Solo Dive to the Fish Camp Rocks

This morning was much nicer than yesterday, but it was still cool.  I geared up, including wearing the Lavacore suit, and got in.  The water felt warmer, but my computer says it was not.  I swam out to the concrete blocks and descended.  Went up the gunsight to the Mid-Way Rock and then continued East to the Fish Camp Rocks.  Lots of fish.

Just West of Irish Thighs I spotted this Warty Sea Rod.

Also found this Red-Tipped Fireworm.












This Spotted Goatfish swam to me, apparently looking for a place to sleep.

This Black Margate swam under one of the Mountainous Coral.

This Atlantic Spadefish and two others swam over the Rocks.

Check out the coloring on this Sharpnose Puffer.

Lots of Midnight Parrotfish at the Rocks.

I did better on my air usage getting a RMV rate of .45 ft3/ min.  Total time was 111 minutes.  Yesterday was .48 ft3/min and 97 minutes.  Like yesterday, I dropped on the blocks and headed up the gunsight to the cigar rock and then the Gray Mid-way rock.  This time, though, I continued heading East up to the Fish Camp Rocks.

Diving by myself on the Big Coral Knoll

I had trouble getting to sleep last night, so I was a little late getting going this morning.  Got to the beach just before 9:00 am and got in the water by 9:20, but spent 20 minutes swimming out.  I overshot the blocks and got all confused about where I was in the water.  Took awhile to find the blocks.

I descended and was almost immediately spotted by a Shark Sucker who headed straight for me.  I got some photos of the little fellow and apparently the strobe scared him away.  

I got this shot of a Green Razorfhish shortly after leaving the blocks and almost a quickly got lost.  

I got this shot of a Juvenile Cocoa Damselfish, but it wasn't anywhere I recognized.  I missed the gunsight.  I missed Irish Thighs.  I missed the Cigar Rock.

I ended up just West of the Swept Rock and got this shot of a Flamefish.  

 I also found a Caribbean Spiny Lobster walking alone along the bottom a bit to the North of the Swept Rock.  I seldom see them anywhere but under coral heads.

When I got to the Knoll, I spotted this Goldentail Moray Eel.  I tried to coax him out for a picture, but he resisted my entreaties.  

Found this Juvenile Creole Wrasse just off the Knoll on the South Eastern ledge.  I followed it for a few minutes hoping to get a better shot, but had no luck.  

Spotted this Juvenile Yellowhead Wrasse along the North edge of the Knoll.

Got this shot of a Black Spotted Feather Duster well into the middle of the Knoll.  








Tried to work on my breathing, but the water was cold and I started shivering at about 40 minutes.  The whole dive only lasted 90 some minutes and I was really glad to get out of the water.  I had hoped to take a student on their first open water dives today, but I called him and told him it was just too cold.  He has no particular time constraints, so he should wait for warmer weather.    

Diving Solo and Shooting Supermacro on the Big Coral Knoll

Lennon came by for his bag at 6:45 am, so I got down to the beach kind of early.  Decided to shoot supermacro today since I expected rough surf and not much visibility.  I was not disappointed.





I got some good shots of Knobby Sea Rods, including this shot,

as well as a got a few good shots of a couple of Seaweed Blennys.

I got some shots of Red Boring Sponge, but can't say that the +10 diopter really helped.  In fact, I think I liked the photos using just the 100 mm macro lens.

I found and photographed some Mat Zoanthid that had wormed its way into a patch of Giant Star Coral

and got a nice close up of some Great Star Coral.

If you look closely at this photo of a Flamingo Tongue, you can see the antenna coming out of the animal.  I had hoped the + 10 diopter would get a better shot.

Of course, I also got a whole lot of blurred or badly exposed shots, but there is no reason to keep those.  

Lennon Shannon's first two Open Water dives

Leo Paez, Luis Monroy, Lennon Shannon and I were supposed to meet at Tower 17 at 8:00 am to make the first two of the four open water dives Lennon needed to get certified.  Unfortunately, there was a foot race and the police had A1A blocked off from the Pelican to the Yankee Clipper.  We regrouped and went to Vista Park.









Leo served as divemaster and Luis accompanied us. After the pool session yesterday, I decided to put 10 pounds on Lennon.  He is active and athletic, but obviously inexperienced and a little hesitant.  We made it out through the surf, finned up and swam out to the swim buoy.  We descended just a bit further East, but were still over sand.  Shortly, we did hit a reef with a fair amount of life.  Visibility was not good and it was cold and overcast.







We got to the other side of the reef, which was not far, then swam South for 10-15 minutes.  When Lennon hit 1500 psi, we turned for the beach.  Lennon's air usage fell apart and he was down to 500 psi  several minutes before we got off the reef.  He took my alternate air source at 1600 psi and we shared air to the beach.  The surf was rough and we all had problems exiting.








The weather had warmed up a bit.  We enjoyed hanging out in the park, but we were still a little chilly when it was time to make the second dive. Lennon did not hesitate a moment getting through the surf.  We descended just past the swim buoy, as before, then headed East across the reef and North on the sand.








 Lennon seemed to be doing better on air and had no problems clearing his regulator or his mask.  He did have some trouble with his buoyancy.  He had to try several times to hover, but he did fine with the fin pivot.
I plan to re-test him after the ascents, when he has made the dives and is a little more comfortable in the water.






