Wednesday, 22 May 2019

Martha and I swim to the Eastern Ledge off Tower 15



What wind there was this morning was out of the ESE. The ocean was relatively flat and calm.

We left the apartment at 6:50 am but took time to stop at Speedway to fill the truck with gas before crossing the Causeway Bridge. We got in a rather long but fast-moving line for the Bridge at 7:15 am. We were at the beach by 7:30 am.

Caribbean Spiny Lobster (Panulirus argus)

I had wanted to go to Tower 15 this morning and try to find the Little Coral Knoll, but first, we needed to find a parking space. There was one available on A1A and I did an adequate job of parking. Then two people left, so I pulled up and did an excellent job of parking two spaces closer to the entry. I was right on the line at the front of the space with several feet to set up the tanks.

Gray Angelfish (Pomacanthus arcuatus)

We geared up and headed for the water, but there was a lot of seaweed to deal with, both on the beach and ten feet out into the water. We carefully picked our way across the seaweed on the sand and slogged through the seaweed in the water before we could swim out to the buoy and descend at 7:57 am.

Intermediate French Angelfish (Pomacanthus paru)

I looked for and finally found the large rock by the buoy that Leo had used as is entry-point. I shot some pictures and decided against looking for the Little Coral Knoll. Visibility was quite poor so we just went East to see what was between us and the open ocean.

Christmas Tree Worm (Spirobranchus giganteus)

We found some Christmas Tree Worms on a coral head



Found a number of larger rocks with some fish, but no really large concentrations. We got to the Eastern edge of the reef in about 45 minutes and with 2000 psi still in my tank. Turned the dive and headed West for 35 minutes.

Young Yellow Sand Ray (Urolophus jamaicensis)

On the way back Martha found this young Yellow Sand Ray who was very calm while I took his picture. I stuck my hand in the sand and he remained calm as I rubbed his belly with my fingers.

Cocoa Damselfish (Stegastes variabilis)

I also got some pictures of a Juvenile Cocoa Damselfish (left)

Harlequin Bass (Serranus tigrinus)

 and a very calm Harlequin Bass (right) who hardly moved as I took several pictures.

Red Grouper (Epinephelus morio)

The Red Grouper (below) followed us for about 20 feet as we headed back to the beach.




I went up to the surface to see where we were, which was about 30 ft from the initial buoy at which we descended and with Tower 15 just behind the buoy. Not bad for a braille dive.

We swam South to empty our tanks and kill some time before surfacing. We turned and swam back to the North and to the same buoy. We surfaced when we crossed the buoy line into the vessel exclusion area.





The exit was steep and tricky. Lots of seaweed in the water and on the beach. Both Martha and I managed to climb out without falling.

We hiked back to our truck to find some shiny red monster truck with an Ocean Rescue sticker in the window had parked 3 feet over his line and there was barely enough room to slide by with our tanks on let alone get out of the gear.  I accidentally bashed the front of his truck while removing my tank. Martha left him a note.






Dive time was exactly two hours with 400 psi left in my tank. The maximum depth was 30 feet and the bottom temperature was 80.6 degrees. I calculated my SAC at 15.12 psi/minute and the RMV at 0.39 cubic feet per minute. My Suunto dive computer calculated my RMV at 0.34 cubic feet per minute, which was even better.


My pictures of this dive are posted at the following link:  22 May 2019_The Eastern Ledge off Tower 15

Tuesday, 21 May 2019

Martha and I dive the Yankee Clipper Jacks




Martha and I left the apartment at 6:47 am and got to the South Beach parking lot at 7:00 am, though I had to go around twice as I forgot that to dive the Jacks I needed to park behind Tower 2. We geared up and walked to the water by 7:30 am and swam out to the Jacks or at least where I thought they were by 8:00am.







We swam on a 100-degree bearing by holding the parking lot light on the South edge of the red chimney on the wall of the fire station on the West side of A1A. I watched as we swam over the reef and that we went over three separate tiers. At that point, we descended just past two jacks at 8:12 am.

Rainbow Parrotfish (Scarus guacamaia)

Black Margate (Anisotremus surinamensis)

We continued swimming East for 15 minutes and should have seen several clusters of 2 to 4 Jacks and then been able to see the beginning of the Jacks, but we didn't. Because there was a mild North current at the surface, I assumed we had gotten set to the North and needed to swim South to find the Jacks. So that is what we did, but after 10 minutes we still had found no more Jacks.





 I went up after another 10 munites to check our position and decided we should head North. Martha pointed out two free-standing Jacks, which only bolstered my decision to head North. We did and we found the Jacks almost 10 minutes later.







