Dive Report 24 September

Incredible conditions! Forty feet or more of vis and eighty-seven degree water! Where were you all? A friend and I did a goof-off dive under the little east bridge in search of the elusive frogfish. No luck with the still elusive frogfish, BUT we did see a gorgeous seahorse along the western seawall, a large octopus in the sailboat wreck, and two large bandtail searobins along with many of the other resident critters, sharptail eels, etc. With such a bright, sunny day the clear water provided fabulous vis. We didn't want to leave and did a one hour, thirty-five minute dive time in dive skins. In water this warm I didn't have a thought of a chill. The forecast for the weekend is very good. Finally, check out the Jupiter Dive Center website (jupiterdivecenter.com) for the Sunday afternoon "Dive for $45" offer. Click on "Dive for 45" in the middle of the page for details. Conditions are terrific! Get in the water, Ham

Dive Report 23 September

Sad news. One man's junk is another man's treasure, or, boaters' junk is divers' treasure. The little sailboat that was under the pontoon has been removed. That great little habitat for so many critters was lifted out of the water a day or two ago. There were only a couple of confused french angelfish intermediates left looking for their former home. Oh well. We still saw a batfish and a web burrfish. We spent more time poking around the pilings. A highlight of the dive was finding TWO decorator crabs. The water is still very warm at eighty-six (we dived in skins) and the vis was about fifteen feet. Our one hour, thirty-three minute dive time went by pretty quickly. Get in the water, Ham

Dive Report 20 September

The water is still wonderfully warm at eighty-six degrees. In addition, the vis was exceptional at better than twenty feet in some places. We entered the water about forty minutes before slack high tide to beat the rush of divers. On our one hour, twenty minute dive we saw practically nobody and had the clear water. There are several blue angelfish juveniles out by the boat channel in gorgeous yellow and blue. A good-sized school of Atlantic spadefish has greeted us out there the last several times we've gone. We see mantis shrimp on a pretty regular basis. One batfish was between the solid bridge support and the third set of pillars. Doing the early morning dives on the weekend has been pretty easy in terms of parking. It seems that the afternoon dives are the ones that require getting there plenty early to get a parking space. It was fabulous! Get in the water, Ham

Dive Report 15 September

The water is still warm at eighty-six, but the vis has been off lately at around ten feet. The marine life is still spectacular; we're just seeing it up close! Two batfish, a web burrfish, several tiny juvenile blue angelfish, a spotted moray, a juvenile butter hamlet, about the littlest lobster I've ever seen, zillions of bait fish, and a gorgeous school of Atlantic spadefish were all there for our enjoyment. Our high tide was at 6:21 pm. I like the way the low sun lights up the area around the boat channel with the pilings back-lighted. In just dive skins Carrie and I were very comfortable. Get in the water, Ham

Dive Report 9/9/09

We had late summer weather at the bridge today, sun and thunderstorms. Carrie and I tried to capture the t-storm just to the southwest of the bridge in a photo, but it just doesn't do it justice. The rain held off until we finished the dive and then we got the fresh-water rinse as we broke down our gear. Great fresh-water shower; it rained hard! The water was a little green from all the recent rain and that limited the vis to about ten feet. I was in a skin and very comfortable in eighty-six degree water for one hour seventeen minutes. Being a weekday morning, we had only a few divers as company. We didn't see them on our dive. A bandtail searobin out by the sailboat wreck and a beautiful seahorse just off the beach were gifts from the bridge. Get in the water, Ham

Dive Report 2 September

I'm a little slow to post this one. I had no idea I would be so busy as a retiree. Anyway, Wednesday morning was a beautiful time to dive. The photos say most of it. No parking problem and gorgeous conditions. Vis was better than it has been. We probably had twenty feet. A sunny morning with little cloud cover helped. The water temperature was eighty-four and I spent our fifty-four minute dive time in a skin very comfortably. We saw an adult and a juvenile bandtail searobins along with many of the usual suspects. It might be a little tougher to get going in the early morning hours, but the payoff is worth it. Get in the water, Ham