Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Fort Pierce - Boat Ramp

[Jon Wallace <jonw@psubs.org>]

Regrettably, I have removed dive operation planning from the 2010 
convention.  Any diving will have to be planned contemporaneously in Ft. 
Pierce since I am unable to ascertain whether, and where, diving may be 
allowed in/around the Ft. Pierce inlet and Indian River area.  The USCG 
in Ft. Pierce and the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Department are both 
incompetent and inept, unable to answer questions about their own 
jurisdiction or point me to people that can.  I suspect that if both 
entities were dismantled tomorrow nobody would notice.

Yesterday I spent four hours and 45 minutes "air-time" on the phone with 
a multitude of agencies including the Coast Guard, FBI, Florida Fish and 
Wildlife Conservation, County Administrator, Ft. Pierce City Marina, US 
Customs Port Lucie, Homeland Security Miami, Code Enforcement, Dept 
Environmental Protection, St. Lucie Sheriff's Office, Ft. Pierce Police 
Dept, and a local dive shop.  As you can see, I was bumped from one 
place to another by well intentioned but horribly misinformed people.  
What I did ascertain through this process is that there is no state or 
local law prohibiting diving in the Ft. Pierce inlet area.  The code 
enforcement office told me straight out that even if it were illegal, 
they had no intention of spending time sending officers to the area, or 
into the water, to kick out any divers.  The CG *thought* diving was not 
permitted but could not provide a reference to any federal, state, or 
local law that actually prohibits it.  The St. Lucie County Sheriff's 
Office has a marine division that patrols the waters, but getting 
through to the marine division has proven impossible and twice now my 
call has been forwarded to the Aviation division who rightly have 
answered my questions with "Why are you calling us???"

There's only so much research and planning I can do from 1500 miles away 
over the phone, and I have no reason to believe that more phone calls 
are going to get me any closer to a definitive answer about where we can 
dive.  With too many other things to plan, I cannot afford to spend any 
more time on this.  If somebody local to the area wants to take the 
lead, then they are welcome to continue the research and plan the dive 
activities.  Otherwise, we'll have to do some legwork locally when we 
get down there and take the chance that we can actually walk in to talk 
to someone face to face.

Jon




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