The wait is over! RSD is traveling to Riviera Beach, FL to visit the world famous Blue Heron Bridge. This is a great dive site for any diver, regardless of your skill level. With a maximum depth of 25′, this area hosts an array of wildlife ranging from sea horses to octopuses to stingrays (and so much more). You just never know what you’ll see until you hit the water. The really great part of this trip is the dives cost absolutely nothing (besides any gear rentals or air fills you need).
But wait, there’s more… we have the absolute honor of working with a truly incredible underwater photographer, Nicole Sangid, during our time there. Nicole is offering a 3 day photography workshop that boasts training, critiques and plenty of opportunities to capture amazing images during your time here. It is NOT a certification class but a class on how to take better photos regardless whats camera you are using. This workshop covers everything you would learn in a certification course but also includes personal mentoring, tips on editing, file storage, etc. Brian, a professional commercial photographer for 18 years, will be present to answer technical questions about gear or above-ground photography. This is NOT your typical certification class.. you WILL leave knowing how to take better photos, have some killer images from the dives and a much better understanding of keeping everything arranged on the back end.
If you aren’t interested in photography and just want a dive guide, we have you covered. We are offering a guided dive service for those unfamiliar with the bridge area. While it’s a great location, we are near an active boating lane so having the knowledge of where you can, and can’t go, is very important.
If you know the bridge and just want to come hang.. guess what, it’s free! We have a block of hotel rooms booked at a reduced rate. All you need to do is call the hotel and reserve your spot.
This trip is open to EVERYONE who would like to come. You MUST possess an open water certification but that’s it. The Blue Heron bridge area is a sheltered scuba & snorkeling area that we dive during slack tide, so there is very little current during this time. As the current picks up, that’s natures way of telling us its time to go. You’ll get about a 90 minute dive (roughly) if you hit the times right.
Raleigh Scuba Diving is organizing the trip but it’s self service for tanks and diving. We will provide all the resources for tank fills and an overall dive briefing for everyone. We plan on one long dive per day but there are TONS of charter options and night dives available should you want to seek them out. If you need rental gear, we have you covered but for tanks it may make more sense to rent from our preferred scuba shop just down the street from Blue Heron bridge. One AL80 is generally enough for this very shallow dive.
We will have one organized dinner each night where everyone is invited. Just let us know if you’d like to join us so we can get the right reservations (the day of is fine).
There are 3 distinct ways you can enjoy this trip:
You can join us for the cost of your travel, gear you need and hotel room. That’s right, no fees as this is a shore dive! We’ll hold a general site briefing on the 1st day to explain the dive, the logistics, etc.
We have several guides with local experience that will guide you on your first dive, give an in-depth briefing and show you were all the cool critters likes to hang out. So if you want to see everything Blue Heron has to offer, this is a great way to get a locals tour.
Make no mistake, this is NOT your typical photography certification course. In fact, we aren’t even providing a certification (as that limits what we can teach). Instead, we are te4aching you HOW to take better photos with whatever gear you have. Nicole will teach you all the underwater tips and tricks she’s picked up over her diving career while Briann will discuss the above ground aspects of editing, storage, presentation, etc. For the workshop, we have reserved an AirBNB approximately 20 minutes from the dive site that we will meet at AFTER the dives. It has an amazing outdoor tiki lounge that is perfect for class but if the weather doesn’t agree, we have plenty of space inside. It is about 10 minutes from the hotel so super convenient.
We have booked a block of rooms under Raleigh Scuba Diving at the below hotel. All you need to do is call them to reserve your room (July 4th – July 7th). The hotel is very close to shopping, restaurants and has a beautiful pool and a full service bar. We do have a discount code which gives you 7% off the current room rate (feel free to check at different times to see if you get a better rate). The rooms are around $150 per night. Click on the hotel name to get the automatic discount. *IF* we book more than 10 rooms we will apply for a group rate and get additional discounts; so tell you friends!
Hilton Garden Inn
1611 Worthington Rd, West Palm Beach, FL 33409
+1 561-472-5956
We try to be different than other dive shops. Since this trip doesn’t involve any charters, the cost is, quite literally, whatever it takes for you to get down there and whatever gear/air you need. However, we are offering an amazing photography workshop and guided dive services for those who are interested.
As mentioned above, this is not your typical certification course. This is a very deep dive into photography that teaches you not only how to better use your camera, but how to be a better photographer and all the associated questions that come along with it. Each day will involve a dive and a 2-3 hour class time after to critique, learn and adjust.
Not familiar with the bridge? No problem… our DM & instructors are very familiar with the bridge and will conduct a guided dive to show you all the cool spots and where diving is, and is not, allowed. This guide will happen on your first dive on the bridge so you can enjoy subsequent dives on your own.
How many dive shops do you know would go through the trouble of arranging the dive times, send you resources and even get you a reduced rate on your hotel? Well, now you know of at least one.. Raleigh Scuba Diving. You’re invited to come dive with us, hang out at dinner and enjoy the long weekend. All we ask is that you RSVP below.
Trying to get a bunch of divers together and be on the same page has a lot of euphemisms. However, we LOVE to make things easy. We are working with a local dive shop to arrange for tank rentals, air fills and any other support you will need. Once we are done with the dive that day, hop over to the dive shop to get your tank filled for your next dive. Your required gear for blue heron briudge is below:
We will make reservations for dinner every evening @ 6pm. All you need to do is let us know if you plan on attending that morning so we can make a reservation. If you want to venture out on your own, you won’t hurt our feelings. This is meant to be an experience for you to enjoy, in whatever way is best for you.
Blue heron bridge has a max depth of 20′ and should only be dove during slack tide. There is free parking at Phil Foster park but we need to get there early, as it will definitely fill up. We have one trip scheduled per day (time below) which will give you anywhere from a 60-90 minute dive time. Outside of those times, the current is fairly robust and we won’t conduct any dives.
There is a fairly large site with plenty to see so you definitely won’t get to it all in one day.
If you want more diving, there are plenty of charters you can arrange that with a local dive shop.
7/5 – 7:30am (Note the dive shop doesn’t open until 8am so you’ll need all your gear for this dive)
7/6 – 8:00am
7/7 – 9:00am
Great question… right here. 😉
$0.00 – $250.00
| Attendance Level | Photography Workshop, Guided Dive, RSVP Only |
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Your virtual local Raleigh dive shop serving the Cary, Apex, Durham, Chapel Hill, Garner, Clayton & surrounding areas.
1041 Investment Blvd | Suite 151
Apex, NC 27502
