August maybe the best month all year to dive the Treasure Coast since seas remain calm and warm and lobster season gets underway. Clear water should also be expected at most dives spots in our area including the shallow sites off local beaches, all the way out to the reefs and wrecks offshore. Provided tropical activity remains low, the Treasure Coast is in for a spectacular month of diving.
Light winds and calm seas should hold through the month allowing for clear water to continue for much of the local area but it’s wise to watch tides if diving close to shore. Beach visibility maybe hindered at low tide since wave action is more likely to stir sediments up into the water but while the water is deeper visibility is usually better. Also, since much of the damaging impacts of the large freshwater releases from the St. Lucie Inlet are limited to the Intracoastal Waterway and only just a few miles outside the inlet, an incoming tide will push the runoff back inshore and allow for clear water from offshore to fill in. Divers looking to hit Pecks Lake, just south of the St. Lucie Inlet, for lobsters should plan trips to coincide with high tide. While there’s no question these large releases are detrimental to the health of aquatic ecosystems and need to be stopped, many assume their effect is consistent throughout all coastal waters. Many divers know that once they clear the tide water visibility returns again.
Manly locals who may have skipped the mad rush during mini-season, may time their first dive trip in August to coincide with opening day of lobster season, especially since August 6th falls on a Saturday this year. Everyone wants to know where to find their first bug and despite being hotly guarded secrets, there are a few go-to places where lobsters have been caught in years past. Shallow is sometimes better with many 10 pounders grabbed just off the north jetty of the Ft. Pierce Inlet. Bathtub Reef and the shallow artificial reefs off Jensen Beach, known as the ‘mitigation reefs’ or ‘Nearshore A, B, and C’ on MartinReefs.com, are also great places to check off the beach or from a boat.
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