Two Solo Dives on the Big Coral Knoll: Baby Squid!

I have been flirting with the idea of getting Solo certified.  PADI calls it a self-reliant distinctive specialty, kind of like when they pretend that recreational divers don't decompress during their ascent or say that a mandatory safety stop isn't a decompression stop. Problem is that no one has been offering the PADI course, not even Pavon.  Some question about whether you can avoid liability since PADI has made the buddy system the foundation of its open water course.  The reality is, of course, that the buddy system is broken. Even when I dive with others, I tend to wander off with my camera and few buddies have the patience to hang around.  Many wouldn't know when I was in trouble or what to do if they did recognize I was having a problem.  Seems like I'm often solo diving, even in a group. Of course most weekdays I don't have buddies except for students and DAN's accident statistics demonstrate that diving with students is considerably more dangerous than diving alone. All of which is to say I signed up to take an SDI Solo Diving certification course from Sean Meadows out of World of Scuba in Boca Raton.

Tuesday night I was attending a class in Boca Raton in connection with that course. I  picked up a pony bottle I'm borrowing from a friend and want to spend some time with it before we have our dives Saturday morning.  I was up late and couldn't get up Wednesday morning to dive. Spent some time trying to hook the pony up to my Zuma, but there just isn't enough Zuma there. I didn't have much time to fuss with the gear when I got to the beach, so I decided to take the camera and just enjoy the first dive and deal with the gear issue during my surface interval.

I swam out to the sea rod and descended.  I was setting up my gear and noticed two little quarter inch specs in the water that weren't moving with the rest of the sea weed.  I looked closer and they were baby squid.









I was shooting macro, but could have used a +6 diopter and a supermacro set up. There were four babies all together. They couldn't move very fast, but it was easy to lose sight of them.

I stayed with them for quite a while and quite a few photographs.

When I left them, I made my way slowly to the rock just North of the blocks.

Found this Yellowline Arrow Crab there and go this shot.

From the blocks, I went up the gun sight and up to the Gray Mid-Way Rock, then North to the Perpendicular Rocks, where I got this shot of a Bluestriped Grunt.

 When I got to the Knoll, I spotted these two French Grunts fighting over something.



I did take my finger spool and new $26 SMB.  I played with the SMB and sent it up a few times to gauge how much air I could put in it, but I can't say that I earned any new respect for the device.

Total dive time was 141 minutes; RMV was .39 ft3/min.


My surface interval was 50 minutes, but I needed to get in the water and outside the swim buoys before the Life Guard got to the Tower.  I had brought a suitcase strap and tried to hook the pony bottle up to the Zuma using that strap, but it was beyond me. Probably have to go with the Oceanic BCD, that's a gear barons delight with D-rings everywhere. I hadn't brought that, however, so I just took the camera and shot pictures on the second dive, too. Lots of pictures.  Too many pictures.  Gotta set limits.

Got this picture of a Juvenile Cottonwick at the rectangular Rock just North of the Blocks.




 

 This Rock Hind loves to sit on top of the larger rock and sun itself while keeping watch.

 This Yellow Jack came bombing through just inches off the coral on top of the Knoll

This White Speckled Hermit Crab had a perfect little home just off the Knoll.










Spotted this Gulf Flounder on the sand on the way back to the beach.  Could easily have missed it.


Nice dive.  Dive time was 160 minutes with an RMV of .35 ft3/min.

Still need to work out a harness for the pony bottle and should make one or two dives before Saturday morning. Hate to embarrass myself in front of the class.

Two Solo Dives on the Ledge of Turtles

Geared up and swam out to the Rock Pile to descend. Headed off at 120 degrees and started up the reef. Found  an octopus who had two shells clasped tightly to him  









I reached in to touch one of the shells and he squirted me with water. Took some pictures and headed on up the reef.



Spotted a rectangular bit of coral in the distance that might have been on the Ledge, but I decided not to go for it.  A few minutes later I spotted the round brain coral I knew to be SW of Turtle Rock, so I swam up there and then to the Ledge.



Just hung out on the Ledge getting pictures of fish like this Bicolor Damselfish,










this Townsend angelfish













and my favorite, this Three Spot Damselfish.  I love their eyes.




When I got down to 1000 psi, I headed back down the reef. I stopped to see the octopus, but he wasn't eager to play.  Got to the Rock Pile and waited until I was down to 250 psi to head West to the beach.  Dive time was 130 minutes.



