Friday -- my day off after being on call last weekend. I awoke to heavy downpours in Lakeland and drove the 2 1/2 hours to West Palm in a rainstorm. Thankfully, the skies "cleared" (at least stopped raining) as I exited I-95 onto Blue Heron Blvd. at 8am. Deep Obsession at Jim Abernethy's Scuba Adventures was scheduled to leave the dock at 10am and high tide at Phil Foster Park was a little after 9am so it was off to the bridge for a little "muck diving".
You can now dive the park as long as you leave from the boat ramp in the northeast part of the park and dive under the small (east) span of the bridge. The last couple of times I've been there since the hurricanes the visibility has been fair to poor, but today it was good. There are still several sailboats sunk under the bridge so I guess it's now a "wreck dive". On the wrecks are lots of fish (jacks, sheepshead, snook, and barracuda). Around the pilings are the usual blennies, eels, shrimp, crabs, and angel fish, and other tropicals. Either the batfish and seahorses have left since the hurricanes or my eyes are getting worse because I couldn't find any this trip. Oh well, more reasons to go back! As Murphy's Law would predict, as I was shooting macro with a 100mm lens a graceful eagle ray came by and hung around for several minutes within 10 feet of me.
After about 45 minutes I got out and headed over to Abernethy's. We had a relatively small group though I guess that should be expected for a Friday in February! Along with myself and the crew (Dave, Jeff, and Sandy), were divemaster candidate Phil, the "Shell Man" Tom, a visitor from Montreal, Jason the strength and conditioning coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and a couple of Sandy's former students (sorry, I didn't get your names). The air temps were in the mid 70s with dead flat seas for the ride out.
First stop of the day was Jolly Jacks. This is always one of my favorite sites because of the sheer numbers of fish that are always there. Huge schools of fish abound along with the usual tropicals, eels, and turtles. Bottom temps were 71 degrees with about 50 foot viz. Sandy (who never seems to run out of air) and I (on a rebreather) had plenty of air as we ran out of reef and everyone else had headed back up to the boat so we swam northeast over to the next reef line. Remember this the next time you dive there. It can be a tough swim depending on the current, but the payoff is lots of marine life.
After about a 45 minute surface interval, we dropped into Mid Reef, another very nice dive. Here we saw more eels, turtles, and lobsters along with two very large nurse sharks. Again, I was shooting macro so I didn't get any shark photos! I did get a nice "eye" shot of a turtle, though! Check out the photos in the "Gallery" at my website, www.debersole.com. Sandy and I again had the most remaining air (gotta love those rebreathers!) and again headed northeast after running out of reef. Again we were rewarded with nice ledges with lots of marine life. I almost lost Sandy as I was trying to frame a Petersen shrimp in an anemone as she was off in search of lobster. Thank goodness for good visibility. After about 50 minutes we were VERY close to deco and headed up. After a short ride back to the dock, it was off to the turnpike for the journey home. Thanks to Dave, Jeff, and Sandy at Jim Abernethy's Scuba Adventures for another great day of diving!
You can now dive the park as long as you leave from the boat ramp in the northeast part of the park and dive under the small (east) span of the bridge. The last couple of times I've been there since the hurricanes the visibility has been fair to poor, but today it was good. There are still several sailboats sunk under the bridge so I guess it's now a "wreck dive". On the wrecks are lots of fish (jacks, sheepshead, snook, and barracuda). Around the pilings are the usual blennies, eels, shrimp, crabs, and angel fish, and other tropicals. Either the batfish and seahorses have left since the hurricanes or my eyes are getting worse because I couldn't find any this trip. Oh well, more reasons to go back! As Murphy's Law would predict, as I was shooting macro with a 100mm lens a graceful eagle ray came by and hung around for several minutes within 10 feet of me.
After about 45 minutes I got out and headed over to Abernethy's. We had a relatively small group though I guess that should be expected for a Friday in February! Along with myself and the crew (Dave, Jeff, and Sandy), were divemaster candidate Phil, the "Shell Man" Tom, a visitor from Montreal, Jason the strength and conditioning coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and a couple of Sandy's former students (sorry, I didn't get your names). The air temps were in the mid 70s with dead flat seas for the ride out.
First stop of the day was Jolly Jacks. This is always one of my favorite sites because of the sheer numbers of fish that are always there. Huge schools of fish abound along with the usual tropicals, eels, and turtles. Bottom temps were 71 degrees with about 50 foot viz. Sandy (who never seems to run out of air) and I (on a rebreather) had plenty of air as we ran out of reef and everyone else had headed back up to the boat so we swam northeast over to the next reef line. Remember this the next time you dive there. It can be a tough swim depending on the current, but the payoff is lots of marine life.
After about a 45 minute surface interval, we dropped into Mid Reef, another very nice dive. Here we saw more eels, turtles, and lobsters along with two very large nurse sharks. Again, I was shooting macro so I didn't get any shark photos! I did get a nice "eye" shot of a turtle, though! Check out the photos in the "Gallery" at my website, www.debersole.com. Sandy and I again had the most remaining air (gotta love those rebreathers!) and again headed northeast after running out of reef. Again we were rewarded with nice ledges with lots of marine life. I almost lost Sandy as I was trying to frame a Petersen shrimp in an anemone as she was off in search of lobster. Thank goodness for good visibility. After about 50 minutes we were VERY close to deco and headed up. After a short ride back to the dock, it was off to the turnpike for the journey home. Thanks to Dave, Jeff, and Sandy at Jim Abernethy's Scuba Adventures for another great day of diving!
