Diving the Ledge of Turtles

I woke up early, but went back to bed and did not start thinking about diving until 8:30 am. By the time I packed up and drove to the beach, the lifeguards were in their towers. The lifeguards will stop me from solo diving if they see me, so Iheaded up to the Pelican Grand where I could enter the water without being hassled. The wind was calm and the sea was flat, but the air
temperature was about 62 degrees.

I entered the water and swam out to the reef

before descending.

The top 8 feet of water was warm, but below that it was cold. My computer measured the temperature at 64 degrees, but I think the comput

er is miscalibrated. The temperature w

as likely 70 degrees. I followed the reef South to

where my mark should have been. Problem was that there was no mark there. The railing has been gone for a while and now the sponge is gone. I found the rock pile that used to hold the railing and the base of the sponge, so I focused on those

and headed out at 120 degrees. I did not find the mid-way rocks but I did swim around until in encountered the Ledge of Turtles. Some college

divers were there measuring things and had a tape strung across the staghorn corals. No turtles.

Got some pictures of fish. Swam back to the

beach but had a difficult time getting out through the loose sand. Once out of the water, I got out of my wetsuit and dried off. I warmed up in the sun.