Same dive as the first.  Got in the water before the Life guards came, swam out to the Rock Pile.  Descended. Swam up the reef towards the Ledge.  Stopped to see that the Octopus was fast asleep, then continued to the Ledge.  Spotted the Big Rock and Turtle Rock.  I was North and a bit East of them.  Just hung out with the fish.

 Got this shot of a Bar Jack,

 this nice shot of a Redband Parrotfish grinning away,

 this more dramatic shot of a Yellow Jack in the strobe,

and this shot of a Striped Parrotfish.







Stayed on the Ledge to 1000 psi and then headed back. Held up at the Rock Pile until 300 psi and then headed West to the beach.

Two Solo Dives on the Big Coral Knoll

I got up at 4:00 am, walked the dog, fed the Betas and made coffee.  By 5:30 I was on the road to the beach and descending at the sea rod by 6:27.  I took some shots of floating sea weed.  In the darkness of early dawn and on the 3 inch screen, they looked stunning.  On the big monitor at home they are pretty bad.  I deleted them all.  Too bad.  I thought I really had something.



I worked my way from the sea rod to the reef and then headed South looking for the blocks.  Found a couple of Green Sea Turtles foraging in the algae.

I also found a large rectangular rock with a number a Arrow Crab and two or three Banded Coral Shrimp.  I got a picture of the shrimp and one of the crabs.  When I got home, I noticed that the Banded Coral Shrimp I photographed had only one banded arm.









Then I noticed that the Arrow Crab I photographed was playing with a banded arm.  Hard to imagine the spindly arrow crab ripping the shrimps arm off, but I don't know how else to explain it.

I also noticed in that set of photographs that I had gotten pictures of a Peppermint Shrimp.  All I saw at the time was the white/silvery "V" in the dark.



I continued South looking for the blocks, but was concerned that I must be lost since I wasn't seeing them or anything familiar.  I was on my way to the surface to see where I was when I spotted the blocks about 10 yards to the South.

From the blocks, I made my customary swim through the gun sight, over Irish Thighs, past the sponge, over the cigar rock and turn North at the Gray Mid-way rock.  On the the Perpendicular Rocks, the Swept Rock and then the Knoll.  Lots of fish out this morning. Young French and White Grunts.  Nice to see the numbers.  I stayed on the Knoll, just drifting.  Got this shot of a Juvenile Creole Wrasse.

Also got this shot of the Rock Hind sunning himself.

At 1200 psi, I headed back to the Gray Mid-way Rock and then West to the beach.  I stopped at the blocks and ran the clock out to 125 minutes, then swam in the next 7 minutes.








I was cramping pretty badly when I got out after the first dive, so I drank one of the sports drinks.  It apparently did some good as I had little trouble with cramps on this second dive. The dive itself was really a repeat of the first dive except I made a few more laps of the Knoll as this dive lasted 10 minutes longer.  On the other hand, 142 minutes is a far cry from 160 minutes, which I what I was shooting for.  Photographed some little shrimp I did not see all that well.  Turned out it was a Peppermint Shrimp and the shot was good.  Got a few more shots of the Rock Hind sunning himself, too.

Found this ambitious White speckled Hermit Crab.

As you can see, this shell is much bigger than he really needs or can carry, for that matter.

Luis and I make a single dive on the Big Coral Knoll

Luis sent me an email saying he could meet me on the beach at 8:00 am for two dives.  It took a while to actually get in the water, but we swam out to the blocks, went up the gun sight, over Irish Thighs, past the sponge, over the Cigar Rock and up to the Gray Mid-way Rock.  Turned North and went to the Perpendicular Rocks, then the Swept Rock and then the Knoll.



Found the Rock Hind on top of one of the large rocks on the North and got some good shots before it hid in the tipped coral.

Also found a Goldentail Moray Eel on the North slope.

He was a shy fellow and would not come out, so the pictures only hint and what he looks like.













Finally, found a small Green turtle on the sand on the way back to the beach.










He took off swimming as I got my first shot and it wasn't long before he had outrun me.












It was a good dive, but at 131 minutes, it was not as long as I would have hoped.  Luis was unable to stay for a second such dive, so I made only the one dive today.

Leo, Luis and I work on mapping the Little Coral Knoll

My last dive was 6 mornings ago.  The weather has been delightful:  calm, warm seas though the visibility has not been as good as it might have been.  Having problems with my tenant at the Bridge and was worried.  Diving would not have been fun.

