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June 8, 2019
South Florida Diving June 2019
Once again we’re spending a week in South Florida with our dear friends Tom and Donna. Once again we’ll be staying at the Wyndham Santa Barbara in Pompano Beach, but our diving will be different. We’ll drive down to Miami and dive there, drive up to Jupiter and dive there, dive the famous Blue Heron Bridge, and then, also, we’ll dive with the folks at Pompano Beach Scuba.
It’s a long drive from Knoxville, Tennessee, to Pompano Beach, Florida. About 820 miles. We got up at 3:15AM, left at 4:15AM, Tom and Donna in their big Ford F350 Diesel truck, Carol and I in my Hyundai, Ioniq. We took our own tanks and weights, Carol’s two 60s and my two 100s, all steel.
We stopped at one of the world’s worst McDonalds south of Atlanta and then a much better one somewhere in South Georgia. The ioniq made a very nice long distance vehicle. The first tank yielded 55mpg, the second 52mpg, remarkable for a fully packed vehicle and going at a good pace, generally 75-85.
We spent much longer than anticipated at the Florida Welcome Center just past the Florida state line. The reason why we stopped there in the first place was because I needed a new transponder sticker for SunPass, Florida’s automated toll system. I already had an account, had added funds online, and all I needed was a transponder sticker for my new car.
But things had changed. The sticker was no longer free. It now cost five dollars. From a vending machine whose card reader was broken and when fed cash, returned the change in one dollar coins. And the new sticker needed activation at another machine that had a long line of people waiting. Activating online was impossible because, unbelievably, there was no cellphone signal at the welcome center. Staff couldn’t help and suggested we call SunPass. Which we couldn’t, due to lack of signal. When I finally found a weak signal a ways away, the formerly trim and quick SunPass app was sluggish and bloated. And the app was nearly incomprehensible and infuriating to use. I wasted close to an hour trying to do something as simple as activating a sticker. Very annoying. Not progress, Florida.
Traffic on a Saturday was awful, and then we encountered torrential rain. This was quite different from earlier trips with fond memories of barbecues and boiled peanuts. But that all was quickly forgotten as we settled in at our home for the week at the Pompano Beach Wyndham.
Sunday, June 2nd -- No getting up early for our first dives of the trip. That’s because we drove down to Miami Beach for a couple of dives with the Tarpoon Dive Center. When one thinks of Miami these days what comes to mind isn’t so great, but everything certainly still looks grand and impressive and much like the old Miami Vice. Tarpoon is in a big modern building right at the very bottom tip of Miami Beach by a fancy marina. There was a brand new Rolls Royce convertible with a young couple and lots if luxury vehicles. The dive shop, inside, looked cozy and old style.
We thought we’d be in a very small group to go out diving, but it turned out to be a very large one. 38 people including, or perhaps on top of, a good number of snorkelers. It was very hot and humid and by the time we finally got going, we’d been placed in the baking sun on the fairly large boat.
The ride out was smooth and the first dive on a very shallow reef, Falcon something. It was all of 20 feet, had some current, and was, by most reef standards, unexceptional, with so-so viz. It was, however, an opportunity to get acquainted again with dive gear after our last dives last September. For me that included a brand-new Scubapro Hydros BC that turned out to be great.
Back on the boat we pretty much immediately motored to our next site, an interesting one named the Neptune Memorial Reef, fashioned, supposedly, after the lost city of Atlantis. It sits at 40 feet on a sandy flat and is in essence a cemetery. A grand one that reminds of sunken Greek or Roman ruins, with columns, mausoleum style settings, statues, etc. People’s ashes are embedded in shapes of starfish, turtles, sea shells. It’s both eery and grand, and the slight murkiness added to the impression.
Back on the boat it was rushing to get out of the gear and pack everything up because the charter had another load of divers and snorkelers waiting. A loud, forceful captain lady did a good job, but overall this was a mixed experience. And by the time we were done it was already too late to have the anticipated dinner there. We had to get back to Pompano Beach to drop our tanks off.
I had taken my new GoPro 7 Black on the dives, and here the impressions were mixed as well. The battery life is as dismal as I remember, and the GoPro often does what it wants instead of what I want. The latter is partly my fault, because I can neither see the tiny menu nor soI know yet all of the GoPro’s new tricks. I did find out, however, that between WiFi on the 7 Black and the latest GoPro app, transferring images and video to the iPad is almost automatic. On the flip side, it all gets transferred into a somewhat opaque GoPro app that wants to hold onto it, create movie compilations, and save it to GoPro’s own cloud. Just getting it into Photos on the iPad takes some doing.
