Dive Report 27 August

I was looking at the date of the last post and can't believe that it has been that long since I have been at the Bridge. There may have been a couple of times I dived there without posting. With recent eye surgery (everything is fine now) and visits to family in New York, I have been out of the water for quite some time. Yesterday I accompanied a very pleasant young man for a refresher before he goes offshore on Friday (he was playing hooky). What an intelligent thing to do, the refresher, not hooky, although there is a time and place for it! He has been out of the water for a year and has very few dives so he (and his parents or maybe the other way around) thought the refresher would be prudent. You would be amazed at how often we get people on the boat who at the last minute before the dive make us aware that it has been ten years since they have been in the water. More than once that situation has turned out badly. So it was nice to see people using common sense. The water temperature was eighty-four . I did not wear a wet suit and was very comfortable for our one hour twenty-seven minute dive. "Stingies" in the water are always a concern, but there were only a very few that I felt on my face. Visibility was between fifteen and twenty feet. The fresh water is on the surface, so in the shallower water the vis is shorter. The clearest water was close to the bottom. There is much algae or an algae-like substance on the bottom that wasn't there last spring. I hope that it is a result of the fresh water and that with a return to more saline water when we enter the dry season that it will disappear. There were no moon jelly fish; I have seen them offshore lately so I was anticipating them at the Bridge, but was pleasantly surprised to see their absence. It was nice to be back. The little butter hamlet was a nice "welcomer". Get in the water, Ham

Dive Report 20 April

We did not make our planned trip to the Bridge on Friday, but Saturday's rainstorms made our Saturday tide very doable as it somewhat cleared out the parking lot. Those of you who have tried to get a parking spot for a Saturday or Sunday afternoon high tide dive know that the competition is intense. Knowing that we were going on Saturday after our plans for a Friday dive were abandoned, I hoped for a rainy, stormy afternoon, to clear out the picnickers and small boaters. It's selfish; I make no excuse for it. I was pleased when the clouds came with the rain explaining to my friends that we were very lucky, indeed, to be going on a rainy day if it is a Saturday. Of course, we got a convenient parking spot close to the fishing pier. The in-water conditions, however, were not so good with the exception of the water temperature which was seventy-nine. Vis was four to eight feet. We headed out to go under the west bridge, but abandoned that plan when we met three feet of vis. The moderate chop from the north wind stirred up the lagoon. Off the beach the vis was about six to eight feet so we ventured out to the little center-console wreck and the shopping carts. The blue angelfish juvenile was in the shopping carts. Several octopuses were off the beach and cooperative for the camera. So remember, a rainy Saturday or Sunday afternoon can make the Bridge outing easier to do. Water temperatures are rising! Get in the water, Ham

Dive Report 1 April

The water was a bit warmer today, seventy-five for Carrie and my one hour, twenty-five minute dive under the west bridge. We had a sunny and warm day for the 12:58 high tide, but the water was a little milky so our vis was somewhere around fifteen feet. Both of us were in our five millimeter wetsuits with three millimeter hooded vests. Surprisingly, I was very comfortable. Carrie said she felt a little chilled. Coming out of the water into an eighty degree afternoon was very nice. We saw two batfish, several octopuses, an unidentified hamlet (it might be a hybrid), a banded jawfish, a seahorse, and what might be a juvenile or intermediate sea hare (we really are just guessing) in addition to the regulars. During our dive we saw only three divers although there were quite a few more in the parking lot. It was a beautiful day to be in the water.
Get in the water, Ham

Dive Report 28 March

With the water temperature at seventy-two degrees nobody was skinny-dipping. For our one hour dive I was in my drysuit and Carrie was in a five millimeter suit with a three millimeter hooded vest. She said she was not freezing, but rather chilled by the end of the dive. The vis was thirty feet, exceptional for the Bridge. I included the photo of the channel pilings to demonstrate it.  We saw four or five octopuses, four batfishes, seven flying gurnards foraging together, and many of the regulars. There were a few divers there, but we saw them only once or twice on our dive. If you have the gear for cooler water........
Get in the water, Ham

