Diving with Billy Yates

I got to the beach at 8:00 am, geared up and got in the water. I went out on the sand, but surfaced over the reef to discover that the current had set me considerably to the North. I swam back on the bearing and descended again. This time, I compensated for the current, but found a turtle and swam off-bearing to get some video of the turtle swimming. Notwithstanding this detour, I ended up at the Fish Camp Rocks and got some video of a nurse shark. I then swam over to the Furry Rock, then over to the Big Coral Knoll. Found some eels, I felt pretty confident I could find my way again.

Billy Yates and his German friend, Robin, were carrying their gear down the beach as I was coming out of the water. I stalled a bit until my parking stub ran out and I could post more time. Then we all geared up and swam out on the surface. Robin was not a fan. We descended just short of the reef. I tried to keep on a 90 degree course, but we somehow got the the Eastern edge of the reef without seeing either the Fish Camp Rocks or the Furry Rock. I headed South along the ledge and turned West when Robin was down below 1500 psi. We saw some Cowfish and Smooth Trunkfish, but I did not get any spectacular shots. We saw no nurse shark and no turtles. I was disappointed, but Billy and Robin both claimed to have enjoyed themselves, but they were not interested in a second dive.

I Found the Shark Rocks Twice

The wind was a little stiffer this morning than it has been and there was a bit of a surf. I entered through the main entry area. I swam out into 12-14 feet of water and descended before getting to the swim buoys. I continued onto the reef at 90 degrees. I was looking for another Sailfin Blenny like I found yesterday. While I captured pictures of the Blenny going in and out of its hole, I was not successful in getting a photo of his sailfin unfurled. I found a Purplemouth Moray Eel in an overturned coral head and got some good pictures.

I swam towards the Eastern edge of the reef, but ran into some Fish Camp like rocks that lead me to the Shark Rocks. I headed SW from there and expected to find the Ledge of Turtles, but no such luck. West to the beach, but way South of my entry point.

Like the first dive, I descended well before the swim buoys and headed East at 100 degrees. I had to hurry because the Lifeguards usually get to the beach by 9:45 am, and they have some rule about not solo diving. I found the same purplemouth moray eel in the overturned coral head and several fish at two larger rocks. I expected to find the Shark Rocks again, but did not. Instead, I went all the way to the Eastern edge of the reef. I did not see the Ledge of Turtles, the Shark Rocks or even the Staghorn Coral Forest. I headed South along the ledge for a ways, then turned back to the beach. I ran into the Shark Rocks. I must have just past them to the North coming out. I headed SW, but did not find the Ledge of Turtles. Still, it was a nice dive.

Still Looking for the Ledge of Turtles

I was late getting to the beach again, but its calm and quiet. I descend well before the swim buoy and swim out at 90 degrees, looking for the Ledge of Turtles and taking shots of blennies and gobys and a small sharptailed eel. I swim until I come to the Eastern edge of the reef and then come back and to the South. I find the Shark Rocks, which are like the Fish Camp Rocks, but much bigger. No sharks, however. No Ledge of Turtles.

I hurried to change tanks and get back in the water before the Lifeguards showed up. I descended earlier than I usually would on the theory that if they arrived and I was underwater, they would not know I was diving solo. I found a few Amphipods in the sand, but did not get any good pictures. They seemed very wary. I made my way up the reef and actually found a small green turtle to swim with, but no Ledge of Turtles. I have no idea where it is.

Looking for the Ledge of Turtles

I forgot my weights, again. I did not notice until the very end of the dive, when I felt a little light. Otherwise, I seemed well balanced the entire dive. Maybe I should skip them all the time.

Headed East from the main entry. Got to the reef near a buoy and line on the bottom. Looking for the Ledge of Turtles. I found the Staghorn Coral Forest and I found some rocks like the Fish Camp Rocks, with the plates of small coral. I did not find the Ledge. Did find a Sharptail Eel and a small green turtle, but no ledge. Also found a small nurse shark that swam in front of me for a short while.

Second dive was much like the first, except this time I brought my two weight packets with 2 pounds each. I felt heavy for much of the beginning of the dive.

I dropped to the sand in 10 feet of water and worked my way East looking for Amphipods. Never got any good shots, though. Got up on the rise, but did not find the Ledge. Lots of dead staghorn coral. Not a lot to photograph, and I discovered that the lens has slipped into a mode that allows it to focus only to .48 meters instead of the .31 meters that is its minimum focal length.

Solo Sunday

What a gloriously calm morning. Sun shining. Seas quiet. The visibility was not bad, though it could have been better.

I switched back to the 100 mm macro and the flat port. I decided against adding a diopter, which really limits me to shooting super macro.

There was a slight current and I must have over compensated, swimming just South of the Fish Camp Rocks. I noticed a school of midnight blue parrotfish and followed them North to the Rocks. Got some shots of the parrotfish, then headed for the Big Coral Knoll. Got some nice video of a Green Sea Turtle as well as some still shots, though the video is apparently too big to load on picasaweb or blogger. On the way back to the beach, I spotted a small Rough Box Crab. Odd creature.

Pleasant dive in okay visibility and calm seas. I would have liked to make several dives, but Dianne committed us to an 11:00 am lunch.

Diving the Ancient Mariner with Scubatyme

Guillermo, Leonardo and Felipe signed up for the shallow reef dive with Scubatyme. I got them equipment from Underseas Sports and we got to the boat about 6:45 am on Saturday morning. The parking lot was already pretty full, but there
was room for two more cars. We signed the releases, loaded gear and left with Captain Dave and Divemaster (divemistress?) Amanda.


