Two Dives with Leo and Luis on the Little Coral Knoll

I got to the beach a little before 6:00 am and was surprised to find many of the parking spots taken already.  I was the 6th car from the entry.  A lot of cars left by the time Leo came at 7:30 am, however, and both he and Luis parked near me. Leo made the snorkel swim and the tired diver's tow.  He also briefed us on this dive on the Little Coral Knoll. We got in the water and followed Leo, but he got set to the Northeast by the current.  We came to some rocks I recognized. I went to the sand sea and headed West to find the counter-weight, then we headed to the knoll.  Even so, we were set a bit East and spotted the concrete block before we found the knoll.  From the block, we went SSW to the knoll.


Found a Green Turtle on the knoll and got a couple of nice photos. We were able to swim with the turtle for several minutes.    

 

Caught these two crabs in the doubler position, in which male crab carries the female crab.  Mating usually lasts for 5 1/2 hours, but the crabs will maintain this position for up to 3 days after mating. The female crab stores the male’s sperm on the underside of her abdomen and will use that sperm for two or more spawnings within her three year lifespan.

I also got a nice shot of this Red Grouper and then soon after I got this shot of the same grouper flexing its mouth.  

Nice dive, if not the longest.  Dive time was 114 minutes.  My RMV was 0.38 ft3/minute.  











Leo headed home and Luis and I made a second dive.  This time, we started from the smaller rock and went by the knee high coral to the counter-weight and then to the knoll.  Spotted the Dog Rock as we went by, but I did not get off course to check it out.

I found this very young Smooth Trunkfish and got some good pictures.

Also had a Nurse Shark swim up to me on the knoll. Surprised me, but I got this shot before it was gone.




Luis and I took a side trip to the Porthole-rocks, but the Grouper wasn't there and there were no sharks there either.

I did get this shot of a Hogfish on the way back from the Porthole-Rokcs.

I then found this Purplemouth Moray Eel on the way back to the knoll.  From the knoll, we went back to the smaller rock, and then we back tracked to the beach.




Dive Time was 132 minutes, but I still had 700 psi left in the tank.  Could have been 25-30 minutes longer.  RMV was 0.36 ft3/minute.

Solo Dive on the Big Coral Knoll

Got to the beach early, but got caught up in the sunrise and didn't get into the water until 6:45 am.  Swam out to the swim buoy and descended at the Sea Rod, then swam slowly out to the blocks.  Visibility was terrible.  I went up the gun sight to the Gray Mid-way rock and turned North to go to the Perpendicular Rocks, the Swept Rock and the  Big Coral Knoll.  I made several trips around the perimeter of the Knoll.

Saw this little guy waiting for the small fish to clean him up.

And this fellow skimming along over the coral.

This guy was feeding on the sand and algae leading up to the reef.

Got this shot of the Rock Hind sitting on top of one of the boulders on the North edge of the Knoll.



I made three trips around the Knoll.  Got some fish portraits, but lots of backscatter, too.

 Got this photograph of a Blue Tang,













this shot of an Ocean Surgeonfish getting cleaned by a Neon Goby,

and this shot of a White Grunt.


Came back a little early.  I got to the blocks with over 700 psi so I hung out there while I breathed the tank down below 500 psi, then headed over to the Sea Rod and up the beach.

Dive Time was 145 minutes and RMV was 0.4 ft3/minute.   Not bad after two days out of the water.

A Solo Dive on the Staghorn Coral Forest

I had trouble getting to sleep last night, so I did not make an early morning dive this morning.  I got to the beach about 8:10 am and parked just before a female life guard pulled in.  She did not open the Tower, however, and she did not hassle me.

I headed due East from the swim buoy just South of Tower 19 and found the Staghorn Coral Forest with little problem.

 Found some squid just as I entered the forest and got a lot of pictures.  I hope some of them turn out okay.

Got this shot of a Squirrelfish in the coral.

this Smallmouth Grunt,

and this Pigfish

 Really like this shot of an Ocean Surgeonfish.  Looks like he is in the choir and singing for all he is worth.

 Also got this shot of two French Grunts fighting, though I'm not sure what they are fighting over.  

Left the forest at 1000 psi and hung out at 10 feet just off the beach to get to 141 minutes of dive time.  Not bad.

Luis and I dive Catamaran Beach

Luis and I geared up and got in the water in front of Tower 4.  We swam out on about 100 degree bearing for 30 minutes, then turned North when I saw the bottom go to 25 ft and then start getting more shallow.  There was a lot of patch reef and some larger areas of reef.  Some of the reef looked like the swiss cheese area in Lauderdale by the Sea.


Found some reef with "melting" coral.

We swam for maybe 40 minutes and didn't see anything suggesting the presence of Euro Jacks, but a friend had told me that there was a second set of Jacks North of the ones off the fire house.  We turned West and swam for about 15 minutes, then headed South along a nice swiss cheese reef.





Saw a turtle and saw a Southern Atlantic Stingray, but the Stingray got spooked before I got any pictures and everything after that was sand and backscatter.






I did get some nice photos.

 This picture of a Gray Snapper came out well.

I really like this picture of a Sheepshead Porgy.  The strobe was not too hot but certainly set up some sparkle.

Found a little White Speckled Hermit Crab in his shell in the bottom of one of the swiss cheese holes in the nice reef.  I pulled him out and got this picture, but I think now I should have moved him onto the sand.  He's likely already fallen into another hole.

I like how graceful these Juvenile Jackknife Fish are.  Don't see a lot of them, but this guy was certainly posing.
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I was running out of ideas when Luis signaled that he was low on air and we turned the dive and headed West to the beach.

Dive time 126 minutes; RMV was 0.40 ft3/minute.


