Ryan O'Connor joined Luis and I for a dive on the Yankee Clipper Jacks

I've been trying to finish up an open water student's certification for a few weeks. I was waiting for him when he sent me a text that he wasn't coming, I called Luis to tell him I'd be a little late as I had been waiting for him. I then saw Ryan's text that he was looking for a dive and invited him to come. I met with Luis a little after 9:00 and Ryan showed up ten minutes later. We geared up and went diving.

I wanted to salvage the anchors we saw last week, so I suggested that we start the dive North of the swim buoy and see if we could find the Danforth anchor we spotted last weekend. We did, and we did. Luis spotted the anchor a little South of where I was looking. He put his Surface Buoy on it and we swam on. We went East until we got into 25 feet of water and then we turned South and swam up to the Jacks. Worked out well, actually. We headed West along about 1/3 of the Jacks and then headed a bit to the South looking for the Plow anchor we had also spotted last weekend.  Unfortunately we did not spot it.

We headed West for quite a ways, then surfaced to locate Luis's Surface Marker Buoy. Took a while to spot it in the waves and we were way South, but we did spot it. I swam for 8 minutes on the surface to get to it, so my computer tracked two separate dives. Luis and I carried the anchor back. While he re-packed his SMB at the shoreline, I carried the anchor out on the surface, which was a lot harder than I expected it to be.

Water temperature was 73 degrees; Dive Time was 81 minutes; consumption rate was 32.32 psi/minute at an average depth of 19 feet; SAC rate was 20.51 psi/minute and the RMV was 0.53 ft3/minute.


Ryan was good with one dive, but Luis is looking to log 100 dives this year and needs a few more dives, so we made a second dive.  My computer says the bottom temperature was 75, but I have a hard time believing that. Seemed colder and I remember seeing 73 degrees during the dive. I do not remember seeing 75 degrees. Seemed like I was cold for almost the last hour of the dive. We began the dive South of the Swim buoy to look for the plow anchor, but we did not find it. We did get to the Jacks, and this time, Luis wanted to continue East so we did for quite a ways. We did not get to the end. I got down to 1200 psi and turned the dive just short of the East end of the Jacks. We headed back to the beach.

Water temperature was 75 degrees; Dive Time was 99 minutes; consumption rate at an average depth of 19 feet was 29.09 psi/minute; SAC rate was 18.46 psi/minute and the RMV was 0.48 ft3/minute.

Another Solo Dive on the Little Coral Knoll

I was late getting to the park and the lifeguard was at the Tower and his supervisor was in the OR truck when I walked onto the beach. I just kept going, got in the water and swam out. Nobody even said anything, which is really how it should always be.

The visibility was significantly less than on Monday, but once I descended I found the Big Rock and swam South to the smaller rock, then 130 degrees to the knee high coral head and by the dead sea rod and across the sand sea to the dead sea rods, which are really not dead, but there is something wrong about them.  From there I went South to the counter-weight and then 130 degrees past the actually dead sea rods, the green and red  coral head and finally to the little coral knoll, though I could barely make out the tipped coral head on the NW corner as I swam by.

I looked for shells and hung out on the knoll for awhile. I could do that for hours with a camera, but I get bored without one.  So I decided to head due East from the tipped coral head on the NE corner. I went out for about 800 psi and then back, but at 800 psi, I still hadn't spotted the knoll. I went a little slower and spotted the green and red coral head, so I back tracked to the knoll.  I must have gone right over the knoll on the West leg of the out n back, but I didn't recognize what I could see. I explored the knoll until I got to 900 psi and then headed back to the smaller rock and the Big Rock and the West to the beach.  I was shivering when I came up.  Water temperature was only 71 degrees; Dive Time was only 104 minutes; consumption was 27.69 psi/minute at an average depth of 18 feet; SAC rate was 17.92 and the RMV was 0.46 ft3/minute.

Solo Dive to the Little Coral Knoll

I got to the park about 7:40 am, geared up, walked to the beach and swam out to the swim buoy. Spotted the old buoy pin, so I descended and then quickly spotted the Big Rock. Good visibility today. I swam South to the smaller rock, then turned to 130 degrees and swam to the knee-high coral, the dead sea rod and across the sand sea to the larger dead sea rod. From there I went South, again, to the counter-weight and then 130 degrees to the tall sea rod, to the red and green coral head and then to the knoll. Twenty feet of visibility is a wonderful thing. Played around the knoll. Spotted a couple of small purple mouth moray eels and one Spotted Moray Eel.  No Turtles and no octopus. Lots of Porkfish and Grunts. It's not the same without a camera. I headed due East for a bit.  Lost sight of the knoll, but picked it up after swimming back West.  At 1000 psi, I left the knoll and back tracked to the smaller rock and then to the Big Rock. Hung out there until I got to 350 psi and headed West to the beach. Came up in 9 ft of water and swam in on the surface.  Water temperature was 75; Dive Time was 100 minutes; consumption rate was 29.11 psi/minute at an average depth of 19 feet; SAC rate was 18.47 psi/minute and RMV was 0.48 ft3/minute.  Cold out.  

