Cordova Dive Blog

Tuesday, 8 January 2019

Martha and I dive with David Bennet on the Fish Camp Rocks off Tower 17

David Bennet is a guest at our Hotel Cordova and Hostel, a new boat owner and a certified scuba diver. Martha and I invited him to come diving with us and we agreed to pick him up at 7:00 am. We were 10 minutes early and he was still getting ready but he came out at exactly 7:00 am.  We loaded up the truck and headed to the beach, where I found my favorite parking spot behind Tower 17.  We geared up and got in the water at 7:30 to swim out and descend at 7:57 am. We descended on top of the blocks I use to mark the start of this dive.

 Visibility was good. From the blocks we went East to the waist high coral head, then up to Irish Thighs, the Cigar Rock and the Gray Mid-way Rock. Continued East to the Fish Camp Rocks, where I got the shot of an Intermediate French Angelfish.

We explored the various coral heads at the Rocks. Martha found a Nurse Shark under one, but I could not get a picture because there were too many fish in the way.

From the Rocks, we headed North to the Big Coral Knoll. Good visibility on the Knoll, but not a lot of life. Maybe too cold. We made one pass, then headed back to the Fish Camp Rocks.

 The above shot of a French Grunt was taken on one of the several coral heads the make up the Fish Camp Rocks. I also got the picture of a Coca Damselfish over some more traditionally colored coral.

 Got this shot of a Blue Tang near the Southern edge of the Rocks. Spent some time looking for sea turtles which we often find, but no such luck this morning.

A Balloonfish like the one on the left is usually very shy and it is difficult to get a photograph of their face. This little fellow followed me as if he were interested in what I was doing.

The French Grunt on the right might be considered the subject of the shot, but I have included that photograph to illustrate the large monstrous coral heads that make up the Fish Camp Rocks. 

 David indicated that he was down to about 1000 psi, so we headed West to the beach. We came out over the blocks and then surfaced just inside the vessel exclusion buoys. 

Had some trouble getting out. Once I got on solid sand, I dropped the camera and my fins just beyond the wave line and headed back to help Martha, but David had already gone back to help her and she was all but out of  the water by the time I got there. 

Bottom temperature was 70 degrees. Depth was 20.4 feet. Dive time was 77 minutes.   RMV was 52 cubic feet per minute.

Check out all of my pictures from this dive at the following link:  8 January 2019_Fish Camp Rocks