Diving with Ryan O'Connor off Tower 17

Ryan O'Connor and I decided to made a night dive early in the morning. Ryan sent me a text at 4:45 am with new parking instructions. I was just leaving. Got to his place and parked in the Northern guest parking spot. He sent me a text saying he would be down soon with a guest parking pass. He came and we geared up and hiked over to Tower 17 to get in the water. I was barefoot and the pebbles and construction did a job on my feet. Took several days for the cuts to heal.

We swam out more or less on the 100 degree bearing in line with the Tower, but we could not find the blocks so we just headed East. Lots of fish and got some photos. Ryan's light was very bright and maybe scared some of the fish away. Got some pictures, including this shot of a Flamingo Tongue,

 this shot of an Orange Spotted Filefish, and

  this shot of a Purplemouth Moray Eel.


We came up after 60 minutes to see where we were, as I had not seen anything I recognized for much of that time. We were in fact almost as far North as Tower 18 and had seen a number of Staghorn Coral patches.


Water temperature still 73 degrees; dive time was 52 minutes; consumption was 27.92 psi/minute at an average depth of 16 feet; SAC rate was 16.75 psi/minute on an aluminum 80.


Took 7 minutes at the surface, then returned to the bottom and headed to the Eastern Ledge. We were at 35.7 feet of water and swam South along the Ledge until I found what I thought was the landmark for the Fish Camp Rocks.  We headed West towards the beach

We swam to the Columnar Coral and then went North to the Fish Camp Rocks, where I got the picture of Ryan, above.  I also got this shot of a Scrawled Filefish












and this shot of a Caribbean Spiny Lobster.

We then headed West to the beach, though we ended up getting set way to the South. We ran out of air and had to surface well before we got to the beach. We swam in the rest of the way on the surface.


Water temperature still 73 degrees; dive time was 52 minutes; consumption was 27.92 psi/minute at an average depth of 16 feet; SAC rate was 16.75 psi/minute on an aluminum 80.




Spent a lot of our surface interval talking to Mike, the Chairman of the condo board, who, as usual was concerned about parking on the condo property. I can't imagine why he is so obsessed about me parking there. After almost two hours, Ryan and I got geared up and got back in the water. This time I wore sandals across the road and onto the beach. I left them under the Tower.

Ryan and I got in the water and fought the current to stay on the 100 degree bearing off the Tower. Could hardly remember where the swim buoy was supposed to be to look for the blocks, but we eventually found them, descended and headed up the gun-sight. Got a nice shot of this little Blue-eyed Hermit Crab in a small Conch Shell.







We ended up at the Green Mountainous coral near the Big Coral Knoll and easily found our way to the Perpendicular Rocks, the Swept Rock and the Knoll. Lots of fish on the Knoll, including this Doctorfish with a Cymothoid Isopod attached



this shot of a Goldentail Moray Eel,

 this shot of a fingerprint Cyphoma,

and this shot of a Shark Sucker which followed Ryan into the beach and attempted several times to attach to him.

 I also got this shot of a small Green Sea Turtle. It's been a long time since I've gotten to swim with a turtle.

It was nice to just float over the knoll again and hang with the fish. We also swam over to the Fish Camp Rocks, before we headed to the beach.


When we surfaced we were almost at Tower 16. Still, it was a nice dive, but the ocean was no longer the calm ocean we had entered. Wind came up and drove the waves onto the beach, stirring up sand and making it difficult to walk ashore.

Bottom temperature remained at 73 degrees; dive time was 118 minutes; consumption was 24.81 psi/minute at an average depth of 16 feet; SAC rate was 16.71 psi/minute on an aluminum 80.

More Dives on the Algae Patch off Tower 2

Woke up at 3:30 am and could have gotten to the beach by 5:00 am, but I didn't. Cooked breakfast, set up the camera, took the dog for a walk and then it was 7:00 am. I loaded the truck, shaved and got to the beach by 8:00 am and in the water by 8:30 am. Sunny day and dead calm at the beach. Of course, I forgot the camera.