Sands Harbor Marina is about 20 minutes from the ocean via the ICW. Winds were calm and the sea was flat. We were going to be diving the Ancient Mariner, which is a 165-foot steel ship sunk as part of the Broward County Artificial Reef Program on 9 June 1991.

The vessel was built in Point Pleasant, Virginia, in 1934. She was commissioned as a Navy search and rescue vessel. During WW II, she served as a Nazi submarine hunter until decommissioned in
1964. In 1979, she was converted into a floating restaurant and bar, but financial problems forced the sale of the vessel to a new owner, who

rescheduled the restaurant's opening to 1981. Just before the opening, however, she capsized
and sank at the dock, for no apparent reason. It cost more than $85,000 to refloat and renovate the vessel. When it reopened, the Ancient Mariner operated as a popular eatery until 1986, when more than 100 customers and employees contracted hepatitis A from an infected salad maker employed at the restaurant.

Divemaster Amanda tied off to the wreck and reported that there was a moderate to strong current running South on the bottom and suggested that we stay in the lee of the boat. The four of us entered the water and began pulling ourselved down the descent line. I had set up my camera with a 28-105 mm lens and a dome port for wide angle shooting, but couldn't set up the shoot and hold the line in the current. When I got on the bottom I tried to take all three guys into the wreck where we would be protected by the current. Guillermo and Leonardo were eager to penetrate, but Felipe held back. Guillermo and I left through a hole in the port wall and swam to the bow of the vessel, but neither Felipe nor Leonardo followed. Guillermo and I returned and found them exactly where we had left them.

Once everyone started exploring the wreck, Guillermo signalled that he was really low on air and needed to go up. I nodded okay and went to get Leonardo and Felipe to swim to the line. When we got there, Guillermo was nowhere in sight. We went up the line and I indicated a safety stop at 20 feet. As I hung there, I kept watching the air bubbles leaving the wreck. I was fairly certain that they were just air pockets left by the divers who had explored the vessel. But what if Guillermo was still on the wreck. I had plenty of air, so I dropped back down and went through the vessel to be sure that Guillermo was not there, then returned to Leonardo and Felipe so we could surface together and re-board Scubatyme. Guillermo was already on board. He had not had a watch or computer, so his safety stop was really just a pause, which was why I could not see him when I got to the line.



Our second dive was a drift dive on Turtle Ledge. There were a lot of interesting fish to see, but the wide-angle setup I had chosen for the camera prevented me from getting any good shots. There was too much haze around the reef to get good seascape photos, so I took a few shots of the guys and called it good.

John's Last Day for This Trip

John Hermanson leaves tomorrow, so today is his last day diving this trip. Dianne, John and I decided to go looking for the Ledge of Turtles this morning. The wind was calm and the surf mild. Visibility was good. We entered through the main entry just North of the Tower, swam to the swim buoy line and descended. We then headed East looking for the ledge, but found nothing I recognized. No Staghorn Coral forest. No Shark Rocks. No Ledge of Turtles. We did find some juvenile French Angelfish and a Purplemouth Moray Eel who looked as if he had swallowed something much bigger than he should have.

Dianne decided to sit out the second dive. She had gotten cold on the first dive and wanted to warm up in the truck. John and I went in. We followed the same dive plan, but found the Staghorn Coral Forest on our way back from the Ledge. I had no bearings to go by, but we found the Ledge of Turtles and John spotted a turtle. Of course it was gone by the time he got my attention. We swam South looking for it, but could not find it. We turned back to find the Ledge but almost missed it in the haze. We were too far to the West. But we did locate it checked it out. We headed West to the beach from the Ledge. Along the way we spotted two turtles and I got some poor video of the first and some much better video of the second. It was a good way to end John's visit.

A Three Dive Day

After the terrible visibility of the past two days, our 15 ft of visibility seemed like a dream come true. John Hermanson and I swam out to the Fish Camp Rocks, then to the Furry Rock and across to the Big Coral Knoll. Saw a nurse shark, a hermit crab and some midnight blue parrotfish.

Got some good pictures. Took 2 pounds off John, but he seemed light the whole dive. Spent a lot of time head-down trying to stay on the bottom.




For the second dive, we decided to swim to the Big Coral Knoll, then to the Ledge and North to our marker and West to the Fish Camp Rocks, except we missed the Big Coral Knoll. We swam

around mindlessly, but somehow found it even after swimming with a turtle. Went to the ledge and then North, but did not get as far as the marker, so we swam in without finding the Rocks.



We had to wait to add money to the parking stub, but I was happy for the extended surface interval. When we went in, we headed out to the Fish Camp Rocks then over to the Big Coral Knoll, except we missed it. The visibility had dmiminished considerably. A kayaker told us he had watched a "Brown Cloud" move in. I dismissed his comment as bluster, but it was accurate. We swam with a turtle and backtracked to the South to find the disc, which may have been the first time during the entire dive that I knew where I was. Pitiful. From the Disc, we swam to the Big Coral Knoll and found a small Green Sea Turtle hunkered down in the coral.

On My Own in Bad Visibility

The wind was up and from the East. The waves were tall. I got out, but it was a bit of a struggle. The chop was bad so I descended just before the swim buoy. I made my way out to the Fish Camp Rocks, which was pretty amazing considering the utter lack of visibility. I found a small Purplemouth Moray Eel hiding under a coral head, but there was not much to see. I kept going to the Ledge and then went North a bit. I turned West and ended up at the Big Coral Knoll. Then back to the beach.