Reef Report
Saturday, October 7
Castor Wreck and Goliath Grouper Dive- Boynton Beach with South Florida Diving Headquarters

It was a fantastic day on Lake Atlantic as 13 Active Divers cruised out of Boynton Harbor Marina into the flat blue with the Scubatyme boat all to ourselves. The annual Goliath Grouper aggregation that the waters off of Palm Beach County are famous for came a bit early this year due to warmer sea temps, but we managed to catch a few October stragglers on the Castor Wreck, one of the best in Boynton Beach. Check out this incredible video from Jean Gruss of the goliaths in action with a face full of minnows surrounded by a swirl of bar jacks. 

Dive 1: Castor Wreck - they tied off to the wreck with an unusual swift south current which persisted down to the wreck, though it was much milder on the wreck. The top 30 feet on the line was quite murky, though it got much clearer on the wreck. A few goliaths were waiting for us, and a couple claimed their spot in the ship's interior spaces that were clearly visible to all of our divers. One refused to budge and stayed in place the entire dive, peering at us as minnows swirled about its head. Most of the action was around 85', though with the 40' viz you could easily see the layout of the main ship's deck at 110'. The entire outside of this wreck is encrusted with beautiful orange cup corals, and in addition to the groupers we saw scorpionfish, swirling minnows, bar jacks and numerous tropicals. The water was still a balmy 86 degrees which made the entire experience wonderful. 

Dive 2: Paulisades Reef - The captain let us know that this reef was named after someone named Paul. And I'll let you in on his little-known secret: the reefs off of Boynton Beach are by far the best diving in South Florida - better than the Keys (especially now) and anywhere else from Jupiter to Key West. The reef ledge starts at 55 feet and spans down 10-15 feet to 70 at the sand. On this dive we were treated to incredibly healthy vibrant orange coral and literally forests of huge purple vase sponges lining the top of the ledge. At the base of the ledge we saw three large green moray eels between clouds of fish of every variety. It was a truly spectacular day of diving.  

-- Active Divers President and Safety Officer Rachel Davis