Beautiful Bountiful Boynton

Sea Turtle Dive with Scubatyme

Many other dive sites are more famous, but the best diving in South Florida hands down is Boynton Beach - with its resplendent ledges full of marine life and incredible biomass, it never disappoints. 

Sixteen divers set out on a hot July day with Capt. Ben to enjoy calm seas, great visibility and 86 degree water for a truly heavenly experience. 

Dive 1: Gulfstream Ledge - one hallmark of diving in this area is the incredible ledges - often rising up 10-15 feet out of the sand, it is the perfect place to look for turtles sleeping, eels poking out and clouds of fish gathering all around in enormous schools. 

Huge barrel sponges of all shapes and sizes are abundant in this area, often hiding nice surprises in and around these giant marine animals. Yes these large sponges are animals, in fact some of the oldest and simplest multi-cellular animals on Earth, having populated the oceans for roughly 600 million years.

Dive 2: Lynn's Reef - We were visited by a large Goliath Grouper who swam right through our group. 

One of the things that continually amazes me is that after nearly 1,500 dives I still see things that I've never seen before. Today it was schooling trunkfish - those adorable little boxy creatures with pursed lips that are blowing into the sand searching for food. We saw five trunkfish of different sizes and types all swirling around one another in a whimsical dance over the reef. 

A fantastic day was had by all!

-- Active Divers President and Safety Officer Rachel Davis

^{Our Boynton Crew (from left): Back row - Aaron Brooks, Rachel Davis, Dan Beery, Amy Durham Shea, Randy Sonntag. Center row: Angelica Cookson, Stephen Pie, Sheila Schlafly, Evy Brow, Naixin Kang, Barbara Scavullo. Front row: Ralph Doerner, Pam Sullivan, Cheri Craft, Bruce Garber, Federico Quintana.} 

Photos by Evy Brow and Sheila Schlafly.