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My Ultra-Faboo dive buddy Joanie and I were back at Blue Heron Bridge today to “see what we can see”. She has predicted a manatee sighting today, so we are anxious to get into the water. Today, we are joined by Michelle and Josh, a couple of people from Scubaboard who have never been diving at the bridge before.
After getting geared-up, we head into the water and, almost immediately we see a manatee cruising by! I kick over on an intercept course and was able to get the manatee on video. It seemed to be in a bit of a hurry and didn’t want to hang around too much, but the video came out nice anyway.
After our manatee encounter, we see a Southern Stingray with a stubby tail, then head over to the bridge pilings where the visibility got really milky and made it hard for seeing things from a distance. So we all switched to close-up mode and started looking for smaller critters. We ended up seeing several small Spotted Eels, Banded Shrimps, Arrow Crabs, Sea Cucumbers, Lobsters, Juvenile Angelfish, Spadefish, Juvenile Filefish and a couple of small Yellow Stingrays. Overall, it was a great dive and Joanie and I got to see the excitement in the eyes of Michelle and Josh as they got their first experience at the bridge.
Yes, we dive here in January!
The Video Dude
Wanna have YOUR next dive saved on video to show all your friends? EMAIL US HERE or call us at 954.296.6449
Once again we take our cameras up to Blue Heron Bridge for some more footage of the lesser-seen animals that hang out between the pilings of the bridge. Ultra-Faboo Dive Buddy Joanie and I arrive around 2pm and get geared up for our dive (which ended up being 2 hours long) and head out off the beach to see what we can see. We start off over by the area where the houseboats are moored, looking for Seahorses and Octopi. We didn’t run into any of those, but we did find a Batfish, an extremely friendly Juvenile Filefish (it came right up to us and played with our fingers!) and a Pipefish. We also found the “Shopping Cart Reef” and the sunken boat with the mirror on it.
After exploring that area, we head over to the west bridge and navigate our way through the pilings. We encountered another Batfish, a Southern Stingray, several Scorpionfish, Banded Shrimp, a Stone Crab, and some Spadefish. We also found a Yellow Stingray, Arrow Crabs and several Cushion Sea Stars. We made our way through the pilings and over to the small fishing bridge to check out the small rubble reef (rubble from the old bridge demolition) and finally back to the beach and our exit point. It was a fabulous, relaxing dive and always a good time checking out which critters are “home” each time we go there.
Diving the days away here in Paradise,
The Video Dude
Wanna have YOUR next dive saved on video to show all your friends? EMAIL US HERE or call us at 954.296.6449
Friday, July 2nd finds the Video Dude and Ultra-Faboo dive buddy “Hall of Famous” Joanie out diving at Blue Heron Bridge with a group from the South Florida Divers Dive Club. Conditions were clear and currents were manageable as we got in and began our dive. Joanie was my “guide” for this trip as she had discovered a new area to dive in on her last trip here. We began our dive directly off the beach and over to the mooring balls where I experienced a whole new dive site for the first time.
There were lots of small coral heads with juvenile fish, Arrow Crabs and Banded Shrimp and there were larger reefs made up from everything from pipes to shopping carts to submerged boats. Along the way we came across a Batfish, Yellow Stingray, Barracuda, Juvenile Angelfish, Stonefish and even a small Octopus! Joanie also showed me a submerged boat that had a mirror placed on it to attract fish. She had gotten a photo of herself in the mirror the last time she was there, so I tried my hand at getting a shot of myself with the video camera.
After over 90 minutes under water, we reluctantly had to come up and end the dive. I am definitely going back to those spots again. It was nice to explore something new and look for cool new things!
Another great dive here in Paradise,
Doug the Video Dude
Thursday, June 10th finds the Video Dude once again aboard “Scubatyme III” heading out for a video shoot on the “Captain Dan” and Lighthouse Ledge. Captain Bob, Divemaster Amanda and Owner Enzo are all aboard along with 8 other divers, out to have a great day on the water. The seas are almost flat, hardly any current and it’s a bright sunny morning as we head out of the Hillsboro Inlet.
Captain Bob gets us out to our first dive site – the “Captain Dan” in no time, and we all prepare to jump in after Amanda comes back up from tying off the descent/ascent line. I am first down the line and only encounter a mild current on the wreck while making my way from the stern towards the bow and back. Friendly Horse-eye Jacks and Spadefish watch me closely as I document the wreck on video. All too soon it’s time to head back to the ascent line and do my safety stops on the way back up to the surface.