Monday, June 3rd -- The plan was being at the Pompano Beach Dive Center for two deepish wreck dives, the Lady Luck and the Captain Dan. As it turned out none of those happened, at least for Carol and I. While the water was quite calm on the surface, there was substantial current. So much that the buoy was immediately pulled way below the surface. The captain said conditions were borderline for a dive, but sent the two diver masters down to assess the situation. When they came back up word was that there was indeed ripping current and visibility was poor. This was going to be a holding on to the anchor line with both hands both down and back up, and caution down at the wreck. Carol and I decided to pass.
The rest jumped in and were quickly pulled away. After a couple of minutes Donna resurfaced and tried to get back on the boat. That was impossible and she was pulled under the boat. Eventually they told her to just let go and the boat would go get her. That worked. A few minutes later, a rebreather diver, a former Navy aviator, also came back up. The current was so bad that it had ripped his gloves apart. He decided it wasn’t worth even reaching the wreck.
Amazingly, the rest all made it back okay. The captain decided to cancel the second deep wreck dive, that one to the Captain Dan. So we did a drift dive instead, and then two more drift dives in the afternoon. They were all at around 60 feet and, for the most part, fun. Each time we followed a dive master. Each time we saw massive turtles, HUGE. Back on land we were totally bushed. Went for pizza in the little strip mall on the next block where a single pizza, excellent, was big enough for at least two people.
Some observations: for the dive boat, take along plastic ziploc bags, gallon size, to put stuff that needs to be dry. Whatever you bring to wear, it needs to be loose so that it goes on easy. Salt water makes you so sticky. Bring a towel and put it somewhere in l of the boat. And, once again, I so wish dive operations would make it clear what is expected of tips. As is, it is a mess.
Tuesday, June 4 -- Waking up to a great sunshine and flat water. Carol has a headache and decided to sit today out. I will go but if the current remains as is, I can’t see going down to two deep wrecks.
And here’s what happened. The sea was nice and flat, but as we learned that can be very deceptive. Once we got out to the site of the Captain Dan wreck, the buoys there looked like they were waterskiing. It took the captain three attempts to drop off the two dive masters so they could go down to the wreck to see what the situation was. They were back quickly. Way too much current and poor visibility. “No way†said the captain. The problem now was that onboard was a truly surly and unpleasant female tech instructor or some such who insisted she had to take her charges to this and that wreck and to this and that depth. So since tying up on any wreck that suited her was not possible, the captain suggested dropping the tech folk off at some deep where they could have enough depth, and then send us off on a drift dive where we’d see a series of tugs and the sharks that hang out there.
Sadly, the dive master missed the location, seemed to want to go back up, but then changed his mind and went on a drift dive. A few minutes into that he seemed to change his mind again, handed Donna the flag, and left. So we did the drift dive by ourselves. It wasn’t great scenery as the reefs here all seem choking on that small-leaf algae. It still was a nice dive. We went up after 65 minutes or so (for which Donna got a reprimand on the boat for taking too long).
The captain announced that we were now tied off to the wreck of the Okinawa, a relatively small boat (160 feet or so) that we had been to two years ago eight after it had been sunk. The current was supposed to be much less now, and divers were welcome to go down.
Well, the current did not seem less at all. Merely pulling oneself down to the wreck was nearly impossible. It was so strong that it tore the lanyard to my camera setup which, fortunately I had held in my hand when the lanyard broke. It took a long time to get down. The current was just as strong at the wreck and I had to hold onto the (already surprisingly encrusted and deteriorated) wreck. The current was a bit less on the far side of the boat, and I actually ventured inside the hull where there were thousands of fish, including barracudas.
Conditions were such that I decided to go back up after only 25 minutes or so. And that was just as hard as going down. At the surface I found Donna hanging in the buoy line, but no boat anywhere near. So we hung in for dear life for at least ten minutes, and that was not pleasant. I didn’t want to let go and be blown out into the ocean. Eventually the boat did come to get us. What a trip.
So I skipped the afternoon dives and washed my gear instead. Carol still wasn’t feeling well. For real estate it’s location, location, location. For diving it’s definitely, conditions, conditions, conditions.
In the evening we had dinner with our friends George and Cathy Cather, whom we had met in the Turks & Caicos Explorer in 2009. It was nice to reconnect, even though the Black Stone Bar & Grill mightily struggled.
