were acting made me think it was some kind of ritual??

Who knows? Fish behavior studies are still in its infancy.

This was only my second time to see shark suckers at Blue Heron.

More batfish.

Even with the demo days, parking was not an issue and there were tables for everyone. The sun was shining when we got out, so it was not too cold!

I did run into a couple of old friends that I had not see in too long.
GOOD TO SEE YOU AGAIN!
Met one big guy just getting into tech diving trying out a drysuit and a scooter.

Bill

 

[Wayward Son]

how do you get narced at BHB?

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

It's a state of mind, man. A state of mind. :hippy:

 

[DebbyDiver]

Just a tip, get a Sun Shower and leave it on top of your car while you're diving. BONUS: you will make many friends when you offer a warm shower to other divers. Just sayin'!

 

[danvolker]

We had a great time at the GUE demo at the BHB yesterday. We got to meet some cool new people, to dive with them, and let them try out some of the ideas and gear that we have enjoyed using to get more out of our diving.
Here is a clip of Errol followed by 2 of the visitors to GUE day ( Nate and Chris). It was shot after the tide was already cranking out, as the scooter demo was strated after the tide changed, and it runs out to the channel for boats under the bridge and back..then has a manatee by the west shore ( scooter footage shot by Canon 5d mark II and manatee by Contour 1080p).
YouTube - Blue Heron Bridge on Scooters and a Manatee

p.s.
We heard that some photographer group was outraged that we were bringing scooters for the demo, and they felt we would be silting up the water and dive bombing everybody, destroying the photo-ops.....
What they were unaware of, is that GUE is all about teaching people NOT to silt the bottom, and that our scooter divers even on demos DO NOT SILT!!! In contrast, there are dozens of "normal divers" , a few of which you can see in the video, that will silt the bottom regularly, either by treading water, or by a heads up, feet down swimming posture and poor bouyancy skills... we had a special demo FOR photographers, that would show them how they could massively improve their abilities to not silt while taking pictures AND a much better way to handle how they can re-position themselves when needed --as when you have to go backward and to the side a bit for better composition----usually this involves them swimming a big circle an coming back to where they want to be.....this takes more time than they really have sometimes, and also can mean losing sight of the creature. Our way if massively better--the reverse kick and helicopter turn....but the photographers than boycotted will not know...
If anyone here knows any of these divers, I would urge you to have them email me dan@sfdj.com ) or pm me --- I will arrange a demo of this stuff for the photographers.

Our group of divers will NEVER be the silting problem at the park--in fact, we are the solution

 

[DMDavid]

YouTube - Blue Heron Bridge on Scooters and a Manatee

Fantastic video of the Manatees and the DPVs.
I wish I could have made it down for the Halcyon and Brownies Demo Day.

 

[aprxh]

Thanks for hosting the demo day at BHB and feeding us.

It was nice meeting and diving with everyone that was there.
Errol was very informative about GUE and he showed me 2 videos.
I asked if he could look at my BP/W and make sure I set it up correctly. When I purchased the kit, I did not know any GUE divers in real life and used scubaboard and links to set it up. The only changes he recommended were to move the d-rings up a little on the chest. My BP/W was not the brand they were using and he was happy to go over it with me.
I then dove with Errol and 2 other divers for a little tour under the bridge. After the tour they let us try some scooters. The scooters were very cool.

 

[danvolker]

Fantastic video of the Manatees and the DPVs.
I wish I could have made it down for the Halcyon and Brownies Demo Day.

Thanks for being kind on the video....It is a little tough to be "rock steady" and have perfect angles when swimming at scooter speeds. Next time I try this, I think I'll have them come by me at various places, rather than this swimming after them stuff

One thing I would like to show is the "Why" for using a scooter...something I do not believe is commonly understood.

Some of this comes from what we learned in cave diving. With a scooter, you can be very close to a silty bottom, WITHOUT causing any silting. In caves, this is huge. You silt the cave, it may be zero vis or terrible viz for hours after. At BHB, weekends the viz will often start out at crystal clear levels, but after 20 minutes of photographers crawling along the bottom, of dozens of divers treading water in 7 to 8 foot depths, and most of the rest frequently flutter kicking along the bottom( causing silting in their wake), the vis goes to sh&* every time.

With scooters, it is EASY to avoid silting as you travel around.

The other large bonus, is virtually no air use, even when covering large areas---swim to the far East end, lookaround, swim all the way back to the west end--alot of air will be used up, if compared to air use of scootering to the east side points of photo interest, then scootering to each spot of interest all the way back to the west end---heart rate can stay at 60 beats per minute or less( if you are fit), and an 80 cu ft tank could last over 3 hours for divers who would normally only get 1 and change.

Scooters are NOT about being irresponsible and dive bombing the photographers. I wish I knew where this sentiment came from---the "horse's mouth, so to speak ...I would love to discuss this further.

 

[jet126]

We braved the chilly 69 degree water for 132 mintues again Sunday (today).


We were rewarded with seeing 2 shark suckers. Odd thing was, there was no shark! The shark suckers were hanging out by what was left of a large fish carcass. They were not eating it. Just swimming or more wiggling near it. I looked at them for awhile to see if they were camera shy, but they did not seem to mind. I say wiggling because they were swimming or kind of flopping sideways but they were not moving forward or backwards. I was wondering if they were kind of like some sharks and had to stay swimming. Then the two of them sat down on the sand side by side. Then they got up again and started swimming again. One sat in the sand why the other one swam over it then beside it. Over it then beside it. Sometimes they both did it. The way they were acting made me think it was some kind of ritual??

Who knows? Fish behavior studies are still in its infancy.

Bill

Not sure what the remoras were doing side-by-side on the sand. But given the number of manatees and big stingrays around I'm not surprised you saw them, sharks or not. They like to attach themselves to all types of big fish and marine mammals. Even divers. I had one try to attach itself to my head once on a safety stop. After a split second of sheer panic I had to endure three minutes of gross out while it continued to circle me. :yuck:

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

Also, they probably are sharksuckers, not remoras.


hijack
I once has a shark sucker that wanted to attach itself to me. I hear they leave a good size hickey looking mark, but otherwise don't hurt. I was OK with it trying to attach to my leg, until it wanted to go for my inner thigh! :shock: Imagine trying to explain that one.. uh, yeah, really that was a sharksucker, really....
/end hijack