Triple wow! Over fifty feet of vis on Thursday! Incredible. I have not seen that in a while. Warm water, too. My computer was showing eighty-two in the shallow water. (Offshore yesterday, Friday 30 May, we had 100' of vis in seventy-nine degree water with a moderate north current. Very nice!) Get in the water, Ham
Dive Report 27 May and Picnic News
Beautiful day at the bridge yesterday for a 2:13 high tide. I love being there on weekdays; there was ONE other diver. The water temperature at its coldest was seventy-eight. In the shallower water the temperature is hitting eighty. Nice. Vis was between fifteen and twenty feet. Patrick Monihan (sp?), the fellow who lives in the cabin cruiser just off the beach next to the swimming area, has marked the sunken boats with colorful little buoys. The next bridge picnic will be Sunday, June 22 for an 11:25 high tide. I plan to enter the water at about 11:00 so I will be at the park by 10:00. Hope you can make the dive and picnic. Ham
Dive Reports 13 and 14 May
What a difference twenty-four hours can make! On Tuesday we dived the east bridge in fifteen to twenty feet of vis in seventy-eight degree water. Beautiful dive. It was octopus day! We saw four of various sizes. I'm always fascinated by them. Wednesday brought BIG swells from the northeast and with them eight feet (that may be stretching it) of vis. I had a young open water student with me who did a fabulous job of staying right by my side, because she is skilled; she wasn't scared. Mother Nature was telling us to look at the little stuff that is up close and that is just what we did. Juvenile highhats, a tiny gray angel juvenile, a small octopus, several blennies, and many other little critters delighted us. I love taking new, enthusiastic divers to the bridge. The parents of this young diver have a smart, skilled new diver with whom to share their diving passion. I love this job (most of the time!) Get in the water, Ham
Dive Report 12 May
Great day to be in the water! Under the east bridge we had twenty-plus feet of vis in seventy-eight degree water. There were many fish under the bridge including big schools of bermuda chub and atlantic spadefish. It is definitely horseshoe crab mating season as we saw many playing leapfrog. We found an octopus' lair with a couple of empty shells. The four of us had the east bridge to ourselves for a 3:20 high tide. Get in the water, Ham
Dive/Picnic Report 11 May
What a gorgeous day for a dive and a picnic! Despite the ninety degree temperature, the fairly strong breeze kept us quite comfortable during our after-dive picnic. Of course, we had to hold everything down to prevent it from blowing onto Singer Island, but that was preferable to baking. The water temperature was seventy-eight and the vis was anywhere from ten feet to twenty feet depending on how close to the channel, or to the quite numerous other divers you were. There were some wonderful critters to see including a tiny, tiny, tiny french angelfish juvenile, one the fish collectors have not found, yet. How do we get the county or state to stop that at Phil Foster? We saw two fairly big octopi and a gorgeous web burrfish. Thank you, Jupiter Drift Divers for hamburgers and hotdogs. Thanks to all who came to make it a very pleasant afternoon. Sunday, June 22 has an 11:25 high tide. Look good? Ham
Dive Report 10 May
Great day to be in the water! With three open water students doing their first shallow dives we had great vis and nice, warm water. The vis was in the thirty feet range although it fell off later in the dive. The water temperature was seventy-eight. Nice. The high tide was at 1:11, but the current was still coming in strongly at 1:20. It was a good "dealing with current experience" for the new divers. We saw a six-inch bandtail searobin in the sand between the mast sticking out of the water and the second set of pilings from the beach. They are uncommon in Florida in the Humann book. I love the bridge! Always something unique. Get in the water, Ham
Dive Report 8 May
Gorgeous day at the bridge! We had an open water student and a Discover Scuba diver in forty-feet of vis in seventy-eight degree water under the big bridge. A blue-spotted cornetfish and an intermediate shortnose batfish (might have been a polka-dot) greeted us between the second and third set of pilings. We could see the shadows of a set of pilings from another set; they are one hundred feet apart. The vis lately is the best I have seen for quite some time. Hope to see you Sunday, Ham
Bridge Picnic Sunday, May 11
The sunrise high tides are too early for too many divers (are we getting soft?) so we set the next bridge picnic for Sunday, May 11 with a 2:14 high tide. That is Mother's Day so you know what that means; bring your mother, or somebody else's mother, or an aunt, or a friend. Get her in the water! We'll carry her gear! (but just this one time). We'll have the picnic after the dive. See you there! Ham
Dive Report 1 May
Wow! Wow! Wow! Forty feet of vis at the big bridge. We could see all four piling columns of a set from another set. They are one hundred feet apart. I have not seen vis like that at the bridge for a long time. Water temperature seventy-eight. Polka-dot batfish and a couple of sharptail eels hunting out by the channel. We could see well out into the channel. Police were in a boat checking out divers. Make sure you have your dive flag! Get in the water, Ham
