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The Blue Heron Bridge dive is known for its dense marine life and great macro photography muck diving site.
| Name Dive Site: | Blue Heron Bridge, Jerry Thomas Memorial Bridge |
| Depth: | 0-22ft (0-7m) |
| Visibility: | 16-32ft (5-10m) |
| Accessibility: | Shore |
| Inserted/Added by: | lars, © Author: Lars Hemel |
| Rated: | Rated 5.0, 1 votes |
| Specifications: |     |
| GPS: | N26°46.997', W80°2.626' |
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Best dive-season / How to get there: The Blue Heron Bridge or Jerry Thomas Memorial Bridge connects Singer Island with mainland Riviera Beach and is best dived on an incoming tide (just before slack high tide) when clear blue water floods the entire area. Look at moored boats to check for the amount and direction of the current.The dive site Blue Heron Bridge is one of Florida's best shore dives, popular because of its abundance of fish and invertebrates. The bridge (Blue Heron Blvd) connects Singer Island with mainland Riviera Beach and is approximately 1km long. Halfway you can find Phil Foster Park, used as a parking lot and also the place where you can best start your dive right from the beach just below the bridge pillars. The entrance is free, there are outdoor fresh water showers and restrooms, but do not leave any valuables in your car. The guarded swimming area is marked with white buoys and prohibited for scuba diving. The Intracoastal Waterway Channel is heavily traveled by boats so stay away (especially while night diving you might miss the fourth pillar), always use a dive flag and try to stay deep without destroying corals and stirring up the silted bottom. It is also often used for fishing so bring a dive knife and pay attention not to get entangled in nets and fishing lines.
There are actually two often visited dive sites. The eastern and western side of the bridge, both on the park side. The western end just below the fishing pier is slightly bigger offering some fabulous sea life. The eastern side is less visited but with as many inhabitants. Each bridge piling structure has plenty of rubble at its base which is used by critters as their home. The daily strong incoming and outgoing tides provide the area with rich and nutrient waters attracting arrow crabs, banded coral shrimp, snake eels and many sand dwellers. You can spot toadfish, seahorses, stargazers. Other popular marine species include spadefish, filefish, batfish, flying gurnards, squid, octopus, moray eels, spotted rays, angelfish. You can even see eagle rays here. In one word a great macro muck diving site and spectacular to shoot some closeup pictures of small critters.
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