Saturday Morning Dive with Luis and a mid-morning dive with Katie Simcock, a new Open Water student

 The whole week has been cold.  Nonetheless, Luis and I agree to meet on the beach to make a photography dive before my Open Water student arrives.  This might not have been the smartest idea we've ever had.  It was 69 degrees in the water and only about 67 degrees on the surface. 









I found a small shell on a rock and thought I noticed it move.  It did. I investigated and found a tiny hermit crab.  I rolled the shell over and got a picture. 

 Shooting the 100 mm macro lens with a +10 diopter.  Got this nice shot of some little Blenny. 

 As you might guess, I am fascinated by the 8-armed stars of the Knobby Sea Rods. 

 I think the little guy above is a Secretary Blenny, though I am not all that confidant.  He doesn't look it here, but he is very tiny. 


Of course, the fellow to the left is a Neon Goby.

 To the right is a Christmas Tree Worm.

And this is a Freckled Seahare.











This is Katie, who got to the beach right on time for her first open water dive.  I weighted her a couple of pounds heavy at 10 pounds, but she still managed to float near the surface for much of the dive.  One dive was enough, however. 

Too Cold to Dive This Morning

Took the dog for a walk at 5:30 am.  The air temperature was 58 degrees.  By 8:00 am it had climbed to 62, but that wasn't nearly enough.  The water temperature was 69 degrees yesterday and I was shivering for the last 80 minutes of the 112 minute dive.  With the workmen still driving supports into the beach, most of the sea life has moved on.  I decided to stay home. 

Solo on the Big Coral Knoll

 This being Wednesday, I need to get in the water by 9:30 to avoid the girl guard who is such a pain in the ass about solo diving.   I get to the beach a little after 8:00 am and then read until 9:00 am, when I set up my gear and get into  I swim out past the swim buoy and try to line up on the tunnel cover.  I descend, but I am West of the blocks.  I find them and head up the reef.  Should have set up for supermacro.

 Have to try several settings to get a good exposure of the Green Razorfish.  He gets bored and leaves, so I have to chase after him.  Takes too long and while the shot is nice, there isn't much contrast and it's difficult to see the fish.

I like these little Sharpnose Puffers.  Its the painted on eyelashes that appeal to me. 

 The Gray Mid-way Rock had a number of Neon Gobys on it.  I think I like this shot the most. 

I get to the Mid-way Rock at 30 minutes.  The water temperature is 69 degrees and I start shivering at the Rock.  My breathing is erratic, as well.  Its been 11 days since I was last in the water.  I begin breathing very slowly and counting during the exercise.  I get some control.




There were a number a French, Smallmouth and White Grunts on the Perpendicular rocks, but this little Sergeant Major is the only fish who posed for me.  The rest took off.

 Found this Star Horseshoe Worm just as I got to the Knoll.  Got several shots.  This was the best. 

 Its difficult to see in this picture, but this Jawfish is holding eggs in its mouth. 

 This Blue Tang came to me for this shot. 

 Found this little Goldentail Moray Eel on the knoll and got some good shots, but the eel would not come out of the reef much more than he is in this shot. 

 This Mat Zoanthid came out nicely.

 As did this Christmas Tree Worm.  I like the placement of the strobes on this picture.










 The Yellow Fanworm in this picture was well hidden in a crack in the coral head.  It was quite a trick to get the strobe to light it.







  

What is impressive about this shot of a Flamingo Tongue is how stripped the sea rod is after the snail has grazed it. 

Once I got off the reef and over the sand on the way to the beach, several Black Sea Bass came to greet me.  One of them was biting my bubbles, but got hold of my lip.  No teeth, so he didn't draw blood, but it definitely hurt.

Dive time was 112 minutes. 

Supermacro on the Big Coral Knoll

     The air temperature was warmer this morning that yesterday, but the water was colder.  It was only 1 degree colder at 66 degrees, but it really made a big difference.  I could not stop shivering this morning.  Yesterday, I could control it and my breathing.

       I put a +10 diopter on the 100 mm macro lens.  Since the workmen have been installing the supports for the beach, many of  the  

 non-territorial animals have left our beach.  While I enjoy the Porkfish and various grunts, I would really like to see some octopus or some sea Robins or some Guitarfish. 

The surf was a little taller than I expected, but not a often.  We made it out just fine.  The bottom is dug up, however. Holes and ridges.  Difficult to walk.

 Found a Seaweed Blenny who posed for me and let me get close enough to make use of the supermacro configuration. 

 He even came out of his burrow and posed for me. 

 I think this is either a Rosy Blenny or a Saddle Blenny, but I can't decide.  She posed for me, too.  Very calm and allowed me to fuss with my camera and the focus. 

This little Dusky Jawfish was busy cleaning his burrow and carrying the pebbles and other trash out in his mouth. 

     It was very difficult walking back onto the beach.  The holes were deep and the sand was soft.  I got stuck a couple of times and almost fell over once. 

Drifting North of the Knoll on the First Reefline

I headed for the beach early, despite surface temperatures in the low 50's.  I wanted to get a good parking spot and avoid the congested traffic on A1A.  Although the air temperature was 55 degrees at 8:30 am, the water temperature was 67 degrees and the air temperature was predicted to climb into the 70's by noon.  I took my time setting up, but got in the water by 9:30 am and descended over what used to be the Nursery. 

