Dive Report 24 December

Enjoying twenty to thirty feet of vis at the bridge on a sunny day was a great way to spend Christmas Eve day. The little spotted eagle rays are being very cooperative as they are being spotted by many divers. My Discover Scuba students and I saw one out by the channel and one by the seawall by the beach. Errin and Tobin captured one in the accompanying photo. Michele and Norman saw one under the fishing pier. Marv Caples saw three together off the beach where the "Sumar" and "Boondogle" are moored. This was the third dive in a row for sighting the eagle rays! My computer registered seventy-five degrees for the entire dive. No seventy-sevens. In my 5mm suit I was very comfortable, but those in 3mm suits were chilled at the end of an hour dive. We did a fifty-seven minute bottom time and both of my students were cold. Scorpionfish are everywhere. Spotted eels are being seen in many places. We watched an eel and a scorpionfish argue over territory on the south side of the solid bridge support. No boats went offshore, too rough. Nobody, I am happy to report, was seasick at the bridge. Get in the water, Ham

Dive Report 23 December

We're not having the blizzard that is happening in the country's mid-section, but winter is coming; the water is getting colder. Yesterday my computer recorded seventy-five and seventy-seven for most of the dive. In my 5mm suit I was comfortable for our one hour, twenty minute dive. Tobin and my student in 3mm suits were becoming chilled toward the end. The air temperature was in the low seventies so getting out of the water wasn't uncomfortable. My fresh water shower at the fish cleaning station was, however, invigorating in the breeze! We saw a beautiful little spotted eagle ray cruising between the first and second set of pilings. A batfish was between the second and third set as well. The spadefish are in great numbers as illustrated by Tobin's photo. The little blue angelfish juvenile (Tobin's photo) is in the "canyon" between the boat channel pilings and the solid bridge support. Spotted eels and scorpionfish are everywhere. Tobin photographed a little web burrfish again. Mike Phelan was there with a species count of fifty-seven and he was taking pictures. Marv Caples was there with his camera rig. Check out his photos on the JDC site. With a bright, sunny day the vis was between fifteen and twenty feet. Put on your thicker neoprene and get in the water, Ham

Dive Report 18 December

I had doubts about good visibility today because the wind was so strong and has been for several days. The waves and surge tend to kick up the sand and reduce the vis. The rain also has a tendency to shorten the vis so I was even less optimistic that a bridge dive today would be possible. My refresher student didn't want to deal with the wind and rain and postponed his dive. Tobin, however, bridge fanatic that he is, and I, almost always game for a bridge dive, decided to give it a try. The wind was very strong and the chop was as heavy as it gets at the bridge with hurricane winds excepted. We were delighted to discover ten feet of vis in seventy-seven degree water! Wind, rain, chop, so what? It was calm underwater. The only reminder of what was happening at the surface was my bobbing reel as the flag danced on the waves. I was almost too warm in a 5mm suit. Tobin wore a 3mm and was comfortable for our one hour, thirty-six minute dive. We saw the smallest batfish I have ever seen at the bridge out in the sand to the south of the first set of pilings. Tobin got some nice pictures of a webburrfish. There were many quarter inch or smaller french and gray angelfish juveniles. Several ocean-sized horse-eye jacks were at the channel along with dozens of Atlantic spadefish. With a strong south wind the current was running north well after the posted 9:17 slack high tide. Tobin and I hid behind everything we could find to make it easier. Under the fishing pier, as I was hanging onto a piece of concrete I saw what appeared to be a feather in the sand. I carefully brushed away some sand with my slate to slowly uncover a stargazer. Its response was simply to bury itself deeper. I wanted to see it and so I continued to uncover it until it poked its head out of the sand. That satisfied me as I really did not want to further harass the fish. I wouldn't have seen it if I hadn't had to hang on to the concrete to deal with the current. So much is at the bridge if we really LOOK! Wow! What a day. Again and again, we don't know unless we go. Sometimes we get skunked, but today wasn't one of those days. A STARGAZER! What a reward. (Quick note: I have talked to Palm Beach County Parks folks and the PBC Sheriffs' Dept. to learn that construction on the little east bridge will not affect Phil Foster Park.) Get in the water, Ham

Dive Report 4 December

Thank goodness my wetsuit stretches; we had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I wore my 5mm wetsuit (superstretch!) and a .5mm hooded vest today thinking the water might be cold. I was too warm in seventy-nine degree water; my 3mm wetsuit and the hooded vest would have been adequate. Our refresher student was in a 3mm suit and very comfortable for our one hour, seventeen minute dive. Vis was pretty decent being in excess of twenty feet. The day was overcast and we saw rain hitting the surface of the water during our dive, but even without bright sun the vis was still quite good. Two large flying gurnards displayed their wings for us. They are the largest ones I have seen at the bridge. Two batfish just to the south of the fishing pier entertained us. A group of four or five horse-eye jacks were hunting out by the channel. The Atlantic spadefish were out by the channel, but not in the large numbers we saw a couple of weeks ago. There are several tiny gray and french angelfish juveniles here and there along with a couple of blue angelfish adults which we don't see often at the bridge. A sharptail eel was poking around for a meal. It felt good to get back in the water even if we did have too much neoprene and a few extra Thanksgiving pounds on. Get in the water, Ham