Biscayne Bay is at the end of the Florida Turnpike - turn east and go to Convoy Point, Visitor Center, Homestead Bayfront Park. Its 4 hours from Melbourne / Satellite Beach. This trip was Sponsored by Dixie Divers of Palm Bay and the Down Under Dive Club. It included 2 dives Saturday Afternoon, overnight lodging at the Hampton Inn on US 1, just south of the Turnpike (305)-247-8833 .or. 800-HAMPTON, and two dives Sunday Afternoon.
Dive #1, 21-Mar-98 Saturday Afternoon, My Dive # 104
A. Dive Location: Stairway to Heaven - Ball Buoy (@ 10 miles east of the park)
B. Conditions: Clouds with some Sun, Winds 22 knots from the West, semi rough seas (2-3).
C. Dive Information: 22 for 40 min., temp 73 deg on the bottom, a full 3 mm wet suit was used. Vis poor - @ 10 and a 3 surge. Not much to see, few fish, reef did not have many colors, no bugs.
Dive #2
A. Dive Location: Virginia Beach (close to the 1st one), My Dive # 105
B. Conditions: Clouds with some Sun, Winds 22 knots from the West, semi rough seas (2-3).
C. Dive Information: 28 for 40 min., temp 76 deg on the bottom. Vis 15. Some Elkhorn Coral. There was a lot of big pieces of coral broken off and laying on the bottom, it was still brown so was still fresh. The Capt said the past bad weather was the cause. There was a lot of 8 depth that you could easily migrate into. We found at least 3 abandoned lobster traps that were strung together with no buoy. The rope between the traps was cutting into a lot of the coral. There was several dead bugs in the traps. The traps were made of wood and chicken wire - very strong. Something really should be done about these Florida Lobster Fisherman - they are distroying the reef with their traps!!!
Dive #3: 22-Mar-98, Sunday Morning Dive, My Dive # 106
A. Dive Location:The Wall! (@ 15 miles east of the park)
B. Conditions: Very high clouds, cool, slight wind, calm seas.
C. Dive Information: 105 for 24 min., temp at the bottom 71 deg. With no sign of a current at the surface, we were dropped in groups - we had 7 divers and I towed a buoy - to immediately drop to the bottom. We landed on the sand - east of the ledge. It was very difficult swimming against the bottom current to the wall. I had to pull myself along the sand while kicking hard and trying to pull the buoy! We finally made it to the wall. The wall goes up on a slight slant (not straight up). There was some life, we were pulled fairly fast with the current and did not get a chance to see the Black Coral at 90. There was some coral - not very bright colors - although we were at 70-100 so colors disappear. There was some sponge live. Few Fish. After the workout getting to the wall, we used up 1000 lbs of air and were tired. This is a must do again dive - we now know what it is all about.
Dive #4, My Dive # 107
A. Dive Location: Virginia - Buoy 2 (about 10 minutes from the wall)
B. Conditions: Some blue sky, seas calm.
C. Dive Information: 20 for 40 minutes, temp 76 deg on the bottom. This was a great dive. There were lots of fish, lots of colored coral, lots of channels - great dive. Again, we found a lot of abandon lobster traps. There was a lot of lobster trap rope from the traps wrapped around the coral. You would need a sharp wire cutter to free up the coral. Again, the Florida Lobster Fisherman are distroying this reef with their abandon traps. We did manage to get one side of a trap and about 20 of rope back to the boat. The trap did have an ID on it. This also is a must dive again area. With 50 vis and warm water, this would be heaven - fish, coral, releafs etc.