The Blue Heron Bridge spans the Intracoastal Waterway connecting Riviera Beach with Singer Island. It is a massive fixed-bridge that replaced a concrete structure that has been partially kept for fishermen to use. The bridge, at its eastern end, crosses Phil Foster Park. This Palm Beach County beach and park is a popular diving destination as well as a launching ramp for pleasure boaters. Divers in South Florida make regular trips to the “Bridge” when bad weather keeps boats off the nearby Atlantic Ocean. The “Bridge,” with its free parking, showers, sandy access to the lagoon, and shallow water, is also a popular training site for Scuba instruction.
Peter Friedman partnered with dive instructor Christy Campbell to create Blue Heron Bridge Scuba and Watersports at the Blue Heron Bridge county park. They formed a perfect match with Captain David Brown and his wife Lynn, owners of Little Deeper Dive Charters, Inc. The result has been a boon to divers, snorkelers, and beachgoers at this popular destination. There is now a full-service dive shop providing air and nitrox fills, gear rental and service, instruction as well as a well-stocked store. Part of the concession is to offer kayak rentals. Their brand new food cart sells hot dogs, packaged food, and beverages. The facility was long overdue and is proving to be a popular National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI) dive center.
Peter Friedman was born in Brooklyn, New York. “I learned to dive in 1974. I’m a muck diver,” he laughed about his early dives around the City. He is quick to add, “I dove all over the place. I’m a NAUI instructor and course director, I’m a technical diver, a rebreather instructor. Ours is a multi-modular dive shop.” Peter is also a certified instructor with technical diving agencies. He relates a humorous period in his life when he first graduated college:
“I’m an electrical engineer by trade. When I graduated all electrical engineers were driving taxi cabs. I didn’t want to drive a cab so I went fishing. When anything happened they sent the kid over the side,” Peter laughed. Peter followed his career path as an electrical engineer successfully until fifteen years ago when the diving bug saw him open a shop in Orlando. “We still have the shop in Orlando and also have shops in northern Florida’s cave country, here at the Blue Heron Bridge, in Stuart, and we will be opening a shop in Asheville, North Carolina. We also specialize in first-responder training for fire and police,” he said.
Peter spoke outside the Blue Heron Bridge shop along a promenade on the water. His two dogs Maggie and Riley were attracting the attention of passersby that had a hard time resisting their friendly tail wagging antics. “I love diving. I find inner peace. When I go cave diving that’s all that’s in my mind. The same with technical diving. It’s like solving a big puzzle. I like being busy.” Divers were enjoying a lavish continental breakfast in the dive shop compliments of Peter and his partners. Some stopped to thank him for the free food.
Peter and his colleagues are gracious. They have brought back the fellowship and camaraderie of diving. Free full breakfasts with eggs, bacon, sausages, gravy biscuits, and all the trimmings are laid out on special occasions. Barbecue cook-outs are provided free for divers. They do not have to be customers. All divers at the Blue Heron Bridge have been invited to participate. Holidays often see a tasty spread of food offered as a courtesy. This is the concept Blue Heron Bridge Scuba wants to engender. To bring people together that love diving and water sports at a place that is the most popular dive site in Florida.
About his teaching Peter will tell you, “I like teaching. I tell people I’m a frustrated actor. I do a great nitrox class. It’s two-and-a-half hours. They know nitrox when it’s done. I make the math easy.”
Peter’s side-kick in the enterprise is Christy Campbell. Originally from San Diego, Calif., Christy began diving when she was twelve years old. “Then there was a 25-year hiatus,” she explained. “I was pinned to a reef by a mako shark. The shark wouldn’t let me up. I was in 18 feet of water. It scared me good. I disappeared from diving and only came back to it ten years ago. Then I started over again on a trip to Hawaii,” Christy said.
She was at Phil Foster Park beach with the hot dog cart. It was a beautiful day. Divers were enjoying the shallow reaches of the underwater park. The county placed concrete structures underwater to attract marine life. Underwater photographers love the “Bridge” as a place to photograph frog fish, sea horses, juveniles of most tropical species. Instructors use the beach entry to introduce their students to salt water diving. The water at the “Bridge” is calm even if the Atlantic Ocean, accessed through the Palm Beach Inlet about a half-mile south of the “Bridge,” is rough. Divers prefer to enter the water at high and slack tide. There is about an-hour-fifteen-minutes without any tide change when the water is clearer. Diving at the “Bridge” most any time is good although there is the inconvenience of swimming against tide change and less visibility.
“I came to Florida because of school,” Christy said. “I studied biology. I never went home. I thought I wanted to be a dentist. I was a dental hygienist. When my boss retired so did I.” Christy has a wonderful sincere laugh. Her happy smile is contagious and her dive students clearly enjoy being with her.
