Luis and I dive the Yankee Clipper Jacks

Met Luis at the South Beach lot about 8:00 am. We geared up and got in the water.  Large waves and rough surf, but we both got out okay. Swam out toward the Jacks, but couldn't see the bottom so we decided to descend and just try to enjoy what we could see. Found a lot of little shells and even some bigger ones. Need to figure out how to identify shells. We swam on the bottom out as far East as the Jacks but could see nothing. I started with a low tank and lost some gas going through the surf.  At 50 minutes I was down to half a tank. I signalled Luis and he indicated that he was low as well and we turned the dive. Swam back to the beach and came in at the rocks in front of Tower 2. Two Lifeguards came down to warm us off the rocks and we let the current take us South a little. Unfortunately, it got deeper and I had already taken my fins off. I bounced off the bottom and even tried swimming and finally got my feet on the bottom and came out.

Dive Time was only 83 minutes; SAC was 17.94 psi/minute; RMV was 0.46 ft3/minute.

Beach Dive Spent Looking for the Little Coral Knoll

Darryn Timm came by and got an XL full body 3/2mm wetsuit. We drove to the park and met Luis, then we all geared up and got in the water. Luis forgot his fins, so Daryn and I found shelter by the lifeguard tower while Luis went back for his fins. Then we got in. Surf was up but tide was in, so not too rough. Darryn had some trouble getting his fins on and swimming out, but he figured it out. We descended off the swim buoy and hunted for the Big Rock, which we did find. From there we headed South looking for the smaller rock but we ended up at the knee-high coral head and turned to 130 degrees. Went by the dead rod and headed across the sand sea, but missed the dead sea rods and the counter-weight.  At some point, we were just swimming East and then North. Visibility was less than 5 ft for most of the dive and only opened up to 10 ft near the end of the dive.  I went  up to see where we were, which was ESE of Tower 16.  We headed back to the beach. I swam in on the surface and waited too long to get my fins off.  Had to crawl back to deep water, get my fins off and stand up to climb out of the water.

Dive Time was 91 minutes;  my consumption rate at depth was 26.07 psi/minute; SAC rate was 16.87 psi/minute; and the RVM was 0.44 ft3/minute.

And Yet Another Dive on the Little Coral Knoll

Got to the State park by 8:05 am and was headed around the block to the beach by 8:15 am. Got in the water and swam out past the swim buoy to descend.  Visibility was terrible:  about 5 ft. I couldn't see the Big Rock. Even when I got down, I couldn't see the Big Rock. I swam around and found the old buoy pin and from there I found the Big Rock and headed South to the smaller rock, but ended up at the knee-high coral. Okay. From there I went 130 degrees to the sand sea and the dead sea rods. From there I went North to the counter-weight and then 130 degrees from there to the barren sea rod and then the green and red coral and finally to the knoll. I could hardly make out the ledge at the knoll from the tipped coral, but the sun came out and visibility got better. Still only about 10 ft, but better. Started exploring to the East, but got lost on the way back. Went South of the  knoll, but recognized a small pile of large rocks with a very big Nurse Shark and came back at 45 degrees to find the knoll again. Getting low on air by this time. Played around on the knoll until I was down to 1,000 psi, at which point I headed back:  130 degrees to the red and green coral, then past the barren sea rod to the counter-wieght. Southwest to the dead sea rods and then 130 degrees across the sand sea to the knee-high coral, the smaller rock, North to the Big Rock and back the the beach.

Dive time was 143 minutes; consumption was 21.54 psi/minute at an average depth of 18 feet; SAC rate was 13.94 psi/minute; RMV was 0.36 ft3/minute.