AK, Luis and I explore the Algae Patch off Tower 2

I got to the beach early, but Luis came soon after I got there. AK and her folks were just a few minutes after 8:00 am. Luis, AK and I geared up and got in the water. Wind was out of the West, so the sea was pretty calm. I could see the bottom in 15 feet of water.  Been a few days since that was last possible.  We swam to the swim buoy and descended, except AK appeared to have some problem and went back up. I went back to the surface, but her problem was just nerves. She'd done so well yesterday, too. Took a few minutes to calm down and then descended.  She indicated that her mask was leaking, so I reminded her how to clear it underwater. She didn't tilt her head back far enough, though, so there was always some water remaining in the mask. I showed her again and really exaggerated the tilt. She got it that time. We swam together holding hands for a few minutes, then she was fine. Luis took his camera, but didn't get many good shots. We just poked along to the East and then AK indicated she was down to 1500 psi so we turned the dive and headed back.  Seemed colder than yesterday, too, especially when we got out.  Dive Time was 72 minutes; SAC rate was 20.95 psi/minute; RMV was 0.54 ft3/minute.


AK and her parents left to play golf.  Luis and I got back in the water and descended just past the swim buoy.  We headed ENE for quite a ways.  Luis found a Bruce anchor on the bottom. We turned South when we began seeing sporadic reef and swam a long way to the Clipper Jacks. First headed East, then Luis indicated he was at half a tank, so we crossed the Jacks and swam West on the South side. Nice dive, all in all. Just a little cooler than I was prepared for.  Dive Time was 101 minutes; SAC rate was 16.79; RMV was 0.43 ft3/minute.  

Diving The Yankee Clipper Jacks with Anna-Kaisa and Luis

Got to the beach about 7:30 am, which was half an hour before Luis and I were supposed to meet.  He came a little early and we geared up and got in the water. Surf wasn't bad to enter. Must have been close to high tide. We just got in the water and it was deep, so I finned up and swam out. We descended just past the swim buoy and moved slowly to the East. Current was mild but set us or we over compensated. Hard to know. We missed the Jacks, though.  Luis did better on his air than I did and we turned the dive when I had 1200 psi.  Made it back to the beach just fine.  Found an anchor a little East of the swim buoy and North of Tower 2.  Want to try to find it later. It was a nice anchor.  Large Danforth and in good shape.

Dive time was 103 minutes; consumption was 26.42 psi/minute at an average depth of 19 feet; SAC rate was 156.76 psi/minute; RMV was 0.43 ft3/minute.

Anna-Kaisa Rantanen is in town with her parents and wants to dive before their cruise. She earned her AOW certification with me four years ago. We planned to meet at the Bridge then go to my apartment so she could try on gear. I met her parents, who spoke very little English and since I spoke no Finnish, our conversation was stilted at best.  AK has softened some and says she has quit soccer in favor of becoming a teacher. She still has a mega-watt smile: she got Luis to set up her gear without saying a word. Probably most guys help her out as much as they can. We headed for the water and she had a few difficulties. It was no longer high tide, so we had to fight the breakers in the shallower water before we could fin up. We swam out past the swim buoy to descend. Her first attempt to descent was aborted, but she took my hand and let me pull her down on the second try. We held hands as we swam because she seemed to need the extra weight, but as she calmed down and got used to breathing through the regulator, she let go and maintained her buoyancy on her own. Like the first dive, we swam East, but I wasn't trying to navigate. I just wanted her to swim some. Luis spotted a single Jack and then a pair and finally the whole line of them, so we cruised along the Jacks for a bit then swam over them to come back on the other side. AK had some trouble reading the pressure gauge, but we turned at about 1200 psi like the first dive and headed to the beach.  We did not see the anchor, but I'm pretty sure we were way too far South. We came up at Tower 1. AK and I shared my air for the last 9-10 minutes of the dive as she was low and I wanted her to have the 500 reserve in case we encountered problems exiting the water. We didn't, but I was glad we were ready just in case.

Dive time was only 95 minutes; SAC rate was 19.43 psi/minute; RMV was 0.50 ft3/minute.  Our average depth was only 15 ft compared to 19 ft on the first dive and my air consumption was greater, probably because I was sharing air with AK.  

Solo Dive off Tower 15

I got to Birch State Park about 8:30 am and took my time gearing up since the gate didn't open until 9:00 am. I headed down to the beach then and swam out to the swim buoy. Surf was rough, but manageable. Current along the shore was surprisingly strong. I could make head way against it, but it was a fight. Descended just past the swim buoy, but had to go NE before I spotted the old pin and then swam to the Big Rock. Off to a good start. I headed South with the current and found the smaller rock, but when I swam out at 130 degrees, I missed the knee high coral head.  Didn't see the dead sea rod and never found the counter-weight. Think I might have gotten set to the South, or maybe I over corrected and went North, but I missed the knoll. Swam North to see if I could find anything familiar but I couldn't. Picked up some shells and golf balls and headed to the beach.  Ran right to the swim buoy and killed some time getting down to 500 psi then surfaced and swam in.

Dive Time was only 100 minutes; consumption was 24.51 psi/minute at an average depth of 18 feet; SAC rate was 15.86 psi/minute; RMV was 0.41 ft3/minute.

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.