Turns out Kelvin was the Life Guard on Tower 4, so I went to talk with him a while.  Luis came to tell me he was concerned about the storm building to the West and wanted to get in if we were going to make a second dive, so we geared up and got in taking a 50 minute surface interval. We descended just past the swim buoy but kept heading East.  Came to that nice patch of swiss cheese reef and headed North along that reef.  We weren't really looking for the Jacks, but we were exploring the reef North and East of Tower 4, just to see what was there.



Lots of lobster.  Lots of hungry lobster.  They were everywhere, though looks like some poachers had taken a few, leaving what they didn't want behind.

This little Orange Spotted Filefish just watched me. They usually take off when I point the camera at them, but this guy stayed put even when the strobe went off.

 Nice picture of this Hogfish.

I like this shot of an intermediate French Angelfish. Usually the strobe washes them out or there isn't enough like to see their eyes.  This shot turned out well.

I tried to hold bearings so I would have some idea how to find things, but we really just wandered.  Nice easy dive.

Dive Time was 130 minutes; RMV was 0.37 ft3/minute and I came back with 634 psi in the tank.

Two More Solo Dives on the Little Coral Knoll

Got in the water at about 9 ft and slowly worked my way out to the swim buoy, then to the smaller rock, the knee-high coral, the counter-weight and the knoll.


Got some good (I hope) pictures of a small green turtle who was on the knoll when I got there.

He noticed me as I swam by and then he followed me as I went down the face of the knoll.  Usually, he runs.

 I then headed out to the Port-hole Rocks and got some pictures of a small Nurse Shark.  I didn't take too many pictures because the Nurse Shark was getting edgy and I didn't want to cause her to swim off.

I did get a couple of quick shots of the Red Grouper who has apparently taken up residence on the rocks.


I got lost coming back and wandered around for a while, then found the Dog Rock.  Swam 110 degrees from there and got to the knoll.  First time that's ever worked.





Did a short out 'n back to the East and found a pair of large Caribbean Reef Squid.  They were more skittish than the squid at the Big Coral Knoll, but I wasn't pushy and they seemed curious.

Got some more pictures and then swam back to the smaller rock where I ran down my air.  At 200 psi, I headed back to the beach.


Dive Time 145; RMV 0.38 ft3/min



As is now my practice, I get as warm and as dry as I can while changing my tank, then swim out on the surface past the swim buoy to complete my surface interval where the Life Guards really can't get to me. I drifted to and descended at the smaller rock, then swam by the knee-high coral, the counter-weight to the knoll. Just hung out on the knoll and took pictures.

Got this nice shot of a Bar Jack who was cutting through the schools of small fish that are all over the knoll.

 Also got this shot of the Graysby Grouper.

This White Grunt is trying to get the young Porkfish next to him to clean the Grunt's mouth.  He won't be successful while I'm firing the strobe.  

This Spotted Goatfish let me get pretty close for this shot.

This Red Hind was a lot less trusting, but still gave me a good shot.



Got some more pictures and then swam back to the smaller rock.






While running down my air prior to heading for the beach, I spotted and tried to photograph a small Flounder who blended in with the sand so well that I lost him whenever I took my eyes off of him. Fortunately for me, I could spot him easily when he moved. If you look closely, you can see his eyes, which are two bumps atop his body, and his mouth, which is just below the closest eye.

Dive Time 146; RMV 0.38 ft3/min

Two Solo Dives on the Little Coral Knoll

Gets darker each morning and more difficult to plan for a 60 minute surface interval between dives.  Sunrise used to be at 6:30 am, but is not 6:42 am and getting later by about 1 minute per day. Anyway, I get in the water a little after high tide and creep out to the swim buoy and the Big Rock.  The current sets me and I find a different Big Rock to the Northeast of the one I wanted.  Not a big issue, I don't discover the problem until I headed South looking for the smaller rock and ran into the Big Rock I sought.  Lots of Lobster, though.  I counted 14 lobster on the Big Rock, when I found it. Also found a small Nurse Shark just swimming up for a nap.  I got some pictures, but they were awash in back scatter and I just deleted them.

From the Smaller Rock, I headed 130 degrees to the Knee-high coral and then on to the counter-weight. I went by the Dog Rock and then to the little knoll.

Found a little green turtle when I got to the knoll.  I swam with him a bit.  He came over to me and I just let him swim over me.  I think he was curious about the strobe.  Got lots of pictures, most of which were filled with back scatter.

Made a short trip over to the Port-hole rocks and found a Nurse Shark there, too.

Got some good shots of a large Red Grouper who now hangs out there.


Just hung with the fish until 1000 psi, when I headed back to the Smaller Rock and then the beach.

Dive Time was 153 minutes; RMV was .37 ft3/minute.  





I was chilled when I got out of the water after my first dive.  The sky was filled with clouds, but the cab of the truck was warm and my towel felt so good.  I had a cup of coffee and a vitamin water and it was time to get in again. I floated at the surface to complete my surface interval once the Life Guard got to the beach. Then I descended and essentially repeated the first dive.

 Got this shot of a Blackbar Soldierfish

and this shot of a Cero.  I've been trying to get a good shot like this for some time.  These fish just fly by and I can hardly see them coming.  Getting two pictures was remarkable.

 This Red Hind is apparently now living on the knoll.

Just like this shot of a White Grunt who appears to be reading the riot act to a Hogfish.

I was using my air better, though, and made 162 minutes on this dive; RMV was 0.35 ft3/minute.

Noticed a guy watching me swim in.  He walked over to where I was trying to climb out of the water and tried to strike up a conversation.  It's nice that people are interested and I would be happy to talk to him, but after I get out of the ocean, after I get my gear off and after I pour myself a cup of coffee and dry off on my warm towel.   When I am struggling to maintain my balance and carry the tank, camera, fins and flag, however, I would really like him to just go away.