Dive Report 21 March
Dive Report 19 March
Yes, it sucked an egg. (I have no idea where that phrase comes from, but it seems an appropriate description for the conditions today.) If you were doing something other than diving at the bridge today, you made the right decision. I saw bridge devotee and photographer extraordinaire, Marv Caples (check out his photos on the Jupiter Dive Center website) enter the water and then turn around and get out of the water; I knew my open water student and I were in for a "git'r done" dive as my student is here on holiday and does not have the luxury of waiting for better conditions. We had about four feet of vis in sixty-eight degree water. A couple of yellow stingrays were buried in the sand probably trying to stay warm. I was toasty in my drysuit for our fifty-one minute dive, but my Canadian student was becoming a bit chilled even with two three millimeter wetsuits. He did much better than I could have, but he's Canadian! My experience is that our Canadian cousins have a cold tolerance gene that is a great advantage in conditions as we have had this winter. In the short vis we obviously have to look at the stuff that is very close. That's the only reason I saw a decorator crab that was moving, probably in an attempt like the stingrays, to stay WARM. East winds this weekend might bring some clearer water. The persistent swell from the northeast has really stirred up the bottom. I'm back at the bridge on Sunday. I know the picnic will be good; I hope the diving conditions will be good, too. Get in the water, Ham
Dive Report 11 March
A quick side-note: Yesterday, Friday March 12, Captain Mike from the Jupiter Dive Center while on the Republic IV not far from the dive site, Area 29, received a radio message that six divers were missing from the dive boat, Emerald. Captain Mike, having all his divers aboard (I was one of them) inquired about the location of the site where the divers had been dropped and the amount of time they had been in the water. They were dropped at the Hole-in-the-Wall and had been in the water one hour, fifty-two minutes. Captain Mike did some quick calculations involving time, current speed, and wind drift. He drove the boat north several miles right to the spot where the six divers were huddled. They had signal sausages deployed, but what Tony, deckhand on the Republic IV, saw first was a light probably from a camera. It stood out clearly at quite some distance before we could see the signal sausages. I always carry my strobe light offshore! Great rescue, Captain Mike. You have my sincerest admiration and respect. Get in the water, Ham
Dive Report 4 March