Gary, Jimmy and I dive on Turtle Ledge with Scubatyme

Captain Bob drove Scubatyme and Doug Blakely was the Divemaster. We had one other diver on board: a young doctor named Jordan. Essentially a private trip.

Got this shot of Gary Smith in the water.

and this shot of Jimmy Vidler.



I set up my camera with the wide angle lens and put it in the camera bucket at the stern. We set up our gear and talked diving as we traveled out to the dive site. Once there, I geared up and pulled my camera out of the bucket only to discover that the lens was fogged up. This was the same lens that had been on the camera I flooded back in September, the last time Gary and I dove on Scubatyme.



I quickly got out of my gear, opened the housing and pulled the camera  so I could change to the macro lens. I tried to put the camera back in the housing, but the macro lens would not fit through the sleeve used to adjust the wide angle lens. I had to take the dome port off, pull the sleeve, replace the dome port, put the camera back in the housing and lock it up. Then I quickly got in my gear and got on the swim platform and went in backwards. My mask came unseated and I had to adjust and clear it, then chase the reel Doug had dropped overboard after attaching it to the flag.

I was racing and must have pulled the plug from the hot shoe as the strobe would not fire in the water when I finally got around to taking pictures.  Oh well.  I opened up the aperture and shot without the strobe.  Pictures came out unexpectedly well:

Got this shot of a Blue Chromis,

 this shot of a Bluestriped Grunt,

This Spotted Moray Eel that Jimmy pointed out as we drifted along,

 this shot of a Graysby, and

this shot of a Harlequin Bass.














Water temperature was 75 degrees; Dive Time was 67 minutes; consumption at 44 feet average depth was 40.85 psi/minute; SAC rate was 17.51 psi/minute; and the RMV was 0.45 ft3/mintue.

Diving the Yankee Clipper Jacks with Gary Smith and Jimmy Vidler

The sky was dark, overcast and windy this morning. Gary and Jimmy, my friends from Red Devil Scuba in Chatam Ontario, came over to the apartment about 8:30 am with their gear and we drove down to the beach.We geared up, walked to the water and got in at 8:55 am and swam on the surface out to the swim buoy, where we descended.



Swam slowly to the East, but apparently got set to the North. Got some pictures as we swam over the Algae Patch, the sand and the 3-tier reef, then turned South in 24 feet of water

Got this shot of a Bicolor Damselfish,

this shot of an Orange Spotted Filefish,

and this shot of a Sergeant Major.

Swam South to Southeast. Jimmy hit half a tank about 5 minutes before we found the Jacks near their Eastern end. We went up and over the Jacks, then West along the South side. Got some pictures:

 This shot of a Sharpnose Puffer

and this one of a Yellow Sand Ray.





.  Current wasn't too bad, but got worse once we went beyond the Jacks. Not a lot of life on the Jacks this morning. Not much more in the cut out area to the West.  We were all low on air by the time we hit the sand and Jimmy sucked the bottom of his tank before getting out.  I fell and crawled out on my knees.  Wind was picking up and no one was up for a second dive.


Water temperature was 75; Dive Time was 97 minutes; consumption at an average depth of 18 ft was 31.43 psi/minute; SAC rate was 20.34 psi/minute; and RMV was 0.52 ft3/minute.

Luis and I dive on the Eastern Ledge off Tower 15

The sky was cloudy and threatened rain, but we were going to get wet, anyway. I met Luis at Birch State Park. While we were gearing up, a cute woman ran by, smiled, waived at me and made some comment about how much easier it was to park on A1A. It was such a rare event that both Luis and I looked up. After the shock wore off, we walked down the hill, through the Center, across the road and into the water. I dropped a fin along the way and Luis took the flag from me. While it was still tricky getting out, it was so much easier without the flag. Got to deeper water and finned up to swim out, then swam back to Luis to take the flag so he could more easily get his fins on in the breaking surf.  We got out to the swim buoy and descended.

Water temperature was 73 degrees. I couldn't see much, but I thought I recognized a sea rod and headed NE looking for the old buoy pin and the Big Rock. Found them both. Took some pictures, but visibility was terrible and there weren't a lot of fish around.

Got this shot of a Bluestriped Grunt on the Big Rock















as well as this shot of an Intermediate French Angelfish. I've cleaned these pictures up in post processing, but you can still see particles in the water.










I headed South in the surge looking for the smaller rock, but never found it. I confused Luis, since we had discussed heading to the Eastern Ledge if the visibility was bad, and it certainly was, but I thought I might find my marks to the Little Coral Knoll and wanted to try. Unfortunately, we must have gone by the smaller rock, so I conceded and we headed East.

I saw almost no life until we got to the Ledge itself.  Water got warmer there: up to 75 degrees. The sun came out for a bit, too. Not as much surge at 30 feet, either, but I had blown through half my air getting there and didn't have much gas left to stay.

Got this shot of a Juvenile Stoplight Parrotfish,

this shot of a Sand Diver,

and this shot of a curious Seaweed Blenny.