Dive Report 16 February

The octopuses are back! It's interesting how different critters have their certain times at the Bridge. I'm not scientific enough (pretty lazy) to make a species log to find out if critters are there at the same times every year, but maybe it would be fun to start one. Three "refresher" students and I saw two octopuses under the big bridge. There was a polkadotted batfish past the third set of pilings on the south side and there was another batfish under the fishing pier near the big junk pile on the north side of the pier. Close to the boat channel on the south side was a beautiful flying gurnard that did spins with its wings open. I'd never seen that behavior before. Believe it or not I was in a 5mm WETSUIT. (Yes, me in a wetsuit in February. Remarkable.) I did it because it is easier to run around after weights, etc. for students than it is to do that in a drysuit with all the weight I have to carry to sink it. With trepidation I entered the water, but in the seventy-five degree water I was very comfortable for our one hour, twenty-five minute dive. Vis was reduced by 7,054,679 students in the water to about ten to fifteen feet. Without 14,109,358 fins kicking up the bottom the vis would have been twenty feet or better. Oh well. I was a silt-kicker myself at one point. We have all been there. Weekdays are nice if you can dive them. Parking was not difficult for the 12:22 high tide, but arriving there an hour and a half before the high tide I had limited choices. (My students locked their car keys in their car at the Shop. [Please ask the tide to wait for us while we deal with this.] It took AAA a few minutes to get there to help them. I zipped down to the Bridge to get a parking spot while they waited. Everything worked out although for a few minutes it appeared the mother was going to flog her son to whom she had given the keys to put their stuff in the car. Is there anyone out there besides the none-driving public who hasn't locked their keys in their car? Have you ever seen the "professionals" (we know where they went to school) unlock a car in less than ten seconds? It's fascinating and makes me wonder why we bother to lock our cars. I'm wandering. Even with all the drama we had a great dive! I didn't know that Bridge Therapy could help with family turmoil, but at the end of the dive the son's future looked much brighter than it had hours previously at the Shop parking lot. Get in the water (you don't need to need therapy), Ham

Dive Report 13 February

The wind was blowing hard from the south southwest, but underwater at the east bridge it was nice; we had between ten to fifteen feet of vis in seventy-three degree water. Carrie, two other divers, and I went east from the beach along the rock piles looking for the jackknife fish I saw several weeks ago. No luck. We saw a nice flying gurnard, but it would have none of the camera. Many of the usual suspects were under the east bridge with the exception of the snook; we saw none. At slack tide we turned southwest back toward the rock piles to go around the swim area. Just west of the rock pile where I saw the jackknife last time we struck gold - the beautiful jackknife pictured. It was really quite cooperative; I'm just not particularly good with the camera. Nevertheless, it gave me the shot here. A great dive! I was in my drysuit for the one hour, twenty-eight minute dive and very comfortable. Carrie wore her five millimeter suit with a 3mm hooded vest; she was chilled at about the one hour mark. Lunch at the Ale House with friends topped off a fabulous day! Get in the water, Ham

Dive Report 17 January 2013

Struck gold on my first dive of 2013 at the Bridge. Actually, a jackknife fish is gold and black. Having dived the Bridge hundreds of times, this is the first time I have seen a jackknife fish there. It was on one of the artificial reef piles only three or four piles from the easternmost pile. The jackknife is in the drum family and is a cousin to spotted drums (I have never seen one at the Bridge), highhats (they are plentiful at the bridge), and cubbyu (at the Bridge, but not in numbers close to the highhats). Several years ago there was a pair of jackknife adults on the Spadefish Point site off of Jupiter. I could take people to see them and did so for six months or more. Then one day there was only one. Finally, after only a few weeks neither one could be found at that site. Months later with two other divers trying to get to a reef area from a wreck, while traveling over a sandy (desert) area, there was a small piece of junk around which there were two jackknife fishes! I could not believe it. Of course it was one of those places that I knew I would never find again. Oh well. Last year in a deep crevise on the Scarface site off of Jupiter I saw a jackknife while I was pointing out a goliath grouper to divers. I had a pretty good idea of where it was, but I have not relocated the fish. So it has been quite a dry spell since I have seen a jackknife in our neighborhood, but today was the day! I believe they are the most spectacular of the drum family by far. I get pretty excited about spotted drums, especially juveniles, but a jackknife to me is the holy grail of drums. In short, I had a great dive. The water temperature was seventy-seven; I was very comfortable in my five millimeter suit with hooded vest for my two hour, two minute dive. Vis was about twenty feet. There was also a searobin and a batfish that would have clinched the photo spot for the report except that they lost out to the JACKKNIFE!!! I know my dear friend Mike Phelan is smiling. Get in the water, Ham