Dive Report: Hole in the Wall
Date: Saturday afternoon, March 3, 2001
Boat: SS Minnow
Captain: Renee LaChapelle

By: Mike Rodriguez

Despite dire weather predictions from numerous cyberdivers, a large
mixed-bag of divers showed up at the boat for a dive on the Hole in
the Wall and a shallower reef off West Palm Beach.  The Hole in the
Wall is a coral cavern swim-through in a wall about 140 feet deep.
It's an interesting and unique formation along a ledge running
north-south a few miles offshore West Palm Beach. The area is known
for its abundance of sealife; it also frequently has strong currents
and excellent visibility.  On the way out we found conditions better
than forecast.  The sea was running mostly less than three feet.  The
water ranged from 72F on the bottom to 76F near the surface.
Visibility was at about 60 feet.  On these dives I breathed trimix
25/30/45 with 100% oxygen for decompression.

My buddy and I planned to take a quick look in the cavern, then hunt
lobsters along the ledge.  The captain took us up current along the
ledge, then we dropped in.  The drop was perfect, and as we reached
the bottom, it was clear that the current was running north around 2
knots or so.  I let the current carry me about 50 feet north where I
rounded an indentation in the dropoff and found the Hole in the Wall.

The current was flowing through the cavern at about the same rate as
it was in open water so to conserve energy, I pulled myself along
the bottom and into the cavern as other divers began to arrive.  On a
ledge near the ceiling I saw what looked like a lobster.  Curious
about what a lobster would be doing up there, I swam toward it.  When
I got close I noticed the lobster wasn't moving, then I grinned as I
realized it was just the empty shell of a lobster someone had placed
up on the ledge as a joke.  The lobster reminded me of my goal on
this dive, to catch some, so I exited the cavern and let the current
whisk me north along the ledge.  It was a challenge looking in all
the potential lobster hiding place before the current carried me past
them.

At one point, I saw a group of three lobsters under an overhang.  I
managed to catch all three, but two were short.  Later, I found a
small jewfish hiding in a crevice in the coral.  Farther north I
saw a big octopus sitting out in the open; a rare sight.  I stopped
and approached it slowly to get a better view.  It sat still and I
got within about five feet of it and watched it for a few minutes.  I
would have stayed longer, but I still had lobsters to catch, so I
reluctantly left the octopus alone and continued north with the
current.  I spotted one micro-lobster not six inches long head to
tail, and one legal-sized which I caught.  I headed up for a quick
decompression, then after a brief surface interval dropped back in
at a shallower reef for more lobster hunting.  By the time everyone
was back on the boat, I'd caught nine lobsters but kept only the four
legal ones.

The captain and crew were great and made the dives a lot of fun.  I'll
be back diving with them again soon.