The continuing sagas of the Blue Heron Bridge

[sportxlh]

The pathetic skill level of divers at the west side of BHB today was almost shocking. We went from reasonably good vis, to horrible vis in about 15 minutes... worst offenders were two different groups of 5 or 5 divers, crawling on the bottom, kneeling on the bottom, and kicking the hell out of the bottom............

I would guess hundreds of new divers are churned out every month here in FL. Two days of instruction and 4 dives later they are cut loose and have their cards. Of course they are going to go to the easiest shore dive in the state. Almost every thread you see that starts with "I just got certified, where should I dive?" will be followed by.....BHB!!!

Sometimes new divers cause the sand storms and there were plenty today (both inexperienced divers and dust ups). But I also saw some divers with expensive looking camera housings doing the exact same thing: given the cost of the housing and cameras, I assume that those photographer were very experienced divers. One guy with a camera was near vertical next to the western piling (the wall), kicking up clouds and clouds of sand and sediment as he photographed something on the wall. It was near zero viz near him. We should all remember to be kind to the environment and our fellow divers.

 

[jet126]

Wow. For once I'm actually grateful I work most Saturday nights and "have to" dive on quiet weekdays. Something to be said for front row parking and 2-3 flags in the water ...

Video Dude and I will be up there Monday afternoon. I'm feeling very seahorse-octopi-something else wonderful.

 

[Angry Turtle]

Sometimes new divers cause the sand storms and there were plenty today (both inexperienced divers and dust ups). But I also saw some divers with expensive looking camera housings doing the exact same thing: given the cost of the housing and cameras, I assume that those photographer were very experienced divers. One guy with a camera was near vertical next to the western piling (the wall), kicking up clouds and clouds of sand and sediment as he photographed something on the wall. It was near zero viz near him. We should all remember to be kind to the environment and our fellow divers.

Yeah, last time I was at the bridge there was this group of three "photographers" armed with their cameras, mirrors and mono-pods, kicking up a storm, turning over every other piece of shell or bottom debris looking for "subjects".

I am usually the spotter for my wife who is the photographer. I was just hanging out while she worked on something....viz went to hell in 5 seconds. I wanted to strangle them. Very uncool of them.

 

[Airleron]

Hey Jenny! It was great talking with you today! We had a nice day diving, 75 minutes total. Due to the volume of divers, we headed out away from the groups. It was nice, but the viz was cloudy...20 ft maybe. 75 degrees.

Keep in mind: Just because you own $10,000 worth of strobes, housings and lights, doesn't automatically give you decent diving/bouyancy skills, and your pictures will reflect this.

 

[Rich Keller]

I want to thank the people who gave me good information from this thread about diving this site. I made my first jump there this past Monday morning and had a good dive. The beach was closed due to bacteria but I did not run into a problem with that. I do carry a small bottle of 190 proof alcohol for my ears after a dive like this, it kills most bacteria and leaves the least amount of residue in your ear after. I do not know if they sell 190 proof alcohol in Florida but if they do you should try it after a dive like this, it works better and cleaner then rubbing alcohol or hydrogen peroxide. There were about 20-30 divers there and even though some were new I did not run into a silting problem. Given the ease of diving this site there are always going to be new divers there so the silting problem will never go away.

 

[danvolker]

I want to thank the people who gave me good information from this thread about diving this site. I made my first jump there this past Monday morning and had a good dive. The beach was closed due to bacteria but I did not run into a problem with that. I do carry a small bottle of 190 proof alcohol for my ears after a dive like this, it kills most bacteria and leaves the least amount of residue in your ear after. I do not know if they sell 190 proof alcohol in Florida but if they do you should try it after a dive like this, it works better and cleaner then rubbing alcohol or hydrogen peroxide. There were about 20-30 divers there and even though some were new I did not run into a silting problem. Given the ease of diving this site there are always going to be new divers there so the silting problem will never go away.

Most of the people from Tennessee that drive up with 190 proof , made it themselves...but we usually don't see them pouring it in their ears...

 

[Rich Keller]

Most of the people from Tennessee that drive up with 190 proof , made it themselves...but we usually don't see them pouring it in their ears...

I have found better uses for it too! Just thought as this is a problem at this site it might help. Not too many other remedies for external use can also be taken internally if they fail the first time around. Taking it internally will not help but you will care less after several applications!

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

Found this guy yesterday. REEF ID's closest ID was a Bank Sea Bass, but he was in 12' water, not 60 and his size is 3" vs. 6-7 in the book. And he wasn't shy at all. I took about a dozen pics of him.

And of all the octopi I found, this was the best shot/most willing subject. they were very shy.

 

[Airleron]

Found this guy yesterday. REEF ID's closest ID was a Bank Sea Bass, but he was in 12' water, not 60 and his size is 3" vs. 6-7 in the book. And he wasn't shy at all. I took about a dozen pics of him.

And of all the octopi I found, this was the best shot/most willing subject. they were very shy.

Great shots Jenny!!! That's first guy looks like a saddled blenny, I could be sooooo wrong though. I looked in Reef Fish Identification book, by Paul Humann.

Lisa

 

[sportxlh]

And of all the octopi I found, this was the best shot/most willing subject. they were very shy.

ScubaJenny: Did you see this one south of the west span, in the crushed shell area, next to an old grass and coral covered truck tire?? That's where I saw the one I photo'ed since he was also cooperative: others were skiddish like you indicated