Another Solo Dive on the Little Coral Knoll

Got to Hugh Taylor Birch State Park a bit after 8:00 am, parked, geared up and walked around the outside of the park to get to the beach.  Swam out to the Big Rock, though I could not see it from the surface. I descended just a few feet from the Rock, then headed off to the smaller rock to the South. Picked up a number of shells, again. From the smaller rock, I swam 130 degrees past the knee high coral head and across the sand sea.  I could not see the dead sea rods, but I swam slowly to the SW and spotted the counterweight. From there, I swam 130 degrees and went right to the knoll. No octopus under the tipped coral head on the NW corner. No turtle under the tipped coral head on the NE corner, either. Lots of fish, but hard to see. I literally could not see the knoll from the tipped coral head on the NW corner of the knoll. Lots of small particles in the water, sort of like smoke or fog. I hung out at the knoll until I got down to 1000 psi, then I headed back. Found the red and green rock and the counter-weight, but I couldn't find the dead sea rods. I missed the knee-high coral head and the smaller rock. I missed the Big Rock, too. I swam into 8 feet of water and then surfaced due West of the swim buoy and still 5-10 yards off the beach. Would have been pointless to take a camera, but I found some nice shells.

Dive Time:  122 minutes;  SAC rate was 14.54 and my RMV was 0.38 ft3/minute.

Solo Diving on the Little Coral Knoll

The City sent me a letter advising me that the State Park would honor my City parking pass.  If that is true, it would allow me to dive off Tower 15.  I decided to try it out this morning. Got to the park at 8:00 am, but was advised that the fence to get through did not open until 9:00 am. I parked near the entry to the park, geared up and walked around to the beach.

I got in the water and swam out to the Big Rock before descending. I checked around for shells and moved slowly to the smaller rock to the South. From there, I headed at 130 degrees past the knee-high coral and to the dead limbs and then to the counter-weight, except that I did not find the counter-weight on the first pass. Instead, I wandered around and ended up to the East of the Big Rock. From there, I retraced my path to the smaller rock, the knee high coral head, the dead limbs and this time I found the counter-weight and headed off at 130 degrees to find the little coral knoll. Spotted an octopus under the tipped coral head on the NW corner of the knoll and a green sea turtle on the tipped coral head on the NE corner of the knoll. This is one of those dives that make me wish I still had a camera. Swam out to the tiny knoll to the East and the cushion coral but mostly just drifted over the knoll and watched the fish. Lots of grunts, but small grunts.  I left the knoll at 1000 psi and worked my way back to the smaller rock then the Big Rock. I hung out there until I made 130 minutes, then I swam into the beach.

Dive time was 135 minutes; consumption was 23.16 psi/minute at an average depth of 17 feet; SAC Rate was 15.29 psi/minute and the RMV was 0.39 ft3/minute.

Tommy's Third and Fourth Open Water Dives

Milton and Tommy were 30 minutes late driving up from Homestead this morning. Wind was out of the NNE at about 10 knots, so the surf was too rough for Ryan, who had some errands to run. He told me to park in his spot and go for both dives. We parked as he had directed and geared up, but Mike, the chairman of the Board of Directors, came to tell me that because I was a "commercial diver" and engaged in transacting business, I couldn't park in their lot.  I told him we were just diving and that Ryan had directed me to park in the spot for which he pays rent, but Mike thought that would still be a problem. This is absurd.

Anyway, we headed off to the beach to make Tommy's third dive.  The surf was up, but not impossibly so. We all got out, though Milton had more problems with his bum leg than Tommy did. I ended up towing Milton much of the way out, but he kept sitting up in the water which killed his forward momentum. I asked him once not to do it, but he couldn't help himself, so I just swam off and left him to figure it out on his own.  We got to the sand and descended. Milton held the flag line while Tommy and I did the ascents.  Even though I asked Tommy to signal that he was out of air before he went for my octupus, I had to remind to do it him when we were actually performing the ascent. We went up slowly: 35 ft in 105 seconds or 3 seconds per foot.  The CESA was faster:  35 ft in 46 seconds or 1.3 seconds per foot, which is slower than the 60 ft per minute PADI requires but triggered some ascent warnings from my Suunto computer, which preferred a 30 ft/minute ascent rate. Anyway, we swam back in and I showed them a common octopus hiding in a hole and a Yellow Sand Ray buried in the sand. Visibility was poor but it was a fun dive.

Dive Time was 35 minutes; my SAC rate was 18.51 and my RMV was 0.48 ft3/minute.

