Dive or Snorkel Blue Heron Bridge with Jupiter Dive Center!
Want to see an Octopus? How about a batfish, spotted eagle ray, frogfish, or seahorse? Now imagine encountering them all in one place. Welcome to Blue Heron Bridge! Consistently touted as one of the top sites in the nation for shore diving due to its ease of entry and its variety of marine life, Blue Heron Bridge at Phil Foster Park is the perfect place to dive or snorkel—and Jupiter Dive Center offers guided tours to make your time in the water even more special!
Critters at the Bridge
Blue Heron Bridge is a photographer’s dream! While occasionally large marine animals cruise through (manatees, manta rays, and hammerheads have all been spotted at the bridge!), it is the variety of smaller critters that earn this bridge dive its reputation. The site is comprised of sand, rock, pilings, and man-made items (especially the underwater statues along the snorkel trail). Marine life often prefers one habitat over another, so it’s important to know where to look—and our guides do.
What nudibranchs lack in size they make up for in vibrancy—making them a favorite of underwater photographers the world over. Nudibranchs belong in the mollusc family and can range in size from an eighth of an inch to approximately four inches. Their colors and color patterns, as well as where their exposed gills are located, vary depending on species, but they all have a pair of rhinophores on their front end that serve as sensory organs that work similarly to our sense of smell.
Nudibranchs hang out in foliage, on pillars, and on debris. They’re tiny, so be prepared to search.
Most bottom dwellers are masters of disguise. A striated frogfish looks a lot like it donned a hairy ghillie suit as camouflage. Scorpionfish hide in plain sight thanks to their fleshy appendages, mottled earth-tone skin, and their tendency to remain still. Both tend to hide in rubble or debris. Stargazers have the ability to bury themselves in the sand by rapidly vibrating their bodies. Chances are, you’ll only see their two eyes gazing upward—which is how they got their name.
Most of the critters that call the sand home also take a bit of effort to find. Best advice? Slow down and watch your buoyancy. There is a whole host of small, elongated bottom-dwelling fishes that include gobies, blennies, and jawfishes, and most live in holes and dens on the bottom. None of these fishes exceed three inches, and gobies and blennies are particularly easy to confuse. The key difference is their respective dorsal fins: gobies have two; blennies often have only one long one. In contrast, jawfish have proportionally large mouths and gaping jaws. Male jawfishes are responsible for incubating the eggs, which they do in their mouths. Oftentimes, divers catch just a glimpse of their heads. Startle them, and it will take patience and good buoyancy control before they reemerge from their holes.
There is one resident of Blue Heron Bridge that is downright strange—in a really good way. Batfish are clumsy swimmers and instead rely on their pectoral and ventral fins to “walk” along the ocean floor. They also have a protuberance above their mouth that resembles a small horn mouth which they use to lure their prey. Compared to many fish, they are not easily startled, allowing divers to take a good, long look.
Rocks punctuate Blue Heron Bridge, and there is almost always something sheltered in the crevices or under their small ledges. This is where you most likely see small crustaceans like the spindly arrow crabs with their purple-tipped legs or decorator crabs that affix various bits of shell and debris to themselves to change their appearance. It’s also where you are most likely to see spotted drum fish—those flashy little black and white fish.
It's a really great dive when you can encounter a seahorse without traveling to a more exotic location. Blue Heron Bridge has them! Seahorses are often found holding onto foliage along the seawalls leading into and out of Blue Heron. Seahorses, like many marine animals, have no eyelids, and they are sensitive to bright lights—like camera strobes. Yes, they are picturesque, but, please be considerate.
Rays frequent the Bridge, and you may encounter one or more of Florida’s most common rays, the southern stingray. Variously brown, gray, and black, they attain 3-6 feet and can often be found with a yellow jack or bar jack riding shotgun slightly above them. The yellow stingray is less common and smaller—less than a foot—and is covered with numerous pale and dark spots on its yellowish brown skin.
Spotted eagle rays are more skittish, and while they often cruise out of sight and higher in the water column, they occasionally stop to dig in the sand for mollusks. You can identify these 4-6-foot rays by their dark backs and numerous white spots—and occasionally, a whole aggregation of them will pass through the dive site.
Sometimes the clue to finding a specific creature at the Bridge is to look for its home, and that’s the case with an octopus. There are two main species that can be found at Blue Heron Bridge are the Atlantic longarm and the common octopus. An octopus moves very fluidly, and when they stop, they often adopt the colors of their surroundings, meaning it’s often the actual movement that will catch your attention.
Look for shells close to an overhang or by a rubble pile for the common octopus, and small holes in the sand for the Atlantic longarm. When swimming, the longarm often skims the sand with all its legs close together, resembling a small ray. For more about octopuses, be sure to check out our recent octopus blog!
Night Dives at the Bridge
It’s amazing how different a dive site can be after the sun goes down. Many marine animals that shelter during the day come out at night, and the same is true at Blue Heron Bridge.
Lobsters, urchins, eels, and some species of octopus all hunt at night. And if you’re ready to explore what goes bump in the night, so are we!
Diving the Bridge
If all this talk of marine life is making you want to reach for your camera, you’re in good company. Between the diversity of critters and the ease of entry, it is a great place to hone your photography skills.
And if you’re new to underwater photography, you may want to consider taking a Digital Underwater Photography course before you go.
Due to currents, divers typically plan to enter the water about a half hour before high tide and enjoy the site until the current picks up again. Beyond a designated swimming area, diving depths range from 5 - 22 feet, so expect an extra-long dive!
Why go with a guide?
Most importantly, we know the site. We can help you identify the marine animals that call it home, and we know where they like to hang out. And while it isn’t a drift dive, you’ll still need a surface marker to comply with Florida law and to warn boat traffic of your presence in the shallow waters. Often, you’ll see divers using either an inner-tube sporting a raised dive flag or a float ball and dive flag. Both require a line caddy or reel attachment to ensure the flag doesn’t float away. And if you don’t have a guide, you’ll need to have your own. (And yes, it is enforced). Would you rather be tugging around the surface marker or focusing on your dive and the incredible things you’ll see?
Blue Heron Bridge is a tide-dependent dive site. We can schedule a Blue Heron Bridge Guided tour nearly any day you’d like, but check our dive calendar for guided night dives. In fact, we’re leading Blue Heron Bridge Guided night dives on October 18th and 19th, and November 4th and 5th! So, grab your gear and book your dive with Jupiter Dive Center or call 561-745-7807 today. Your adventure awaits!
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