Blue Heron Bridge at Phil Foster Park in Riviera Beach, Florida is one of the best known shore dive sites in the world. The fantastic assortment of marine life in the shallow clear water has created memories for many divers over the years. The site has become a “must do” dive on South Florida dive trips and divers from all over the world come to enjoy the long bottom times and unique photo opportunities.
Scuba diving at Blue Heron Bridge was once a “local secret” known to a few Palm Beach area divers and the popularity of the site seems to have grown out of nowhere. In a 2012 interview with Palm Beach County’s John Wildner he described it as “serendipity,” and didn’t know how diving Blue Heron Bridge had become so popular. The County understands the attraction and has done a great job of accommodating us divers. CLICK HERE to read about the new artificial reef added at Blue Heron Bridge.
Our friend Joe Froelich, formerly with SEAC thinks he has the answer to the question so many have asked. How did diving at Blue Heron Bridge become so well known? The old axiom, “build it and they will come,” may be true but it doesn’t help to have a little marketing. Way back in 1998 Joe was a South Florida dive pro and was writing for Southern Diver Magazine, which was a supplement to the widely read Skin Diver Magazine. Joe had been diving Blue Heron Bridge for years and decided to write an article about the diving therJoe-Froeliche for the spring 1998 issue of Southern Diver. To his knowledge this is the first time the site had gotten this level of national and even international attention. Joe believes his article started it and as they say, “the rest is history.”
Click to read the entire article
Joe Froelich was kind enough to share his rare 1998 Collector’s Edition of Southern Diver Magazine with Florida SCUBA Diving and his article on diving the Blue Heron Bridge is republished here with his permission. Thanks Joe!