“It just so happened that I had enough money from my dentistry to buy in as a partner in Stuart Scuba … my grandfather owned a restaurant in Seattle,” Christy explained as she dished out a long Sabrett hot dog and tastefully applied red onions to a patron of her culinary arts. “This food concession is the final execution of our service agreement with Palm Beach County Parks and Recreation,” she added.
A dive shop alone would be a great achievement in and of itself at the Blue Heron Bridge. With a stroke of brilliance Peter and Chirsty partnered with David and Lynn Brown owners of Little Deeper. David and Lynn were operating the dive boat out of the Lake Park Marina further north along the Intracoastal Waterway. With the contract they moved their dive boat operation south and established it at the dock just outside the dive shop. It is now a short ten- to fifteen-minute run to the Palm Beach Inlet and ocean diving sites offshore. The dive boat has its own floating dock and access from the park’s pier. Everything is new and well built.
Captain Jason Landau, Lynn’s son, runs Little Deeper. There is a solid team of dive instructors, divemasters, and crew that insure divers safe adventures on the reefs and wrecks off the Palm Beaches. Jason was born in Waterloo, Iowa. He attended Iowa State University where he studied engineering and business. He eventually joined his mother in Florida and began his own business driving a semi. “I got certified in 2005 in Florida. David bought Little Deeper in 2008 and I started working on the boat. I got my divemaster certification and captain’s license,” Jason said.
Driving a dive boat means that there are not as many opportunities to dive. When Jason does get the chance he likes big shipwrecks. “I like to explore new spots where not too many people dive. Florida has the best diving in the country. I’ve made 1,700 dives. I’ve only been diving out of the country at Roatan and the Caymans. I love Florida diving,” Captain Jason added.
David Brown is also a licensed captain. He and his wife Lynn have put together a dedicated team of instructors and divemasters to help divers on Little Deeper enjoy their experience. There is what can only be described as “valet service.” Divers park in reserved parking spaces at the dive shop. Crew handle tanks and heavy gear and wheel it on carts down to the boat. When the vessel returns to port after the dives heavy gear is removed and returned to the parking lot. David installed a hot water shower outside near rinse buckets for gear. There is nothing like a hot shower after diving offshore in winter.
Little Deeper’s Chief Divemaster Brad Kassay hails from Bloomingdale, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. Do not confuse his Cubs hat by implying he is a Cardinals fan. A carpenter for more than twenty years, Brad was certified to dive in 2001 in Aurora, Illinois.
“I dove in the Caribbean on vacation. We moved to Florida in 2008, victim of the housing downturn economy,” Brad said. He became an instructor in 2009. Brad did a four-year stint working at a dive shop in Melbourne, Fla., where he and his family still live. Brad began crewing on Little Deeper. Last year he began working the boat full time as divemaster and instructor.
“I enjoy crewing the boat more than mass producing student divers. There is more chance to interact with people. I’m working toward my captain’s license. That way I can spell Jason and he can get some diving in,” Brad said.
“I have been diving all over the Caribbean. I love Florida drift diving. You see so much here. There are good healthy reefs. There is a vast variety of sea life great and small. With drift diving in the Gulf Stream you have got to know what you are doing. This is not putzing out to a mooring ball. Gulf Stream diving requires a good captain and crew,” Brad added.
Many divers remark that they have never heard as good and thorough a boat briefing as the one Brad gives aboard Little Deeper. Brad is an accomplished underwater photographer and often shares his pictures with divers he guides below.
Captain Jason has a notebook that he carefully maintains. The book contains satellite pictures of the reefs. Captain Jason annotated the pictures with details from his own diving experience. Brad and Captain Jason use the pictures to explain underwater sites to divers. Their briefings not only insure safety aboard but enhance the diving experience with a preview of what the reef or shipwrecks will look like once underwater.
Blue Heron Bridge Scuba and their partner Little Deeper Dive Charters are evolving. The result is already an amazing opportunity for divers at the Blue Heron Bridge site to avail themselves of a full-service dive shop. Divers can also experience and explore offshore reefs and shipwrecks north and south of the Palm Beach Inlet. Purists know the official name for this wide passage from the Intracoastal Waterway to the Atlantic Ocean is the Lake Worth Inlet. Divers simply refer to it as the Palm Beach Inlet. On the south side is the island of Palm Beach with its glitz, glitter, and mega-mansions on the ocean. North of the inlet is Singer Island then north to Juno and Jupiter with condos and parks.
For those that enjoy good diving, convivial atmosphere, experienced instructors, captains, and crew with new, state-of-the-art facilities, Blue Heron Bridge Scuba and Little Deeper Charters have it all. For more information visit LittleDeeperCharters.com or call them at 561-436-5299. For information about Peter Friedman and Christy Campbell’s other operations in Florida visit StuartScuba.com or call 772-600-8288.
John Christopher Fine has authored 25 books, including award-winning books dealing with ocean pollution. He also writes for major magazines and newspapers in the United States and Europe. He is a master scuba instructor and instructor trainer and expert in maritime affairs.
Friends Read Free