Wednesday, June 5 -- And today we’ll dive the Blue Heron Bridge. It connects the mainland across the intracoastal waterway with the barrier island strip that’s along most of southern Florida. It’s a bit north of West Palm Beach and the barrier island part is called Singer Island.
We did, sort of. It was a longer drive with more traffic than we anticipated, but we made it on time. The couple that parked next to us gave us helpful tips, or so we thought. In essence, there’s a park north of the bridge for fishing and camping, and a rather nice sandy beach on the south side. Part of that, a rectangle, is reserved for swimming. To the left and right of that are entries for divers. Depths there are 20-25 feet and there is supposed to be lots of life and things to see.
The area past the swimming rectangle is what’s called the snorkeling trail, which is just ten feet deep and designed for snorkeling with submerged structures to look down onto. The way we interpreted the information the couple had given us, we swam through the swimming area, then made a right that got us onto the snorkeling trail. Which was okay, but was very sparse and had poor visibility. We did a 72 minute dive that way, feeling let down. Also, we had felt a bit cold in the 79 degree water.
Back at the truck, a woman diver who was parked next to us had done it the right way, had been underneath and past the east bridge with the pillars, been in 22-25 feet, and had actually seen two manta rays!
The drive back was marred by Tom’s truck having A/C issues that even a recharge bottle from an Auto Zone store could not fix.
We later drove up to Jupiter to see the dive venue/pier, which is lush and tropical. We saw the dive boat return, and it was nice, too, with a red dive flag design paint job. However, the water is scheduled to be 65/67 degrees!!! Way to cold for our gear. I have no idea where that cold water could possibly come from. Donna called the dive shop later in the evening, and all she could get out of “Wild Bill†was that the water was 65 degrees. NOAA says 81, so I have to assume the 65 is some thermocline at some depth at some site, but “65†was all Donna could get from the dive shop. So weird.
Also.... EVERYTHING I wear on a dive trip MUST HAVE A ZIPPERED POCKET.
Thursday, June 6 -- And since, apparently, the Jupiter dive shop insists that the water temperature is 65 degrees, we decided to write that operation off and go back to the Blue Heron Bridge. This time armed with research and the proper information.
The tide is important when diving the Blue Heron Bridge, and it varies from day to day. Yesterday high tide was at 10:21AM, today it was 11:12. It is suggested to start the dive half an hour before high tide and finish it half an hour after.
It was brutally hot and I was once again reminded what a physical sport scuba diving is. Just packing one’s gear and carrying it around is a full workout, and putting it on another. Then it’s also infuriatingly possible to forget something, and that’s not good in a sport where everything matters or is imperative. This morning Tom forgot his mask and I my dive socks.
Anyway, we did make into the water and, this time. headed in the right direction. As soon as we entered the channel water was rushing upstream with the tide, and that made for a substantial current. So we held on to whatever we could and slowly moved underneath the bridge. You’d think there’d still be plenty of light there, but you’d think wrong. It was quite dark and the many pillars look overgrown and worn and ghostly. Everything is teeming with life and out if near darkness came a giant Goliath Grouper. Huge.
Overall, the wildlife under and around the bridge is astonishing and you never know what you’ll see next. There is a lot of soft red sponge where sea horses have been seen. After almost an hour and a half in the water, we felt the tide coming back the other way, which made for a nice gentle ride back underneath the bridge.
So this second attempt was a big hit.
After a bit of relaxing we walked over to the beach on the other side of the road where the Wyndham Santa Barbara is in, which is quite expansive, with very nice sand, and with very few people. Nice.
In the evening we were so exhausted that we all called it quits at 9PM. I was out like a light. I do take both pride and comfort in knowing that I can still do and enjoy all of this at age 68, but I am also not unaware that some of it is a bit more difficult.
One thing that has absolutely baffled me on this trip is that dive shop in Jupiter that reports those ultra-low temperatures. Every day, after the boat is back in, they publish a group picture of all the happy customers on the boat and report visibility, waves, current, and temperature. So you read 65F and 10 foot visibility and nothing else. Which would make diving unpleasant and/or impossible, because people do not come to South Florida in June with 7mil wetsuits and all the protection needed to dive in cold water.
I’d understand if the dive shop warned that on some dive sites there might be a thermocline at such and such depth. We’ve experienced that in Pompano with a wreck where at 80 feet or so the water temperature went from 82 to 65 on the wreck. That was so cold that Tom, who usually dives with just shorts and a shirt, stayed above the thermocline. But that is the exception and not the norm. Why a dive shop would list the worst conditions encountered and not the entire situation is beyond me. Do they want to drive away customers?
