It's been some time since Carrie and I have been at the Bridge, but today was a wonderful day to be back. The water temperature was eighty-two; I was almost too warm in my 3mm wetsuit for our one hour, eleven minute dive. I was with a student who marveled at the octopuses which are still numerous. A fabulous new development is a community of yellow garden eels thirty yards south of the first set of pilings. We head on a north northwest course from the upside down wreck to see them. They are listed as occasional Florida in the Reef Fish Identification book. A neck crab in full camouflage delighted us for a few minutes. I only saw it because it moved differently from its surroundings. (Sorry the photo is so poor.) Carrie saw a nurse shark out by the channel, a medium-sized one. It is the first time either of us have seen a shark of any kind at the bridge. There is a fairly large spotted moray in the junk pile on the north side of the fishing pier. My dive buddy and Carrie saw a bandtail searobin. Vis was between fifteen and twenty feet. Of course as "certified" divers dragged their fins along the bottom the vis became noticeably shorter. It made me chuckle to think of those who oppose conducting Discover Scuba programs at the Bridge because it is an environmentally sensitive area and they do not want Discover Scuba participants kicking up the bottom. Apparently, those folks have never been at the Bridge and watched what the open water students with "pool experience" do the bottom, or observed the "experienced divers" who haven't a clue as to what buoyancy and trim are. We were all there once. I find it pretty funny. Get in the water AND KEEP YOUR FINS UP :) Ham