We headed back when I was at 1200 psi, but I had plenty of gas to get back. Just not used to the dive, so I was worried, which did not help my usage any. Just broke 400 psi when we passed the swim buoy. The damn flag was surfing the waves in front of me and pulling me fins over face mask, so I signalled Luis that I was ascending and swimming in on the surface. We were still in 4 ft of water just yards off the beach, so it was tricky getting fins off and holding the camera with one hand while holding the flag and the fins in the other, but it worked.

Short dive.  Water temperature was 73 degrees; Dive time was 81 minutes; consumption was 33.28 psi/minute at an average depth of




20 feet; SAC rate was 20.72 psi/minute; RMV was 0.53 ft3/minute.

Diving the Yankee Clipper Jacks with Luis

I decided, based on yesterday's visibility and currents, not to take my camera this morning. Big mistake. Visibility was so much better today. Luis found a star fish. We don't see many of these. We moved a bit to the North so we had a long swim to the Jacks when we finally turned. After turning, I spotted a baby Flounder on the sand, but it successfully escaped from me. On the Jacks, Luis also found a Spotted Cleaner Shrimp next to a Giant Anemone. We turned the dive at about 50 minutes when each of us reached half a tank. We swam West along the South side of the Jacks. I left the Jacks at 1,100 psi and sucked my tank dry before surfacing just past the swim buoy.

Water temperature was 75 degrees; Dive Time was 90 minutes; consumption rate was 28.59 psi/minute at an average depth of 19 feet; SAC was 18.14 psi and my MRV was 0.47 ft3/minute.

Took a while to warm up for our second dive, but the sun felt really good. We geared up and this time we took our cameras, then walked to the water and got in. I wanted to swim out farther so we would have more time on the Jacks with the cameras.  We got out almost to the sand, and went down.  We swam East, but we did not get set to the North and I never found the Star fish. Too bad. Luis did find the Spotted Cleaner Shrimp, once we got to the Jacks. I got several pictures.

Spotted Cleaner Shrimp in front of a Giant Anemone on the Jacks

This second dive was a slightly longer dive, but not as interesting as the first dive, or maybe it just seemed that way because I left my camera behind on the first dive. I did get these other pictures:

 Bicolor Damselfish

Black Spotted Feather Duster

Bluestriped Grunt

Translucent hermit crab

 Intermediate Gray Angelfish

a small portion of the Yankee Clipper Jacks

 Sergeant Major

Orange Spotted Filefish

Townsend Angelfish














Luis took the flag, so I had a pretty easy time getting out of the water.

Water temperature was 75 degrees; Dive Time was 96 minutes; consumption was 30.45 psi/minute at 20 ft average depth; SAC was 18.96 psi/minute and the RMV was 0.49 ft3/ minute.

Solo Dive on the Yankee Clipper Jacks

The weather forecast was for light NW winds, but they were SE at the beach and about 8 knots.  I got in the water and swam out to the swim buoy to descend, but I couldn't see a thing.  Visibility was less than 3 ft in the shallow water.  I headed East and trusted the compass, but there was a varying current, as well.  I swam out to the 3 tiered reef, but I was blowing through gas pretty quickly.  On Wednesday, I had made a 142 minute dive on 3400 psi. Today I only made 109 minutes on the same amount of gas.  I took some pictures, but not many and few of what I took came out.  Too much back scatter.

Horse Conch

Seaweed Blenny and some unknown snail like creature

Slippery Dick



Water temperature was 73 degrees; Dive Time 109 minutes; consumption was 29 psi/minute at an average depth of 17 ft; SAC rate was 19.17 psi/minute; and the RMV was 0.49 ft3/minute.

Solo Dive off Tower 2

I got to the South Beach parking lot at 8:20 am and a lifeguard was opening up Tower 1. Fortunately, he got his running gear and left. I set up my gear, walked to the water and got in.  Swam out on the surface and went down just past the swim buoys, but South of the bearing to the Jacks. Moderate South current, and I couldn't make much headway against it, so I went down where I was and crawled North on the bottom. I then swam East, slowly. I went by some familiar groups of blocks, then seemed to spend the rest of the dive in unfamiliar territory.  I think I was farther North than usual.  I surfaced at about 90 minutes and was Way North of Tower 2.  Anyway, I let myself drift South and ended up coming out just where I wanted to be.  Didn't see a lot of life and didn't get great pictures, but the dive was long.

 Butter Hamlet

Caribbean Spiny Lobster

 Juvenile Queen Angelfish

Saddled Blenny

 Sailor's Choice

 Striped Parrotfish

Spotted Goatfish



Water Temperature was 76 degrees; Dive time was 141 minutes; consumption was 22.82 psi/minute at an average depth of 15 feet, while the SAC rate was 15.37 psi/minute; RMV was 0.40 ft3/minute.