Ryan was at the apartment when we got back and Mike had spoken with him. Ryan wasn't too concerned about it all. Mike apparently has a reputation as an old maid. The more I think of it, the more I get pissed off, but its really Ryan who ought to be upset.  He pays for that parking spot and Mike has pretty much made himself a part of any decision regarding it.

Regardless, Milton, Tommy and I packed up and drove down to the South Beach Parking Lot to make our second dive and Tommy's final dive necessary for certification. We walked in just South of Tower 2 and headed East. We somehow missed the tiered reef, so I headed South and we went right to the beginning of the Jacks.  Swam along the North side for a bit, but turned the dive when Milton indicated he was down to 1,100 psi.  We headed back a little faster than we swam out. Might have made 2 hours, but wasn't sure how Milton was doing for air. Just as well. We came out just North of Tower 1 and walked up to the truck. Tommy did well using 8 pounds of weight.

Dive time 104 minutes; consumption rate was 23.81 at an average depth of 17 feet; SAC rate was 15.71 on an 80 ft3 tank; RMV was 0.41 ft3/minute.

First Two Open Water Dives with Tommy Olbe

Milton Tinoco, who lives in Homestead, took my open water class during the Spring of 2012 and got OW certified in May of that year. This year, Milton brought his son, Tommy, to Fort Lauderdale to take the course. He as finished the classroom work, including all the quizzes and did fine performing the skills in the pool.  This morning, he would make his first two dives in the ocean.

Our first dive involved no skills, but was designed to get him properly weighted and maybe a little more comfortable in the water. Milton and Tommy drove up from Homestead and arrived at the apartment just a little after 7:30 am.  We headed down to the South Beach parking lot, geared up and got in. I put 10 pounds on Tommy and carried 10 myself so I could swap 3's for 2's or vice versa.  He seemed heavy at first, but it could also be that he just wasn't breathing well.  Later, over the 3-tiered reef, I swapped one of his 3s for one of my 2 pound weights, and that seemed to help.  He didn't want to swap the others, so he dived with 9 pounds.  We went East, but may have gotten set to the North, as well.  I did not recognize the area, but when I went up to look, it appeared as if we were pretty much East of the beach, where we should have been.  I decided to turn the dive anyway, rather than search for the Jacks. We got back to the swim buoys and I signaled for Tommy and Milton to surface with me.  We tested Tommy's weight there and he was just a little heavy, but not much.  After testing his weight, we descended and swam in to the beach.

Dive time  was 70 minutes, which was pretty remarkable for a first dive. My consumption rate was 31.10 psi/minute at an average depth of 16 feet; SAC rate was 20.94 psi/minute and RMV was 0.54 ft3/minute.

During our surface interval and just before our second dive, Tommy and I went over the decompression problems. He obviously had spent some time on them and seemed to understand the tables. We got geared up and headed for the water.  The plan was to get to 20 feet and then run through the skills, which we did. Tommy did fine, except he had a little trouble hovering. I got him to lie horizontal and lift off the sand, but his legs brought him down. We worked at it and got him to actually hover without putting air in his inner tube. Then we headed back to the beach so Tommy could take the final and we could make his third dive and be done.  Milton had to head North to buy a dirt bike and wanted to leave by 1:00 pm.  I pointed out that Tommy was tired and would need about an hour to take the final, so Milton opted to make only two dives today and to make two tomorrow, even though that meant Milton would miss a NASCAR race in Homestead.  So that's what we did.  Tommy passed the final, but just barely.  Should finish his certification tomorrow morning.

Dive time was 37 minutes; consumption rate was 25 psi/minute at an average depth of 15 feet; SAC rate was 17.19 with an 80 ft3 aluminum tank; RMV was 0.44 ft3/minute.

Beach Dive off Tower 17

Ryan O'Connor, who lives across the street from Tower 17, was kind enough to invite me over to dive the Big Coral Knoll and the Fish Camp Rocks this morning. I got to his apartment 30 minutes early. I might have been a little eager.