But I'm ready to dive now.  I got to the beach by 7:00 am and Luis came right at  7:30.  Leo was his usual 15 minutes late.  We geared up, discussed the mapping project and what we needed to do, then got in the water.  We descended at the Big Rock and all three of us were taking pictures.  I left, it was just too much.


I headed out at 130 degrees, then a little green turtle came by and I started swimming along with the turtle.












Soon, an Eagle Ray swooped down on the two of us and I followed after the Eagle Ray hoping to get some good shots, but didn't.  I could not get close enough for the strobe to light up the Ray, so the photos are hazy and the details are not clear, as you can see.











By the time I stopped following the Eagle Ray and looked around me, I realized I was lost.  I had no idea which direction or how far I had gone following the Ray.  I surfaced to see if Luis or Leo had sent up their SMB, but I didn't see it if they did.  So I descended and wandered aimlessly taking pictures.





I got this shot of a Blackbar Soldierfish.














Then this shot of a French Anglefish.











 This shot of a Juvenile Cottonwick.

and this shot of a Scrawled Cowfish.






Near the end of the dive, Luis and Leo found me because I was dragging the flag.  They hadn't found the knoll either.  We looked a little more, then swam in.  I hung out to make 2 hours, but then I surfaced, too.




Our second dive went much like the first, except we actually found the Little Knoll.  Leo and I mis-communicated and he headed West to measure the distance to the little rock, which was South of us.  I though he might be measuring the distance to the swim buoy, but I was wrong.  Anyway, we got that straightened out and we swam to the little rock then headed off at 130 degrees.

 Luis spotted a baby Nurse shark and we all got pictures. The little guy was under a large, flat rock, which I was able to lift off the animal without causing him to flee.

It was, however, a repeat of the debacle at the Big Rock on the first dive.  Too many cameras.  Too may strobes.  Too many photographers.  Fortunately, the little guy just held perfectly still, enduring all the fuss without running.  I placed the large rock back on him and we swam off.

We swam about 10 feet apart, hoping to find the Little Knoll, and Luis and I spotted it at about the same time. I was on track for the tipped coral head in the NW corner of the knoll.  Nice.

We all drifted in different directions and shot pictures on the knoll  I got this shot of a Batwing Coral Crab.

 I also got this shot of what I think is a Graysby, but which does not have the spots along the dorsal fin.

I also got this shot of a Squat Anemone Shrimp on a Giant Anemone.


At 1000 psi, we started to measure the distance from the tipped coral in the NW corner to the Big Rock.  We tried to hold 310 degrees, but I think we got set by the current. We missed the Big rock and were North of Tower 15 when we finally surfaced to discover our error.  We swam in to the beach.

Luis and I dive the Big Coral Knoll

Didn't sleep well last night and missed my early morning dive.  I emailed Luis and let him know I would be at the beach when he got there.  He came around 8:00 am.  We geared up and got in; swam out to the blocks and descended.  Took a while to find the blocks, but we did and headed up the reef. Up the gun sight, to the cigar rock then the Gray Mid-way Rock, then we turned North and went to the Perpendicular Rocks where I got this shot of a Bluestriped Grunt,




and this shot of a Bluestriped Grunt getting a cleaning from a young Porkfish.

 the Swept Rock, where I got this shot of a Blue Tang,













and then the Knoll, where I found the Rock Hind on the large rock on the North side of the Knoll and got some pictures.









 

The Rock Hind raced off and hid inside the Coral Head lying on its side, where I got this shot.











 We went over to the English Garden, where I got this shot of a Smooth Trunkfish.   Unfortunately, we got lost coming back to the Knoll.  I thought I was in some large rocks to the NW of the Knoll,










but I spotted the Fish Camp Rocks to the West.  Could easily have gone right by.  I got this shot of a Stoplight Parrotfish at the Rocks.

We came back over the Gray Mid-Way Rock to the Cigar Rock to the sponge, Irish Thighs and the top sight of the gun sight, then we were lost again.

The next thing I recognized was a large rock where Trish and Nicolaas spotted  an Ocean Surgeonfish stuck in a pocket.  He had gone inside apparently thinking he could swim through, but it didn't go through and he couldn't swim backwards.

Luis and I headed Northwest from that rock and came in right at the Tower. The dive time was 122 minutes and I was sucking the tank dry to get that.  Luis still had 800 psi.