Scuba on the East Coast?! Jupiter, Florida

Kelly looking pumped

Heidi hovering over the colorful reef

  I realized recently that I've gone scuba diving all around the world, on four different continents, but the closest I have come to diving in the Atlantic Ocean was Puerto Rico...which is still pretty much the Caribbean. This all sounded pretty crazy to me since I grew up in Savannah, GA right on the Atlantic Ocean! But I also grew up not hearing about anyone diving in the murky, organic ocean water there. Even though I have spent countless hours and days playing in the ocean water of the Atlantic its underwater world has always been a bit of a mystery to me. Nate and Kelly to the rescue!

Fish and diver

Shark heading towards Nate

   While Heidi and I were planning our Florida road trip to see our friends in Miami, Nate mentioned a possible shark dive while we were there. I had definitely heard of a muck dive spot in Jupiter called the Blue Heron Bridge but a shark dive was news to me. It didn't take a lot of convincing though for me to be in for the adventure. And adventure it was.

    There are a couple of possibilities for shark dives in Jupiter. We ended up going with Jupiter Dive Center which is a bit more eco-conscious, i.e. they don't chum for sharks, but on the other hand the don't chum for sharks. So pros and cons. There are a few companies that go out to some wrecks specifically to chum for sharks, but we were eager to check out the natural reef and they were all filled up anyways. It is a 2 dive boat trip which is definitely part of the adventure. This might be the only area in the world that expects you to have your own tank, and set up all your own gear at the beginning, middle, and end of the trip. The boat ride itself gets pretty wild as soon as you make the turn out of the river when the typical short period wind swell starts and never stops.
    The dive sites are located a few miles offshore, so its miles of nothing around with the tall building of the shoreline visible to one side. On our day we had one dive guide for about 18 divers, and you were encourage to do your own thing with your buddy once you descend. I had never seen anyone bring spear guns on a dive trip but there were several on this one. It is also a drift dive. So the boat doesn't anchor, instead it goes into neutral, gets sideways to the waves, rocks like crazy, as the deckhand is shouting, "dive, dive, dive." I felt a little like we were military parachuters ready to jump.
    I wasn't sure what to expect of the visibility of the water. It was overcast and looked inky and dark at the surface. Our first dive site was Area 51 which was a blue water descent down to a rocky ledge starting around 70' deep. My initial reaction was surprise at seeing the bottom shortly after starting my descent. The visibility ranged from 30-60ft which was far better than I was expecting.  The next surprise came from the reef itself. It was covered in soft coral, like sea fans, all waving in the strong current. I could kick up-current if I tried but except stopping to take pictures it was quite nice to drift along, caught up in the gulfstream.

Reef Shark coming in close

He really liked Nate

   About halfway through the first dive as I was taking a picture of an interesting fish Kelly poked me hard in the should to get my attention. I glance at her face, turned in the same direction she was looking at immediately saw a sizeable reef shark. It was so nice to see something other than a white tip reef shark which is the usual suspect while diving in Hawaii. We ended up seeing a couple of Caribbean reef sharks and a couple of really big lemon sharks. They really got active when some of the spear fishermen shot a couple of invasive lionfish.

Coming in for the pickup

Spadefish school and the reef

   By this time the four of us had become separated from the rest of the divers since we were hanging back taking pictures. At a depth of 70' we were getting pretty low on bottom time so we swam closer together and started ascending for our 3 minute safety stop. It was during this time, as we were all still drifting in the current, that Nate filled up his safety marker and we all hoped that the boat would see it. On a day like this the waves would make it hard for a boat to see a diver on his own with no marker. But this is how divers do it in Jupiter and I always appreciate a challenge. Just remember if you do this dive to be advanced, confident, and bring your A-game...i.e. safety sausage.

Lots of Fish

Look at all the color

   The second dive was similar in style to the first just insert turtles for sharks. We spotted a loggerhead resting at the surface between dives, then a couple of hawksbill sea turtles 60' down moving through the reef. I was amazed at the amount of life. There were big schools of fish, colorful angelfish, and even a big moray eel called the reef home.

    Some of my favorite fish were big spadefish cruising over the reef in schools of a dozen or so. We drifted down the reef enjoying the beautiful Atlantic Ocean, finally solving the mystery of what it is like...at least for this small part of it.

Huge Green Moray Eel

Hawksbill Sea Turtle