Diving in Palm Beach is always exciting in that we never know what to expect. Eels, turtles, goliath groupers, and a plethora of tropical fish, a new and exciting encounter is always just a giant stride away. With the winter season upon us a variety of very special creatures make their way across our coastal waters.

Most days the encounters are spectacular in their own ways, but today’s encoutner reached epic proportions. It was a whale of a day! On Governors River Walk wrecks a juvenile whale shark, measuring (merely) thirty feet, graced us with its presence for hours on end. Friendly as can be, it circled the wrecks while a gaggle of snorklers and divers enjoyed this rare encounter.

Everyone that encountered this creature was stirring with excitement and smiles. The local press got word of it and a news helicopter hovered above the area filming this leviathan from the air. Few words can describe being in the water next to the world’s largest fish so I’ll let these photos speak for themselves.

Join us on a dive in Palm Beach. You never know what you’ll see!

What an amazing dive! We dropped in on the Governor’s Riverwalk wrecks and were greeted not only by the wind vanes of the ocean, the Great Barracudas, but by a heftier ocean character… A good eight foot Bull shark! What an incredible sight to see. This animal was pure muscle – the Arnold Schwarzenegger (in his youth) of the ocean.

As we continued from wreck to wreck we encountered other elasmobranchs… A nurse shark was laying in the sand in front of the Thorzina. What a great black and white photograph that would have made but, of course, I decided to leave my camera behind this time… To enjoy the moment, as I like to say. (My friend Dave Haas is probably shrieking at the sound of those words right now — long story!). Anyways,  on our way to the Gilbert Sea across the limestone boulders a two foot Caribbean Reef shark swam right below me.

By now I’m bubbling with joy. Three different shark species in one dive. That doesn’t happen every day. My neck was turning like an owl in a field of mice. Where were the lemon sharks I’d seen a couple of days ago? As I made it to the Gilbert Sea and turned the corner I found myself face to face with of another enormous Bull shark. This one must have been pushing close to ten feet. This Bull shark had a host of Shark Suckers drafting its pressure wave. I think I left a permanent dent on my aluminum tank as I banged on my tank like crazy trying to get the divers attention on this amazing creature before it turned and swam away.

Our second dive to Midreef was just as enjoyable. Zig-zagging through the reef we came across all sorts of creatures. A larger Green Moray and a Spotted Eel were having a chat. A top of the reef an area about two feet in diameter was littered with shells. The home of a very bloated Octopus, no doubt. Unfortunately, no body was home. Perhaps he went to the local drug store for some antacid medication. In the mix of shells was a beautiful Roostertail shell.

Swimming east we made it to Spearman’s Barge and spent some time with Squirt (named after the little turtle in Finding Nemo), a tiny foot long Hawksbill turtle that has been living on this wreck for a couple of weeks now. The wreck was loaded with fish: 427 to be exact (I counted them so our divers wouldn’t have to. lol!) Not too far away from the wreck a larger Hawksbill turtle was busy feeding on some sponges with a couple of angelfish picking at the left overs.

Overall, today’s dives were spectacular. Great visibility and a fun group of divers made for a terrific day out at sea. One of our divers, a recent guest on our shark trips to the Bahamas, was surprised by the amazing shark extravaganza dive. A real compliment considering he had spent a week surrounded by fifteen foot Tiger sharks, a slew of Lemon sharks, and too many Caribbean Reef sharks to count. Not bad for a day’s dive in Palm Beach, Florida.

With a boat load of divers we headed south to Ron’s Reef where we would do our fun leap frog dive across two reefs – Ron’s Reef to Flower Gardens.This unique area is always teaming with all sorts of life and today was no different. A couple of Loggerhead and Hawksbill turtles were busy doing their turtle thing. Squids abound throughout the reef. And Goldentail morays were out and about nuclear hunting with Graysbys.

Jumping across Ron’s Rock into the southern part of Flower Gardens I came across a creature I rarely see – the Fingerprint Cyphoma. This little beauty, a close cousin of the Flamingo Tongue, is a tiny mollusc who, as the name implies, appears as though someone with ink on their fingers touched the shell.

Our second dive was to the famous Breakers reef. This reef recently got a little extra attention in the news as it was the location of a terrible tragedy. It is believed a tug boat, that was running over the reef, allowed its lines to go slack thus causing the equivalent of a horizontal guillotine. The damage sustained by the reef was pretty extensive slicing large barrel sponges, over turning hard corals that were a couple decades old, and causing numerous other destruction to this amazing yet fragile reef. This is not the first time it has happened either. Thankfully, people are starting to take notice and hopefully something will be done to prevent these types of mishaps from occurring again.

As we drifted by one section of the reef we could see the damage. Thankfully the ocean and its denizen are resilient enough to rebuild. Aside from the mishap, the reef was still thriving with life. Schools of fish were every where. Again we saw some squids cruising near the reef. Every nook and cranny had something beautiful and unique to see. With a backdrop of bright orange sponges this reef is a sight that never gets old. Just one of the many reasons why we must do everything we can to protect it.

Overall, the day’s diving was spectacular. In essence, a true “Winter Wonderland.”