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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
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
Saturday February 13th finds the Video Dude, along with 5 other very brave souls, out for a morning of diving, underwater hunting, and shooting video aboard a private boat. The air temp was in the low 50s with wind-chills down in the 40s, but the ocean was flat and water temps ran in the low 70s. I learned a new term for this kind of diving – “Viking Diving”- and the phrase definitely fit!
We were all guests aboard South Florida Spearfishing Club member Tom Campbell‘s private boat for the morning, as we got all our gear stowed and began heading out for our first of two drift dives. Being as it is a private boat (and one of the six divers was the captain), we rotated through the first dive so that everyone got to dive. We were on a reef called “Pine Tree” just north of the Hillsboro Inlet and fairly shallow at about 40fsw. I was buddied up with Pat, a friend of Heather (one of my dive buddies), and off we went – he was in search of something to spear or snare, I was in search of good video. We managed to get two Lobsters – the second one put up quite a fight! – and that was about it. We had a couple of very curious Gray Triggerfish following us around for most of the dive, and I saw a school of Spadefish, two Pufferfish and 2 Burrfish.
After coming up from our dive, Captain Tom informed us that since the air temps were dropping, we were canceling our second dive. That was OK with us since, after we got out of the water, the wind was cutting through our wetsuits and chilling us to the bone! So we had a short morning of it, but everyone had a good time. The total catch was 15 Lobsters and one Mutton Snapper, so it wasn’t a total wash. Of course, on the way back into the Inlet, we get stopped by a Florida Fish & Wildlife officer who wanted to inspect our boat and our catch of the day. He was very friendly (and cold like us) and probably bored as we were one of maybe two boats out with divers aboard in this “viking” weather. We are released without a fine and head back to the dock – and a hot tub! – at Tom’s house.
Shootin’ video and making new friends here in Paradise,
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!
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.
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!