I went hunting shells and explored the sand South of our usual path. Visibility was good, but there still wasn't much to see. Did see a moderate sized school of Ocean Surgeonfish and another of Porkfish, but just the usual reef fish. It was cold on the bottom. At an hour, I went up to warm up on the surface.

Water temperature was 73 degrees; dive time was 60 minutes; consumption was 23.78 psi/minute at an average depth of 19 feet; SAC rate was 15.09 psi/minute on an aluminum 80.

The top 10 feet of water was decidedly warmer than the bottom. I actually warmed up some during the surface interval. I also got myself positioned just East of where I entered the water. Then I descended and hunted shells again, this time heading North.

I turned and moved a little West and then came back. By this time, I was down to 1000 psi, so I headed West towards the beach. Moved slowly, but constantly. While the visibility was good on this dive, there was not much to be seen that was unusual. Not many of the usual fish, either. I seemed to have trouble staying down at the end of the dive, but stretched it out to 62 minutes.

Water temperature still 73 degrees; dive time was 62 minutes; consumption was 26.13 psi/minute at an average depth of 19 feet; SAC rate was 16.91 psi/minute on an aluminum 80.

Diving the Tower 2 Algae Patch

Keep thinking I'm going to make a night dive early in the morning, but somehow I just can't get going early enough. Got to the beach just at 8:00 am. Read just a bit, then geared  up and got in the water. Decided not to take the camera this morning as I expected the visibility to be worse today than yesterday. Visibility was, in fact, terrible near the beach but opened up to about 8 feet once I got off the  algae patch. Still, it was nasty out and not a lot of interesting fish in sight. I spent most of the dive looking for shells on the sand.

Water temperature was 75 degrees; dive time was 60 minutes; consumption was 22.28 psi/minute at an average depth of 19 feet; SAC rate was 14.14 psi/minute on an aluminum 80.

Really choppy on the surface. I was farther North than I expected and spent the surface interval swimming South at the surface. After 5 minutes, I descended to the reef, then swam out to 21 feet on the sand. Felt a little light in the surge, which had picked up. I could get down by exhaling, but it took a while. I had made 60 minutes on the first dive and wanted to make 60 minutes on this second dive, but I used more air on this dive than the first, and I didn't have enough air to begin with to make a  hour dive.

Spent most of the time looking for a Gaudy Natica, but finding other things. Came up in 10 feet of water and swam into the beach. Lots of undertow and a very challenging bottom with peaks and valleys. I got hit by a wave from behind as I was scaling a small mound of sand in shallow water. I turtled and had to push out to deeper water to get up. Used the undertow to get out while on my back. Second attempt was much better.

Water temperature was 75 degrees; dive time was 51 minutes; consumption was 24.31 psi/minute at an average depth of 16 feet; SAC rate was 15.37 psi/minute on an aluminum 80.

More Dives on the Yankee Clipper Jacks

Got to the beach a little before 8:00 am. Decided not to take the camera this morning. Good call. Large rollers created a significant surge that stirred up the bottom and left visibility at less than 5 feet. I geared up and got in the water, then swam out to the swim buoy and descended. Worked my way South to counteract the current and ended up just North of the Jacks in 25 ft of water.

Water temperature was 75 degrees; dive time was 60 minutes; consumption was 23.28 psi/minute at an average depth of 17 feet; SAC rate was 15.37 psi/minute.

Spent the surface interval hanging above the Jacks. Descended to 25 ft and headed WSW. Explored the Caves area just West of the Jacks. Left with 1400 psi and headed across the sand. Reeled the flag line in when I got to the Algae Patch. Slowed down and burned up some air before leaving the Algae Patch and heading for the beach. Made 62 minutes and surfaced to swim in. Got really bad cramps in both calves and had a hard time swimming, though. Finally made it.

Bottom temperature was 75 degrees; dive time was 62 minutes; consumption was 24.69 psi/minute at an average depth of 15 feet; SAC rate was 16.98 on an aluminum 80.