We geared up and got in the water. He dives with a snorkel and still puts his fins on before he gets in the water, even when he is not carrying lobster gear, just as the PADI video demonstrates. As we were headed East up the gunsight, I spotted a Nudibranch out for a walk and pointed it out to Ryan. I don't think he was impressed. They are very small, but they are also pretty rare. We swam all the way to the one-sided coral head, which means we got set to the South by the current. We swam back on bearing and went through the Fish Camp Rocks where we spotted a number of lobster. We continued on to the Eastern Ledge. Nice drop to 35 feet and we headed North for a bit. Ryan had some trouble kicking up sand and waving his arms, but his buoyancy was much better. We came up on top of the Ledge and back-tracked to the finger coral, then headed West to the Big Coral Knoll. Had some trouble getting him to follow me. I had spotted several lobsters in the rocks on the SW corner of the Knoll, but he was nowhere in sight, so I swam back. I spotted him near the surface and I thought he spotted me, but he didn't follow. So I went back and let him see me again, but same result. Third time was the charm. Then we swam over to the Perpendicular Rocks and then headed SW to the Cigar Rock and West to the blocks then to the beach.

Dive time was 87 minutes; consumption rate was 25.41 psi/minute at an average depth of 19 feet; SAC rate was 16.13 psi/minute on an 80 ft3 aluminum tank; RMV was 0.42 ft3/minute.

Solo Dive on the Tower 2 Algae Patch

Got down to the beach about 8:00 am.  No lifeguards in sight.  Geared up.  Added 2 more pounds to my weights and got in the water. Swam on the surface out past the swim buoys, then descended. Had 3141 psi in the tank as I went down, but the water was warmer than the air. Made over 7 minutes to 3000 psi and 20 psi/minute for the first 1,000 psi.  Move slowly to the East looking for shells. Got into deeper water and I got lighter. I couldn't maintain 20 psi/minute and drifted back up to 25 psi/minute. Turned the dive at about 1400 psi and got to the sand at 650 psi.  Hung around until I got to 130 minutes and 350 psi and then headed in. Dive time was 135 minutes;  consumption was 21.83 psi/minute at an average depth of 17 feet; SAC rate was 14.41 psi/minute and the RMV wa 0.37 ft3/minute.  Not bad for as long as I've been out of the water.

Navigation Dive on the Tower 2 Algae Patch

Milton came to my apartment at 7:30 am and we headed for the beach at about 8:00 am.  There was a race or some event for which the police closed FLL Beach Blvd, so we got to the South Beach parking lot about 8:25 am.  We waited for Daryn, who left his boat at 8:30 am and had to negotiate the same heavy traffic that we had.

We briefly discussed the compass and how to use it, then walked through the out 'n back and the square patterns the students were required to navigate. Then we geared up and got in the water. We swam on the surface out past the swim buoys and descended. The two students buddied up and I sent them out at 100 degrees, with Luis tagging along with a flag. Daryn was in charge of the bearing and Milton was supposed to count kick cycles, but obviously had some problems. I expected them back in 5 or 10 minutes and surfaced after 9 minutes, but I could not see the flag. Fifteen minutes after they left I surfaced again and spotted them on the surface about 30 yards NE, so I swam to them. We discussed the problem, shortened the distance and descended again. This time, Milton was on the bearing, but he headed off to the NE, not SE, as I had asked. They came back in about 6 minutes, this time, though, which certainly counts for something. Daryn ran a second Out 'n Back and executed it well. Then Milton ran a square pattern and finally, Daryn did, as well. Then we went diving.

We headed East and spotted several single jacks, then finally, the beginning of the Wall of Jacks.  About that same time, Milton was down to 1100 psi, so we turned the dive and headed West. Daryn was disappointed, but he came with us. As we left the tiered reef, Milton was down to about 500 psi, so I gave him my alternate and we swam together over the sand to the algae patch and then across the algae to the sand, where I indicated to him that he should get back on his own tank, which he did.  I had lots of air, but the flag and flag line were getting to be a problem. We weren't well paired. The alternate hose was pressing into my head and I couldn't feel Milton, so I kept having to contort myself to look back and see him without winding the flag line around my legs. Need to work on that.  

Dive Time was 79 minutes; Consumption rate at an average 15 ft of depth was 29.57 psi/minute; SAC rate was 20.33 psi/minute.  Water temperature was 78 degrees.