 He took his gear off and replaced it just fine.    We headed back when he hit 1500 psi.  Like before, he got 40 minutes or more on the first 1500 psi then dropped to 500 psi in about 10 minutes.  I think the gauge may be inaccurate.  Again, we headed back after about 40 minutes when he hit 1500 psi, but he was out of gas fewer than 15 minutes later.  We all did a little better getting out the second time, though the currents were strong and varied.  I had thought about making three dives, but we were cold and I decided it was better to end the dives on a high note rather than get one more in.  

Swimming to the Eastern Ledge to perform the ascents and certify Ricky Belgado

We were slowed down by the police blocking traffic for a foot race, but we finally got in the water a little before 9:00 am  We swam on the surface out the the Ledge, then descended.

 Leo tied off the flag line and Ricky and I made the alternate air source ascent

Ricky had trouble with the CESA and aborted the ascent twice, just a few feet off the sand.  As with the surf on his first day in the ocean, on the third attempt, we made the ascent.

 We then went down and, together with Leo, headed back to the beach.  Ricky was leading and navigating by the compass,  but we ended up South. I spotted the Lost Knoll and moved us North.  We finished and got out of the water around 10:15 am.

Open Water Dives at Tower 17

A student from Madison, Wisconsin, called to schedule his open water dives in South Florida. He and a group of friends were chartering some boats to tour the Bahamas and dive and he needed to finish his certification.  That's fine, but he flew in Thursday night and needed to make his four dives before noon on Saturday.  The weather, which had been warm and lovely, turned both windy and cold.  

We aborted our first dive attempt because the surf was rough and the student froze in the breakers.  He just stood there and tried to get his fins on with the waves breaking around and over him.  Fortunately, he didn't lose his fins in the surf.  We got out, dried off and warmed up.  The second attempt got aborted ostensibly because the student did not have enough weight on, though in retrospect, it was probably that his Lizard brain wouldn't let him exhale.   At the time, we blamed the inflator valve on the BCD and I disconnected the inflator hose, which solved that problem.  I also put two more pounds on him:  up to 24 pounds.  He's a big guy, but he really shouldn't need 24 pounds of lead.  Nonetheless, on our third attempt, we got onto the reef and spent 30 minutes underwater.    

For the second dive, we swam out through the surf, then descended on the sand to the West of the swim buoys. We went through the skills, including the mask clearing and removing then replacing the gear.  We hovered, too, but the student had some trouble.  I think he is overweighted at 24 pounds, but he still has problems coming down at the start of the dive.  I'm confident that as he gets more comfortable in the water and his Lizard brain relaxes he will be able to take some weight off.  After doing the skills, we ended up at the Big Coral Knoll and met with two Green Sea Turtles, which was exciting.  Unfortunately, I don't take my camera along with Open Water students so I did not get a picture for him.  We turned back when the student had less than half a tank and he ended up at a little less than 500 psi by the time we climbed onto the beach.  Difficult to believe this was the same student I started with this morning.

I was expecting another student to begin his classroom work at 2:00 pm, so I raced the referral student back into the water for the third dive.  We went down in 10 feet, just after the sand bar, swam out to the edge of the reef, performed some skills and swam back.  The dive was 33 minutes.

Looking for the Staghorn Coral Forest

I decided to look for the staghorn Coral Forest off Towers 18 and 19.  Descended over sand and swam out to the reef, then went on East looking for the coral.  I found the Eastern edge of the reef, then came back West and just happened onto the Forest, which is an old NOVA University project.



 I found the blocks on which they grew coral.  I also found the large rock in the center and surfaced to see that it was due East of Tower 19.  Don't understand why I missed it on the way out, but I did.  Maybe too far North.  I was low on air but took a few moments to look around.  A lot of the coral has been flattened by the various storms we have had.  Still lots of life, but I did not see any of the Blue Hamlets that I used to find. Maybe another day.  

Another Solo Dive on the Ledge of Turtles

Got to the beach and the ocean was not as calm as yesterday, but the surf was not bad and the visibility was okay. I swam out to the reef and spotted the Rock Pile from the surface.  Descended and

 got some nice photos of a Bandtail Puffer.












Headed out at 120 degrees and stopped to photograph a Knobby Sea Rob.  I am fascinated by the 8-arm stars that are the knobs.









Kept going, but must have drifted North with the current because I spotted the cushion rock, so I headed SW and spotted some familiar coral heads, then spotted the Ledge.  Got a shot of a Striped Parrotfish in the staghorn coral North of the Ledge.

As I got to the Ledge, I spotted the Red Hind I had seen a few days ago.  He was lying on the sand under the same rocks he had been under before.  I got a few shots.

I spent the bulk of the dive at the Ledge hanging out with those fish.  Got a nice shot of a Yellowtail Damselfish.

Increased the shutter speed and I think I got some better pictures of the Juvenile Yellowtail Damselfish. The spots appear better defined shooting at 800.

Got a nice shot of a Spanish Grunt on top of one of the two coral heads on the East end of the Ledge.

Also got a nice shot of a young Green Sea Turtle just passing through.








Like yesterday's dive, I headed back at 1000 psi and waited until about 400 psi before I headed out across the sand for the beach.   Burned 100 psi more air today and the dive was 8 minutes shorter than yesterday.  Still, it was a pleasant dive.