In dealing with this dive shop, Donna made every effort to get them to tell us the whole situation. With NOAA reporting 82 degrees in the surface at Jupiter, you’d expect a dive operator to tell you what customers might have to expect, and also to take them to dive sites that are reasonable for diving. But no. The answer always was 65 degrees. We can’t predict what’s happening. No further information.
Go figure.
Friday, June 7 -- Last diving day of the trip already, and also Tom’s birthday. The plan is to go up to Riviera Beach again and do another dive at Blue Heron Bridge. Diving is free there, which makes up a bit for losing the prepay at the weird Jupiter Dive Shop with its arctic temperature reporting. This time we’ll explore the western side of the park, the side towards the middle of the inlet.
As it turned out, the Western part of Blue Heron Bridge is a very different dive than the Eastern side. It is a significantly larger dive site since one can dive almost all the way across the waterway, until one gets to the boat channel. It’s shallower, mostly between 7 and 15 feet. And while on the Eastern side it’s dark and forbidding under the bridge and between the pillars, the Western side is much brighter. There is, however, just as much life there, and it’s endlessly entertaining. Strict observance of the tide is imperative, or else you spend much of your time fighting the current. We saw several skate sleeping/resting on the bottom. These are small rays without a sting. One was being encroached on by one of the plentiful very large starfish, suddenly realized the offense, and took iff like the proverbial bat out of hell. Lots of arrow crabs, many schools of fish, endless tiny little things to see. What a wonderful dive.
And also a long one. Mine was almost two hours and I had plenty of air left. Carol did well over two hours. Note to self: always bring a scribble pad. Underwater it is exceedingly difficult to communicate.
I commented on Facebook the unacceptable customs at that strange dive shop in Jupiter that seems determined to drive away customers after having collected their pre-pid money. Just some snarky responses and nothing else. What a rip-off. I wonder how they can be in business.
To end the day we had a nice birthday dinner for Tom at Flanigans.
Saturday, June 8 -- Got up at 5:30... love my quiet coffee and time to think and contemplate. Soon we’ll tackle the 820 mile trip back up North to our home in East Tennessee. It’s been a great week.
The drive took us about 12-1/2 hours. Left at 8:30am, arrived at 9pm, and that was with obnoxious traffic getting into and through Atlanta. It is amazing how inexpensively travel can be with. fuel-efficient vehicle. My 2018 Hyundai Ioniq hybrid got 54.6 mpg on the first tank, and 57 mpg on the second. All in all a tank and a half, 15 gallons. At US$2.50/gallon that’s $37.50 to get from South Florida to East Tennessee, with four big scuba tank and lots of gear.
So what’s this trip been all about and what have I learned? It’s been lots of fun. Going diving with good friends adds a lot. One needs a check list not only to make sure everything is packed fora dive trip, but also every time one leave the room in the morning to go diving. It is so easy to forget something. Even a little thing can be a big thing when it comes to scuba diving.
One day I forget to bring dive socks. No big deal one might think. But it is. Without them you can end up with your feet scraped raw and bleeding.
One day Tom forgot his mask or it hd gotten lost or stolen. You can’t dive without a mask. Fortunately, this was a shore dive and he could drive to. nearby dive shop and buy a new one,
Since I was diving with a new BC for the first time I neither had the inflatable safety sausage that is usually in the pocket of my old BC, nor my knife. Both would have come in handy.
The safety sausage when I surfaced from that dive to the wreck of the Okinawa and there was no dive boat and I had to hang on to the line in ripping current. With a safety sausage I could have let go, knowing that the bright orange sausage made it easy to see me in the open ocean. The knife when we were diving the Blue Heron Bridge where there was a lot of fishing line. I was lucky that I did not absolutely NEED the sausage or the knife, but it could have been different.
Another thing I learned was to keep batteries away from wetness, even if they are in supposedly watertight packaging or baggies. I had kept backups for both our dive computers and the wireless integrated air transmitters in the box I keep the computers in. Well, both a 3 Volt Lithium and a button cell got destroyed just from the moisture.
I also learned not to trust dive shops. While everything worked out one way or the other, being on a boat with 38 divers in Miami was stressful. They should have told us how busy it was going to be. And never prepay all your dives with any dive shop. The experience with Jupiter Scuba Diving where we lost all of our money was a lesson I won’t forget
Posted by conradb212 at June 8, 2019 5:56 PM
