To plan your dives, you'll need local tide tables.
The Blue Heron Bridge is part of the Lake Worth
Inlet, or Riviera Beach. Complimentary tables are
available at local dive shops or online at www.tides.info/?command=view&location=Palm+Beach,+Lake+Worth,+Florida . Tides progress about 50 minutes
each day so that during the week, a high tide starting
around 8a.m. on Monday can swing to after 12 p.m.
by Friday. To maximize bottom time, I entered the
water about an hour before and after the tides turned.
During the dive, the main thing is to reach your exit
point before the current gets too strong.
It helps to have a tool to hold your position, and
enough weight to keep on the sandy bottom. I don't
recommend a reef hook, as there are no reefs with dead
coral to hook onto. I started off by using a lobe on my
line holder to stab into the bottom, but the sand was too
densely packed for this to work well. I didn't want to dull my dive knife, so I bought an inexpensive, 16-inchlong,
blunt, stainless steel rod called "The Tank Ticklin'
Stick" that I saw the locals using. It has a stainless steel
ring at one end that clipped into my buoy line holder. I
could detach and slip it through my fingers any time. It
also works as a tank banger.
In these waters, divers must stay within 50 feet of a
dive flag or risk being fined. The catch is that sooner or
later, its line hangs up on the many pilings and piers.
Locals solve this problem in two ways. One is by hanging
weights off a buoy line holder and leaving it nearby
on the bottom, but that means having to buy or rent
extra weight, and it can be carried off by the current. The
preferred method is to wrap the line around something
that won't be damaged, then clip it back into the line
holder. Locals also use a cave or wreck reel on which
they clip a small, blunt, grappling-style reef hook to use
when drift diving. The free end still goes up to a dive
flag, but it eliminates the need for a separate reef hook
and line.
- - S.P.