Solo Dive on the Little Coral Knoll

Up early to a gorgeous morning. Got to the park before 8:00 am and had to wait in line for the park to open. Geared up and walked around, but I was swimming out by 8:30 am and descended at 8:44 am well beyond the swim buoy. Water was hazy when I first got in, but got worse as the wind picked up.  I had some trouble finding the Big Rock, but finally did.  Swam to the smaller rock, the knee-high coral and two dead looking sea rods and the went South to the counter-weight. From there, I swam 130 degrees past the stark rod, the gateway, the green and red coral and then I spotted the tipped over coral head on the NE side of the knoll.  I could easily have swum past. I took pictures and hung out.

 Butter Hamlet

Caribbean Spiny Lobster

 Juvenile Queen Angelfish

 Saddled Blenny

 Sailor's Choice

Spotted Goatfish

Striped Parrotfish with Porkfish in the background














When I got down to 1000 psi, I headed back, except that I missed the counter-weight and ended up to far North past the Sand Sea. Swam West toward the beach, hoping to recognize something, but never did.  Got into 10 feet of water and still had lots of air, so I went back East, and spotted two sea rods that looked familiar, then turned North and found the Big Rock.

Water temperature was 76 degrees; Dive Time was 131 minutes; consumption rate was 24.73 psi/minute at 21 feet; SAC rate was 16 psi/minute; RMV was 0.41 ft3/minute.  

Solo Dive to the Yankee Clipper Jacks

Got to the parking lot and geared up. I decided to take my camera as the ocean was almost flat. As I was walking out, a lifeguard was jogging on the beach and asked me if I were diving solo. I told him I was because it was safer, statistically, citing the DAN study. I also suggested that as an instructor, I dove alone a lot. As a photographer, I preferred being by myself. He responded that they have rules and I suggested that my Solo Diving certification ought to trump their rules. Anyway, he said they might hassle me if I get in the water after 9:45 when they take to the Towers. Good way to start the dive. More fat cocksuckers in red leather chairs ready to run my life for my own good.


I got in the water and swam out to the swim buoy to descend. I was over the cut out I dove last time I solo dived, so I stopped and got some pictures.


Juvenile Green Razorfish

Sharpnose Puffer

Sergeant Major

Yellow Sand Ray


I swam slowly to the East and was feeling pretty smug when it took 18 minutes to use the 400 psi extra in my fill. I'm figuring I'll do a 130 minute dive:  18 + 60 to 1500 psi then 40 to 500 , which gives me 118 plus whatever I make on that last 500 psi. Sounded good in theory, but by the end of the dive I was stretching to make 116 minutes.

Swam East over the 13 foot shelf and stayed East over the sand and to the 3-tiered reef. Once I passed the 3-tiered reef, I angled South and swam to the Jacks.

 Got some shots of this Planehead Filefish,

this Rock Beauty,

 a Sand Diver,

 and this Stoplight Parrotfish.









Swam West on the South side of the Jacks and left the Jacks at 1000 psi. Just made it to the sand before the beach with 350 psi left.


Water temperature was 76 degrees; Dive Time was 116 minutes; consumption rate at an average depth of 18 feet was 27.40 psi/minute; SAC rate was 17.73 psi/minute; and the RMV was 0.46 ft3/minute.

Darryn, Luis and I dive the Yankee Clipper Jacks

I was the first to arrive at the South Beach parking lot, but Luis and Darryn were only minutes behind me. Darryn has a new job on a 200 ft boat out of Papau New Ginea, so he settled up. Says he is leaving Tuesday. We geared up and got in the water. It was another day to leave the camera in the truck.

I walked out to neck deep water, submerged to put my fins on and came up kicking.  We had drifted a good bit North. I struggled and made up about half that distance, then watched Luis and Darryn get their fins on. Water was rough. Current was strong. It occurred to me that this might be a good time to descend where we were and make our way South underwater. So that is sort of what we did. crawled along the 13 foot shelf, pulling myself hand over hand rather than kicking. Had an extra 8 minutes from the fill yesterday and benefitted from the shallow depth. Crossed the shelf in 500 psi, then swam over sand to the 3-tiered reef.  Crossed that and went out on the next sand patch to 25 feet and turned South.

Found a small Gaudy Natacia as we swam along. Hit the Jacks at about 2100 psi. Followed along to the East, but staying on the North side, then crossed over and swam West on the South side. Current and surge were stronger on the South side.  Left the Jacks with 1500 psi.  By the time we hit the reef, Darryn was down to 1100 psi and about 600 at the 13 foot shelf. We shared my air over the 13 ft shelf, then separated when we crossed onto the sand.  I was fighting with the flag reel and Luis took it from me. I swam in by myself, but watched Luis struggling to free the flag line from his tank as he and Darryn rode a wave by me.  I came up in 4 ft of water.  We were South of Tower 1, so I let the current carry me North while I got my fins off and ambled onto the beach.  Exciting Exit.

Water temperature was 76 degrees; Dive Time was 91 minutes; consumption was a hearty 31.18 psi/minute at an average depth of 19 feet; SAC rate was 19.78 at and average depth of 19 feet; RMV was 0.51 ft3/minute.