This is one of the all time GREAT dives. The bridge connects Blue Heron Boulevard,

over the Intracoastal Waterway to Singer Island.  There's a small county park, Phil

Foster Park, partway along that separates the East and West bridges and the park

provides beach access to the diving areas.  Entering the water, there's an unpromising

landscape of sand, gravel, beer bottles, sunken boats, engines and supermarket carts,

scoured by tides in five to fifteen feet of water. But it's home for fascinating and

usually unseen creatures--the weird and wonderful Batfish being a prime example.

This is a place where you definitely want to go with a local guide. It can only be dived

when the tide conditions are correct and the timing makes it difficult to co-ordinate

the opening hours of the park with the high slack tide. We were hugely impressed with

Elaine Blum, she co-ordinated the dates when we could dive twice a day, including a

night dive and her knowledge of the site and its animals meant we saw far more than

we would have on our own. And we didn't get swept away in massive tidal currents.

She can be reached at DIVEREB@COMCAST.NET

We went to the new ForceE dive shop, in Riviera Beach, right on Blue Heron Blvd,

minutes from the bridge for tanks, weights and other reasonably priced rental gear.

Very convenient to get to and renting means less to pack and carry. They also have

permits with Phil Foster Park to do night dives once or twice a month which allows

you stay in the park beyond sunset, until 10.00pm. You have to sign up to get the

parking permit but it's free. a price we can all live with.

Other helpful hints are to carry a pair of cutting shears--the site is festooned with

fishing line, a compass and a mandatory dive flag. There's a lot of boat traffic and it's

critical that you keep out of the marked boat channel (although boaters stray--

beware).

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