Diving the Yankee Clipper Jacks

Got to the beach about 8:00 am. Sun was shining, but
the wind was up. Water looked choppy. I geared up and set up the camera too. Walked to the surf and got in the water. Pretty easy getting out, except the waves pulled line out of the reel and I managed to get it wrapped around my leg as I walked out. Had trouble getting unwrapped, but finally got it. Descended just past the swim buoy and went South a little to the cut-out and took some pictures, including this shot of a Blue Tang






and this shot of a Doctorfish. Went slowly to the East, looking for shells or something to photograph. Not much around. Got to the sand and then to the 3-tiered reef and came up at 61 minutes.




Water temperature was 73 degrees; dive time was 61 minutes; consumption was 24.89 psi/minute at an average depth of 17 feet; SAC rate was 16.42 psi/minute on an aluminum 80.

After an uneventful 5 minute surface interval, I descended to 24 ft on the sand and headed SSW to find the 3-tiered reef and the Jacks. I was also looking for Gaudy Naticas, but I did not find any.

I had gone quite a bit North on the swim out, and it took awhile to get to the Jacks. Got a nice shot of this Initial Phase Redband Parrotfish.

and this shot of a Slippery Dick.

I left the Jacks with just a bit over 1000 psi, which is a little tight. Made it just fine to the white sand at 46 minutes and 400 psi. Swam into 9 ft of water and went up to control the flag line. Came up just South of Tower 1.

Water temperature was 73 degrees per the computer, but I saw 74 degrees several times during the dive; dive time was 51 minutes; consumption was 29.27 psi/minute at an average depth of 16 feet; SAC rate was 19.72 psi/minute on an aluminum 80.

First Navigation Dive in Extremely Poor Visibility

Finn and Jerry were at my apartment at 7:30 am, despite warning me by text that they might be 5 minutes late. We loaded the truck and headed for Birch State Park. We got there a bit before 8:00 am and had to wait for the gate to open, then spent some time going over the use of the compass in the parking lot, but ended up waiting a few minutes for the gate to the beach to open at 9:00 am.

The surf was up, but not outrageously so. I got out pretty handily, as did everyone else, but poor Jerry allowed himself to be pulled back into the surf to fin up and got beaten up in doing so. He may have inflated his BCD before he was finned up. Luis said the Lifeguards were trying to tell us something as we were getting out, which really demonstrates their ignorance of diving. I'm busy when I go through the surf and I'm not interested in talking to anyone. I want to get out as quickly and safely as possible and that does not involve having a conversation with a Lifeguard.

We all managed to get to the swim buoy and descended there. Visibility was terrible. I saw Luis and Jerry on the bottom, but Finn was missing and then suddenly appeared behind me. As usual, he had trouble getting down. He had gone from 16 to 14 pounds, and was still heavy in my estimation, but unconsciously holds his breath before descending. Once he swims down, he is usually fine, but it is difficult for him to get down.

We had discussed the 3 skills needed for the dive while in the parking lot, so I immediately handed Jerry the end of the tape measure and indicated he should swim South. He headed off to the Southeast, but since there was no current, that was fine. Finn followed along a moment or two later and Luis trailed them both. Unfortunately, Jerry was a little timid and did not pull out the full 100 ft of the line. As he and Finn came back I showed them that only 67 ft of line had been pulled out and sent them out a second time to pull out the full 100 feet of line while counting their kick cycles. This time, they did it right.

Next was the out back. I indicated to Finn that he should monitor the bearing while Jerry would count 15 kick cycles. Finn took off before I could get Jerry up to speed and I had to move quickly to stop him. I limited the kick cycles to only 15 because visibility was terrible: less than 3 feet. They left and Luis, again, trailed them. They were gone for about ten minutes, which was too long for a 15 kick cycle swim, so I surfaced to see where they might be, only to find Luis at the surface while they held his flag on the bottom and only about 10 feet from me.

I knew that the square pattern would be a problem in this limited visibility, so I called the dive. Luis and I descended to Finn and Jerry and then we all headed back to the beach. Finn wanted to come up in 7 ft of water, so we did. The impediment had definitely risen to the level of a hazard and I was happy to reel in the flag line get it under control at the surface.

Water temperature was 73 degrees; dive time was 26 minutes; consumption was 31.69 psi/minute at an average depth of 16 feet; SAC rate was 21.34 psi/minute on an aluminum 80.