Where's the Sea Emperor

[megnin]

With proper use of good visual co-ordinates it's possible to repeatedly drop an anchor inside a bathtub over a mile from the beach! ...
FT

Thank you FredT! Got those marks for the Sea Emperor? ;-)

 

[GrierHPharmD]

With proper use of good visual co-ordinates it's possible to repeatedly drop an anchor inside a bathtub over a mile from the beach! GPS isn't anywhere near that precise.

When I was diving off Boca in the 70s there was one favorite site off Highland Beach with a storm damaged fish trap about 40' west of the inshore ledge of the third reef. Dropping anchor at that location we would invariably be between the trap and the wall.

Not all sites have two or more good marks. With one mark and a sounder I consistantly dropped anchor in a fissure in the top of third reef about 10' long and 5' wide. That fissure regularly easily yielded up limits of lobster. The holes in the undercut just look deep.

The triangulaiton method was good enough for land surveying for centuries. Once you find a good spot within easy sight of land it's VERY easy to return to it with visuals alone if you know how to pick good visual marks. It's even easier if you have a good camera. It even works in inland lakes to return to places picked out from an old topo map from before the lake was flooded. Simply line that hill up with that water tower for one mark and put the church steeple behind the west window edge of the barn on that other hill. The skill involved is being able to see. No sounder or gps is requred for most locations off the Fla east coast. Every time a new condo, water tower, cell tower, or antenna tower went up on the beach to about 5 miles inland a new range of visual marks were created.

FT

Fred, just for the record, those are great books. I've had them since I moved down here in January and they've already paid for themselves.

Keep up the great work,
Grier

 

[FredT]

Fred, just for the record, those are great books. I've had them since I moved down here in January and they've already paid for themselves.

Keep up the great work,
Grier

Ray also has written an excellent memoir, Sea Stories from a Diving Dinosaur. It's also worth the price and the time to read it. If you can't find it at the local dive shop contact him at the number in the locations book, or contact me and I'll arrange to get you a copy.

FT

 

[GrierHPharmD]

Found it at Force-E in Boca and read in a couple of sittings. Great little book full of good information and entertaining stories.

 

[megnin]

Ray also has written an excellent memoir, Sea Stories from a Diving Dinosaur. It's also worth the price and the time to read it. If you can't find it at the local dive shop contact him at the number in the locations book, or contact me and I'll arrange to get you a copy.

FT

Cool, thanks.

 

[Former FLL Now MSP Diver]

BUY THE BOOK!

Fred, you're absolutely right.

I do own the Beach Diving book, and should have suggested he BUY the other book as well.

Mea culpa.

Marc

 

[lhpdiver]

My wife and I plan to take the DiveYak out tomorrow and dive on the Sea Emperor off Hillsborough Beach.

... OK - so today is tomorrow and I have to ask, did you do this today ? People give me a hard time because my wife and I take the Whaler out by ourselves and dive the wrecks/reefs off Broward. How do you do it with a kayak ? Do you use a wreck reel to tie off in 70-80 feet of water ? It must be a bear if there is a current ? Where did you park / launch ?

When I first saw your post I thought maybe the "Ancient Mariner" might be an easier feat, and it is off Hillsboro Beach. You could park in Deerfield (by the Cove Beach Club - bring lots of quarters) and the wreck is just a little south of the Embassey Suites, inside the third reef.

You've been doing this kayak thing a long time ? and are bored with things closer to shore ?

 

[megnin]

... OK - so today is tomorrow and I have to ask, did you do this today ? People give me a hard time because my wife and I take the Whaler out by ourselves and dive the wrecks/reefs off Broward. How do you do it with a kayak ? Do you use a wreck reel to tie off in 70-80 feet of water ? It must be a bear if there is a current ? Where did you park / launch ?

When I first saw your post I thought maybe the "Ancient Mariner" might be an easier feat, and it is off Hillsboro Beach. You could park in Deerfield (by the Cove Beach Club - bring lots of quarters) and the wreck is just a little south of the Embassey Suites, inside the third reef.

You've been doing this kayak thing a long time ? and are bored with things closer to shore ?

No, we have not been doing the kayak thing long. We just got it a few weeks ago. We've taken it to Venice, FL to dive for fossilized shark teeth since the surf has been a bit rough here lately. Yesterday was the first time we've taken it out here with full dive gear for two.

While we were getting our tanks filled we decided to try of the Copenhagen instead of the Sea Emperor because it would be easier to find. We were never able to get any reference points to the Sea Emperor (they must be a closely guarded secret ;-). We parked at the Fairfield Hotel on the 1100 block. When I looked out at the mooring balls I saw that we were quite a ways farther North than we wanted to be, but my wife didn't want to move from the shady parking place we had so we just went out and dove on the first reef. She had to go to work at 5 O'Clock so she didn't want to paddle out very far.

She's off tomorrow so I'm going to try to get her to go out a little farther or try for the Copenhagen again.

The Diveyak is big and slow, especially when there are any waves to speak of so we may have to work our way up to the long hauls out to the third reef and all but the closest wrecks.

We've done a lot of shore diving, but not nearly enough to get bored with it ;-)

I have a 100' wreck reel and a 150' anchor line so I think we'll be able to manage the 'Yak on a dive in the range of the Sea Emperor.

Tell me about your experiences on the reefs and wrecks in broward. I'd love to hear any tips you may have.

David

 

[lhpdiver]

I had no idea you could have 150' of anchor line on a kayak. Do you have a windlass also ?

I have a small handheld gps (magellean meridian). I think I paid ~250 on ebay. It interfaces with the laptop and came with a cd.
I use the coords in McAllister as well as those from the Broward County "Near Shore" CD. I tried using the marks but I have better luck with the gps. I've got a feeling that the marks look different based on how big the boat you're on is. Plus I'd hold up my compass looking at a mark and the whole while the current would be taking me away...

I think the Copenhagen is an ideal place for you to start. It was where I started diving off my own boat and is still my bail-out spot for when its too rough to anchor elsewhere. Besides - it really is more than 1 dive site.

As I mentioned earlier you can get in the water with tanks (and a kayak i guess) in the area near the Cove Beach Club (private beach). Otherwise the lifeguards will give you a hard time. Interestingly - you can come ashore anywhere.

As for the Sea Emperor, if I were you I would stop in to the Ocean Rescue main office in Boca. It is just south of Spanish River Blvd on A1A. I'd tell them of your intentions and get their advice as to where you could safely launch etc. They are very nice people and the guy in charge is a Scuba Instructor.

-Charlie

 

[megnin]

I had no idea you could have 150' of anchor line on a kayak. Do you have a windlass also ?

Hmm? I have it on two reels. The reels are one foot long and three inches wide. One has 50' of 1/4" nylon line and looks practically empty. The other has a 100' length and is maybe half full. I strap them down with the "weight belt" tie-downs. I could easily carry 300' of line on the same two reels but don't have the need.

I think the Copenhagen is an ideal place for you to start. ...

As I mentioned earlier you can get in the water with tanks (and a kayak i guess) in the area near the Cove Beach Club (private beach). ...

As for the Sea Emperor, if I were you I would stop in to the Ocean Rescue main office in Boca. It is just south of Spanish River Blvd on A1A. I'd tell them of your intentions and get their advice as to where you could safely launch etc. They are very nice people and the guy in charge is a Scuba Instructor.

-Charlie

Thank you very much for the information. It will be most helpful. I expect I'll eventually learn my way around the reefs with time, experience and a few kind suggestions. ;-)

David