After switching out gear for the next dive, Captain Bob heads over to the ever-popular Lighthouse Ledge Reef for our second dive. Once again I am in the water first and going solo on this dive to shoot more video of the reef. Almost immediately after reaching the reef, I encounter a large Porcupinefish, a Green Moray Eel, a Spotted Moray Eel, Arrow Crabs, Pufferfish, Squirrelfish and tons of Grunts and Snappers. With the sun being out the whole dive, the reef was really “poppin’” with color and was the prettiest I have seen in some time!
That’s about it for this video project report. If you’re interested, there’s a link below to purchase ($20) your own video copy of these dives to share with your friends.
Diving the days away here in Paradise,
The Video Dude
Today I had the opportunity to be a guide for a couple of newly-certified divers, Christine and Brad. Today was to be their first local boat dives since getting certified, and they were both excited and anxious to get in the water and have fun. We went out on “Scubatyme III” and Enzo, Captain Dave, and Amanda all treated us very well. We did two drift dives – “Anglin’ Pier Reef” and “Radical Rubble Reef” and, although the skies were gray up top, the scenery was beautiful down below. We even had a very curious French Angel come over to play with us!! We saw lots of Angelfish, Grunts, Jellyfish, Arrow Crabs and Chromis. Very small current on both dives, visibility was around 50ft and bottom temp was around 82 degrees.
A beautiful couple of dives and a very relaxing day here in Paradise!
The Video Dude
** If you are looking for a dive guide, call me at 954.296.6449 or !!
Monday June 8th finds the Video Dude and dive buddy “Hall of Famous” Joanie diving under Blue Heron Bridge. This is my 500th (non-teaching) dive and Joanie is working on her photography skills for her upcoming trip to Indonesia (lucky duck!). The weather was very cooperative and high tide was scheduled for 9:10am. We arrived at the bridge @8:30am and began setting up our gear. After our final buddy checks, we head for the shoreline and make our way into the water to finish getting our fins on and any last-second final adjustments.
Then it’s off to the pilings on the west side to see what we can see. Visibility turned out to not be so great, maybe 10ft or so, so we had to stick close together. We right away found lots of Starfish and the ever-present Sea Urchins with their shell camouflage. We actually saw an urchin using a plastic cough syrup bottle for camouflage! I haven’t laughed like that in a while! Zig-zagging around the pilings we also came across a Batfish, Arrow Crabs the size of Frisbees, Banded Shrimp, Barracuda, Spadefish, Hermit Crabs, Lobsters, Sheepshead and Hogfish. It was definitely a full-variety day to be sure!
After close to 80 minutes underwater, we decide to head back to the beach. It was a nice leisurely swim back and we finally bumped into another couple that were just heading over to the bridge. We basically had the whole place to ourselves until then! It was a great spot for my 500th dive and having a great dive buddy along made it even better!
Saturday, January 17th finds the Video Dude doing a solo dive at Blue Heron Bridge. Scuba Goddess Terri has a head cold today, so I am off to brave the chilly air temps and 70 degree water at Blue Heron. Once I arrive and get geared up, I carry my dive flag, camera and fins to the water’s edge and finish getting ready to get in. Once I am underwater, I drift with what little current is left just before slack tide, and see that visibility will only be about 10ft today. Well that’s OK because I now get to practice my “muck diving” skills and look for the little stuff that sometimes gets missed.
Several Starfish are about, along with hundreds of Sea Urchins – one had a small Crab skeleton attached as camouflage! There was also a small Flounder trying to hide from my camera, a Red Batfish, a couple of Lobster, lots of very large Arrow Crabs, and an Octopus that had made a “garden” from empty bottles. He actually tried to hang onto his “favorite” bottle while I was shooting video. It was kinda funny.
Click to play the video:
After about an hour and a half bottom time, I started to get chilly and started making my way back to the beach to get out and head back to my car. There were a few scuba classes going on and I chatted with a few people about shooting video, then dropped my gear at my car, changed clothes and headed home.
It was a great day of diving and I was glad I could shoot video so my sick dive buddy (and others) could see it. It was a little eerie not having a dive buddy nearby, but I am glad I had the experience.
