Dive Report 29 December

It's the time of year to see manatees and we saw one today! Cold water brings them in. Today the water temperature off the beach was seventy-two while the water temperature at the boat channel was seventy. The vis off the beach was fifteen feet, quite a bit better than the eight or nine feet at the boat channel. We saw the manatee just off the beach by the seawall that leads over to the fishing pier. I took several pictures of it as it appeared to be in no hurry even though I was on SCUBA rather than snorkeling. When we have seen manatees in the swimming area during our 300 yard snorkel/swim, they have been very tolerant of our presence. When we have seen them while on SCUBA they have been much more skitterish. During the snorkel/swim I saw a seahorse and a bandtail searobin. Between the seawall and the first set of pilings there was a good-sized flying gurnard. What a great day! The air temperature was in the sixties and we had little or no breeze meeting us at our exit. It's a fabulous time of year to see the manatees. Get in the water, Ham

Dive Report 27 December

Cold, cold, cold! The air temperature was 48 in a constant breeze from the northwest and the water temperature was 70 off the beach and 68 at the boat channel. Cold. Vis was down to between ten and fifteen feet. The chop on the intracoastal has lifted sand into the water so it is milky. Nevertheless, my open water student in two 3mm wetsuits (and 24 lbs of lead to sink them) did very well on our fifty-six minute dive. Tobin, the most die-hard bridge diver I know, said he felt pretty comfortable in his 3mm suit with a 3mm hooded vest. He's tougher than I am. I was in my drysuit with substantial undergarment to stay toasty. As I've said previously, I am too old to be cold. Tobin saw a striped burrfish, a couple of pipefish, and other critters I missed as my focus was on my student and completing the skill set before he froze. We did it! If you're "tough enough" (or have a drysuit) Get in the water, Ham

Dive Report 25 December

Four of us enjoyed 73 degree water with twenty feet of vis under a bright, mostly sunny sky. I was comfortable for our one hour, twenty minute dive in my 5mm wetsuit and 3mm hooded vest. We did the "Michele Route" going directly to the fishing pier and working our way west. (Of course, we did the "Michele Route"; Michele led the dive!) We saw two species of batfish, a sharptail eel, a spotted moray eel, many blue, gray, and french angelfish of all stages, pufferfishes, many lobsters, banded coral shrimp, Atlantic spadefish, and, unfortuately, two lionfish. We were able to dispatch one of the lionfish, but the other eluded us. We can only hope to control their numbers at the bridge and on our dive sites offshore. Nevertheless, we enjoyed a beautiful Christmas morning in south Florida. It doesn't get any better. Get in the water, Ham

Dive Report 23 December

Fabulous vis today! We had thirty feet of vis in 72-degree water. With a bright, sunny sky we could see exceptionally well. A beautiful spotted eagle ray glided out into the boat channel. I saw the first flying gurnard I've seen for quite some time. It wouldn't display both wings at one time, but one was good enough for me. My student and I were in drysuits for our sixty-one minute dive and were toasty. A former student tagged along in a 3mm fullsuit and said she felt fine; she was much more focused on what the critters were doing than on the water temperature. Get out your winter suit. Do what you have to do, but ..... Get in the water, Ham

Dive Report 21 December

Yesterday at the pool session I informed my three open water students that we would do a 300 yard snorkel swim instead of the 200 yard pool swim because the pool is pretty small (715 laps required to do 200 yards) and because we would have the chance of seeing manatees if we did a snorkel swim at the bridge. I figured we at least had a chance of seeing manatees because the water temperature has been in the low seventies. BUT, (dopey me!) it didn't occur to me to bring the CAMERA while we snorkeled. I know what you're thinking. (Yeah, sure he saw a manatee, but didn't get the picture. Yeah right.) But we DID see a manatee AND her CALF! They were swimming very closely together. The water temperature was seventy-two on my computer. They were not at all alarmed by our presence or they were too cold to react. We were with them in the swimming area for several minutes. Made my day right there and we hadn't put on the dive gear yet. The vis was 15' or so. It was better than I thought it would be. Several southern rays were looking for breakfast. A batfish under the fishing pier (nobody on the pier, imagine that) was cooperative for the camera. I had to take the picture of the butter hamlet; I love them. I was in a 5mm suit with a 3mm hooded vest. For our 54-minute dive I was comfortable. My students in 3mm suits were chilled. I was pleased to exit the water into no breeze at all. That made breaking down the gear and putting it in the van much more pleasant than it is to do when the wind is howling out of the north. The bottom line is that winter conditions, although more challenging in terms of comfort, do provide opportunities that we do not have during the warmer times of the year. So, brace yourself and get in the water, Ham

Dive Report 8 December

I can't believe I have been away from the bridge for almost a month! Today was a great day to get back into it. The water temperature was seventy-three. The vis was a slightly milky twenty to thirty feet. With a bright sun and virtually no clouds I could see quite well. I had three spotted eagle ray sightings. I don't know if I was seeing two or three of them as I saw them singly at different times of the one hour dive. The searobin (I'm not sure which species) seems to almost always be at the corner just off the seawall foraging in the sand. We have seen it there very consistently. It's also rare to do a bridge dive without seeing a sharptail eel. I had to take the lobster picture just under the fishing pier. My picture of the eagle ray wasn't particularly good as none of them came close and the water was milky. Only two other divers were there. I expect they were comfortable until they got out of the water into the stiff breeze from the north in an air temperature of about 45! They made some loud noises as they scooted pretty fast from the water to their car where they just about ripped off their wetsuits. In my drysuit (I'm too old to be uncomfortable) neither the water temperature nor the air temperature and windchill factor were a concern. The diving is great (and VERY few are there) if you have the exposure suit and routine for dealing with cold air temperatures. Get in the water, Ham