Dive Report 31 October

It wasn't much of a dive; sixteen minutes. With record October rainfall and strong winds creating rough seas offshore, I didn't expect good vis. It wasn't good vis, but eight inches was too short to make more than sixteen minutes worthwhile. I wanted my student to experience the feel of being in doubles and we did that; staying longer would have been pointless. It was all we could do to keep track of each other. We went out to a depth of six feet, turned to the west and proceeded about two hundred feet, turned around to the east retracing our route, and exited. Sixteen minutes. The water temperature was seventy-nine. I have a bridge dive scheduled for Thursday, but I am going to postpone it for a week to let the seas calm down and to let the rain water settle. When it clears...Get in the water, Ham

Dive Report 19 October

Better than I thought it would be! With all the rain and a strong southwest wind creating a light chop I thought the vis would be very short. The water was green; my guess is that the rain water had much to do with that. Nevertheless, a student and I had ten feet of vis in eighty-one degree water for our one hour, ten minute dive. We were practicing in double steel tanks so we elected to go underwater around the swim area to the east bridge. (We certainly had plenty of gas!) On the way over I spotted the tail of a stargazer. I was hoping to gently brush away some of the sand so we could see its face, but it took off and kept on going. No picture. The rest of our session was spent blowing surface marker bouys and making very controlled ascents so I didn't really notice any critters other than the usual gang of suspects. There might have been six other divers at Phil Foster. I saw at least four. The weekdays are so sweet, especially with light rain showers. We owned the place! Get in the water, Ham

Dive Report 15 October

I haven't forsaken the Bridge for the beautiful Catskill Mountains, but that is where I was last week picking apples surrounded by the spectacular fall foliage. It's nice to be back in the water which is why I'm in Florida in the first place (it certainly isn't because I enjoy driving here!) Anyway, the conditions at the Bridge were fabulous. My advanced open water student and I enjoyed twenty feet of vis in eighty-two degree water. With the wind freshening out of the east northeast we were protected from any chop by Singer Island. I didn't feel the least bit green. On top of that, after a closing of the swimming area because of a high bacterial count earlier in the week (a nice way of saying what we all know is not so nice), Phil Foster had a clean bill of health today, no warnings. My student and I navigated around the swim area to the east bridge to practice search and recovery skills. It was simply a nice day to be there. The morning high tide made the parking easy; that is always a plus. In a three millimeter wetsuit I was very comfortable for our one hour, thirty-five minute dive. Get in the water, Ham

Dive Report 21 September

The moon jellyfish and the stingies that go with them are still a problem at the Bridge. Carrie and I did a one hour, forty-nine minute dive in eighty-six degree water with fifteen feet of vis. We saw the moon jellyfish as soon as we entered the water an hour before the posted slack high tide. As we proceeded east around the swim area to dive the east bridge, we saw quite a few jellyfish, but we were able to avoid them. Nevertheless, we both received minor stings from critters or critter-material we couldn't see. "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead" anyway, to see what was happening under the east bridge. The resident Atlantic spadefish were there in force. I watched a juvenile sharptail eel for a few minutes as it hunted. On our way back to the beach, just south of the east bridge, we saw a small nurse shark, the first shark I have ever seen at the bridge. Carrie and I saw two other divers; have to love the weekday dives! Get in the water, Ham

Dive Report 19 September

I was at the Bridge on Saturday with one quarter of the earth's population (approx. 1.5 billion people) and didn't bother to blog the experience. Working with students I could only report on water temperature and vis anyway. Today, however, Carrie and I did a goof-off dive for an hour and forty minutes under the east bridge. We haven't been over there since the beginning of the construction. The reward for the swim around the swim area (I'm not schlepping my gear across the beach when I can travel underwater!) was incredible. We discovered another community of yellow-colored eels that must be cousins to garden eels. Most spectacular were the ENORMOUS school of mackerel scad and the little school of lookdowns. The shadow from the mackerel scad school (it looked like a bait ball; I suppose it was a baitball) was attention-getting, to say the least. The dynamics of the ball were absolutely mesmerizing. The lookdowns are so odd-looking that one wonders how a being that thin can house all the innards critters have to have. Absolutely amazing. There are STILL moon jellyfish, but we experienced only very minor stings, nothing like a few weeks ago when I just wanted to get out of the water. Oh, I almost forgot, the water temperature was eighty-six and the vis was fifteen (a little green) feet. I LOVE the weekdays!! We saw four other divers. Get in the water, Ham