Taking the tank into the water actually increased the pressure in the tank by about 60 degrees.  Nice.  Well, nice for the first 30-40 minutes, then I had to focus on controlling my shivering.  Not so nice. 

The North current was fairly strong and certainly stronger than I had anticipated.  I got set North of the Knoll.  I spent the whole dive North of the Knoll.

Spotted several Purplemouth Moray Eels, including one who was hunting along the reef and  completely exposed.  I started taking pictures and the eel came towards me.  I wasn't certain what his intentions were and lifted up and back.  He stopped, still out in the open, so I dropped down for some more shots and he headed towards me again as soon as the strobe flashed.  This happened once more, then he ducked under a coral head.

Got a nice shot of a Christmas Tree Worm.  I was shooting with the professional 100 mm macro lens without any diopters, but the photo turned out really well, in my opinion anyway.  Maybe the work with the strobe is paying off and this picture is well lighted.   I found several feather dusters, as well, but was not able to get any good photos of them.  They are too timid and I take too long to set up.

As I left the reef and headed back to the beach, I ran into a Sheepshead Porgy.  These, too, are frequently quite timid, but this one let me set up for two shots before he swam away. 

As I passed over the Nursery and headed up the sand to the beach, I found a small school of yellow tailed fish I did not recognize.  I took  several pictures and went through the Humann/Deloach books, but could not identify them. 

This Cold Snap is Ridiculous

I got up at 4:00 am and checked the temperature:  49 degrees.  Okay.  I went back to bed until 5:30 am and then checked again:  47 degrees.  Where is Global Warming when you need it?

Solo Diving on the Big Coral Knoll

     The last time I was in the water was the 24th of February 2013.  We went out on a small, private boat and dove in 100 ft of water, then made a drift dive from a point somewhat East of the First Reefline to the Western edge of the Second Reefline.  The water temperature was 71 degrees, but the air temperature was 77 degrees.  The dives were short and although I got chilled, I quickly warmed up once back on the surface.

    Since then, the air temperature has dropped into the 40's and I have not tested the water temperature until this morning, when it was 67 degrees.  As you can see, however, the ocean was flat and calm and I just couldn't stay home any longer, even though the Windjammer webcam said the

air temperature was about 57 degrees.  The little girl guard was on today, so I got in the water well before 9:30 am and swam out to the reef before I descended.  The workers who are shoring up A1A and the beach have moved the Lifeguard Tower, so it is harder to find the concrete bocks and I missed them this morning.  I did find the castle sponge, however and made my way to the Gray Mid-way rock, where I turned North for the Knoll.  

     Visibility over the sand was poor, maybe 8 ft.  On the reef it opened up to at least 15 ft with some absolutely gorgeous moments when the sun was out and the water calm and you could see for 40-50 ft.  Went by the Bubble Rocks to the Perpendicular Rocks.  Lots of fish, but bigger fish.  Adults.  

     From the Perpendicular Rocks, I swam to the Swept Rock and then to the Big Coral Knoll.   Just past the Swept Rock, I found three Blue 

Tangs getting cleaned by a small Spanish Hogfish.  They were nervous, but I got an okay picture of two of the Tangs and the little Hogfish.

Made several trips around the Knoll looking for featherdusters and fireworms.

     I was warm and calm until around 40 minutes, then I started to shiver.  Got that under control, but I could tell that I was using more air than before.  Started counting my breaths in and out, which seemed to allow me to take control again.  

      Got some pictures of featherdusters and some really nice pictures of Christmas Tree Worms.   Spent some time working with the strobe.  First, I worked on lighting the subject, directing the flash to the subject, behind the subject or to the side.  Next, I tried changing the strength of the flash.   Problem is that it takes time to do this and most fish won't tolerate the delay.  The worms don't seem to mind, though some of them, too, disappeared before I could get completely set up for the shot.

On the way back to the beach, I found a small octopus on some coral and out in the open.   I tried to get this little fella to play, but he was not having any of it.  He inched his way around the coral, then down and underneath it. 

Diving the Fish Camp Rocks

This Was Javier's 3rd Open Water dive.  It was a calm, warm day.  Dianne, Javier and I swam to the edge of the reef and descended to 33 feet to make the three ascents. 

Javier was calm and comfortable for each of the ascents and passed without effort.  After the ascents, weswam back towards the beach.

 I had taken the camera with a macro lens and got some good shots of various fish.  I'm always amazed at fish with the attached cymothoid isopods. 

 We saw several lobster

 Balloon fish

 and Blennies.  When we got back to the beach, Luis met us and we were soon joined by Jennifer Moes, who also wanted to make the second dive with us.

 On this dive, we all swam out past the swim buoy and descended over the concrete blocks.  We then headed East, but got set to the North to the Perpendicular Rocks, where I spotted this Nurse Shark.

 Got a poorly exposed shot of a Yellow Fanworm

 and watched this White Grunt act like he was going to vomit for several minutes.  In retrospect, he was probably looking for a Goby or juvenile Spanish Hogfish to clean his mouth, but that's not what it looked like.

 Spotted a Green Sea Turtle,

 a Townsend Angelfish,

 a Midnight Blue Parrotfish

and a second Green Sea Turtle in the algae before the beach.  It was a pleasant dive.