31 March 2013

Easter Sunday on the Yankee Clipper Reef

 Luis borrowed one of my aluminum 80's to make the dive.  We swam on the surface a ways out, but did not get past the algae before Luis wanted to go down.  So we did.  Visibility wasn't too bad:  maybe 10 ft.  Got a  shot of a Planehead Filefish.  Then we got to the limestone shelf and visibility went to hell.  We could barely see one another.
Found a bell anchor and chain that didn't go anywhere but was quite large.   Found this little Rosy Blenny in one of the holes.
 Luis found this Lionfish, which stayed where he was while Luis got me and we both swam back. 
 Lots of Flamingo Tongues, though this was not a very good shot.
 Ran into a small Purplemouth Moray, who was very surprised to see us and didn't act as if he knew what to do.  He stopped dead still for a moment, then backed up, then came right back at me. 
 Found this little Yellow Sand Ray hiding in the sand.  As soon as I took this shot, he took off.
 This is a Florida Regal Sea Goddess.  Used to see a lot more of these than I do now. 
As we left the rocky limestone area, I spotted this Spotted Moran under a rock and got this shot.

It was a cold dive, but not impossible.  Not as cold as yesterday, but I was glad to get out of the water.  Luis ran out of air just minutes from the beach, and swam in using my alternate air source.