21 April 2014

Solo Dive on the Ledge of Turtles

Got to the beach about 9:00 am, geared up and got in.  Ocean was flat and wind was only about 8 knots.  I thought about descending inside the swim buoys, but visibility was only about 3 ft over the sand.  I stayed on the surface until well past the swim buoy and where I thought the Rock Pile might be.  I was close.

 Headed up the reef at 120 degrees and spotted the sea plume with the three little coral heads and swam to the Big Midway Rock, where I photographed some Juvenile Porkfish.





 From there, I headed to the larger Coral Head, where I spotted this Fingerprint Cyphoma and got this picture.









I then swam to the Ledge, where I got this shot of a Christmas Tree Worm.



As I was photographing the worm, I looked up and watched a Loggerhead Sea Turtle swim past me on over the Ledge.





I managed to get three pictures before it swam out of sight.  I think this is the first Loggerhead I have seen on the First Reef.  


I think that this is also the first Brown Chromis that I have ever seen.  Lucky to get some pictures.



Stayed at a SAC rate of 4 minutes per 100 psi.  Hit 56 minutes at 2000 psi and headed East to the Shark's Rock, or what is left of it.  It has been seriously damaged.



Along the way, I spotted this little fella.  I have not be able to identify him.



I also got these two photographs of a Threespot Damselfish.
I found the Nipple Rock to the South of Shark's Rock and then came West to the Ledge, then down the reef to the Rock Pile and West to the beach.  Went to my knees as I climbed out of the surf and could not stand up while holding my camera with one hand and my fins and the flag in the other.  I decided to crawl in on my knees.  A woman on the beach came by and offered to help, so I asked her to hold my fins and the flag while I got back on my feet.  How embarrassing.

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