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We gathered at the Scuba Works dive shop signed our
wavers, showed them our cert cards and anyone who did
not have a safety sausage could purchase one there. If
was required, as all drift dives require a visual
signaling device. The Dive Master greeted us there and
recommended that anyone who hasn’t taken there sea sick
medicine do so now (he has already taken his). It was
going to be rough. From there we drove to the marina.
They loaded our gear from our card onto a pick-up and
drove to the boat (a short trip). A golf cart was there
to transport us or you could walk the short distance to
the boat. The crew assisted us in loading the gear onto
the boat. After we were settled on the boat we were
given a short briefing and safety message. We were told
that the waves would be high as we left the inlet to the
harbor until we returned to the calm waters of the
inlet. A few words about high, wow and then wow. We
could see the waves rolling and breaking as we
approached the mouth of the inlet. It looked like the
waves you would see at the mouth at Puget Sound. This
was not for those who did not have there sea legs or
their gear securely fastened, and maybe securely was a
vague term, I should say strongly fastened as we were in
for a very exciting ride. Exciting for some and maybe
hold-on-to-everything for others. We started rolling
with the first few waves that we encountered and then we
could see the big ones coming (for those who were
looking). The waves were breaking over the tops of
themselves as they rolled into the shore. These were
about 8 to 10 feet high and some even higher. The boat
powered up the big waves and as the bow pressed out at
the top you then headed straight down until you crashed
into the ebb. As soon as you steadied yourself you
headed into the next wave. It wasn’t just going up and
down but you rolled side to side as well. Whichever way
the waves came in. The next wave felt bigger than the
last. You kept expecting that after we cleared the inlet
mouth it would get better, but it only got a little
better out at sea. The waves were averaging around 6 to
8 feet high and not rolling but the mogul type, that is,
coming in lines but also side to side.
After approximately a 30 minute ride we arrived at the
first dive site, Hole-in-the-Wall. The Dive Master gave
us a brief explanation of the dive site and what we may
see at the bottom. There were several varieties of large
fish that we may encounter along with several species of
large sharks. The first of the three dives would be the
deepest and we should check our air mixtures to insure
that we were not using mixtures that exceeded the dive
tables for this dive. The entrance to Hole-in-the-Wall
was around 125 to 130 feet and the exit was around 130
to 145 feet, but you could maintain a depth of 130 feet
by going through the center of the hole. It was around
150 feet to the sandy bottom. There was a west / east
current, but look for the sandy bottom and then head
west to the ledge. Ron Anderson forgot his mask, but
Nancy and I had a spare mask and I loaned him mine.
With that 11 divers entered the water. Some armed with
spear-guns, some with cameras and the rest just diving.
I left my camera on the boat as I figured that it was
too large and didn’t want to take any changes handing it
off or onto the boat. The visibility was very poor,
approximately 8 to 10 feet and I descended looking for
the group. When I reached the sandy bottom at 117 / 120
feet I traveled east and west looking for the ledge.
After a few minutes I decided that the visibility was
too poor and began my assent, doing a 1 minute safety
stop at 60 feet and a 5 minute stop at 15 feet. I
returned back on the boat and was glad that I didn’t
bring my camera. The rest of the divers returned to the
boat with the same assessment of the dive. The
visibility was very poor only one diver remained with
the Dive Master and made it through the Hole-in-the-wall
and the rest just looked around. A few species of fish
were spotted, but none taken by the spear divers. A
couple of divers saw some sharks.
We were now ready for the one hour surface interval as
we piloted to the next dive site. I’m not certain what
the dive site was called, but it would be a dive of
about 85 feet in depth. After the hour stop 10 divers
entered the water, but after about 10 to 12 minutes
later, Ron surfaced and said that the visibility was
worse than the last dive site. He could not even see the
end of his spear gun. So he got back on the boat and
said the he wasn’t going to do the third dive. I told
him if I wasn’t taking pictures, I wasn’t going to blow
off a tank of gas to see nothing. A few minutes later
the rest of the divers surfaced and they were picked up.
We started to begin our surface interval and it was
discussed and agreed that we would skip the third dive.
As much as we all love diving and had committed to doing
three dives, it would not be worth the time and effort
to do another dive with the very poor visibility. So we
headed back to the dock, knowing quite well what would
be in store in the mouth of the harbor. The boat
approached cautiously riding the ebbs of waves out from
the shore line. As we approached the mouth of the inlet
the waves got larger and larger. The large waves were
rolling over at their crest and the boat captain rode
them in as expertly as anyone could. The boat was
coasting down the waves like a surfer riding the big
one. We coasted into the harbor and departed the boat
and packed our cars. Walter and Nancy had talked about
diving under the Blue Heron bridge in West Palm Beach.
It was a great macro dive. I was certainly up for a
photo opportunity. We would go and see if the visibility
was any good.
A short drive later I arrived at the park under the Blue
Heron bridge. Parked my car and look to see where you
would enter the water and what the visibility looked
like. Looking into the water I could see through three
feet of water to the sandy bottom. I was ready. You can
only dive under the bridge during high tide as the river
current is too strong and high tide would be at 3:44
today. It was just a short wait until 2:40 which would
be 1 hour before high tide and I could stay until 1 hour
after high tide. This was a two hour window for diving.
Nancy had seen some photos of someone work the night
before and was anxious to see the real thing for
herself, and me too.
I entered the water and swam along the bridge pilings
looking at the macro marine life. There many species of
small colorful tropical fish, fire worms, colorful
sponges, sea ferns, etc. It was a macro photographer’s
workshop. I spent two hours in the shallow water filming
the sites. The visibility wasn’t the best, but it was
much better than we had earlier today. After I got out
of the water and was heading out of the parking lot I
saw Walter and Nancy and told Nancy that I had a good
time. Walter asked me where I went and said that the
other bridge was much better. There was another bridge,
yes, on the other side of the parking lot. Another dive
site for the next time.
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