We each got on a separate side of the Jacks and swam NE. Seemed to me I was using more air than usual, but the RMV told a different story. At 69 minutes into the dive, I was down to 1525 psi but my RMV was 0.31 cubic feet per minute.

Juvenile Creole Wrasse (Clepticus parrae)

We continued swimming out for a little longer,
during which I spotted and photographed the Juvenile Creole Wrasse on the right.

Small School of Porkfish (Anisotremus virginicus)

I  spotted and photographed the small school of Porkfish on the left.

Midnight Parrotfish (Scarus coelestinus) 

I turned the dive at 1200 psi and 72 minutes.  On the way back I spotted and photographed this Midnight Parrotfish on the right




and the Initial Phase Queen Parrotfish below.

Initial Phase Queen Parrotfish (Scarus vetula)

We got off the Jacks at about 90 minutes and with a little over 1,000 psi in my tank.


As we swam West to the beach, Martha signaled that I should follow her and see what she wanted to show me. I did, and I was glad that I did. .

Lesser Electric Ray (Narcine brasiliensis)

Martha had spotted a Lesser Electric Ray fully exposed on the sand and rubble over which we were swimming. I took lots of pictures.

Lesser Electric Ray (Narcine brasiliensis)

Dive time was 109 minutes, bottom temperature was 80.6 degrees, maximum depth was 26.5 ft. My SAC was 16.83 psi/minute and my RMV was 0.43 cubic feet per minute. Need to calm down some more and get some more landmarks so I can find the Jacks when I want to.

My pictures are posted at the following link:
21 May 2019_Yankee Clipper Jaces

Tuesday, 14 May 2019

Martha and I dive the Swiss Cheese Reef

Orange Spotted Filefish (Cantherhines pullus)

I woke Martha up at 6:00 am and she got ready to dive. We left the apartment about 6:45 am. in order to get over the Causeway Bridge before it opens to boat traffic at 7:00 am. I thought Bob might dive this morning, but we didn't see him at all. Did meet a fellow named Paul McDermott who claims to be a professional photographer. We exchanged cards but I don't know if we will ever dive together.





Martha and I said goodbye to Paul and headed for the beach. We walked into the water and continued walking for quite a ways before finning up. We got to the buoy off Tower 4 and descended at 7:47 am. Headed East to the Wrap Around Ledge, where I found the Orange Spotted Filefish (above) and the Juvenile Threespot Damselfish to the right.

Butter Hamlet (Hypoplectrus unicolor)

We circled around the ledge then swam across the Rubble to the Rock-line. We went North along the Rock-line to the tire, except I never found the tire. Probably got set to the North. We followed the edge of the sand flat up to the rubble and I spotted and photographed the Butter Hamlet on the left.

Nurse Shark (Ginglymostoma cirratum)

We missed the Barrel Sponges but found the Staghorn Coral and made it up to the Sectioned Rock. The Giant Anemone that has been behind that rock is nowhere to be found. We turned North and swam to the end of the reef
where I spotted and photographed the Nurse Shark to the right.

Atlantic Spadefish (Chaetodipterus faber)

We turned West and a little South and swam over unfamiliar reef.to get back to Tower 4. A small school of Atlantic Spadefish passed over us. I swam after them but only got this shot of a single member of that school.

Atlantic Guitarfish (Rhinobatos lentiginosus)

Did a little better on air this morning.  Dive time was 131 minutes, maximum depth was 19.6 feet and the bottom temperature was 80.8 degrees.  My SAC was 15.00 psi/minute and my RMV was 0.39 cubic feet per minute.

My pictures of this dive can be seen at the following link:  14 May 2019_Swiss Cheese Reef

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Monday, 13 May 2019

Martha and I dive the Swiss Cheese Reef

Sailfin Blenny (Emblemaria pandionis)

We again left at 6:45 am to avoid getting stranded on the Causeway Bridge. We were at the beach at 6:55 am and geared up and ready to go by 7:15 am. I managed not to fall getting in the water this morning, so we were at the buoy and descending by 7:37 am.

Acorn Jellyfish

I set the Mark iv up to save both CR2 and JPG files to different cards, so I fed the jpg files into Picasa and they came out just fine. Trying to edit raw files with Canon's DPP4 is just frustrating on a good day and infuriating the rest of the time.

Striped Parrotfish (Scarus iserti)

Martha and I headed East over the blocks to the Wrap Around Ledge. Went East over the rubble and to the Rock line then North to the Tire Rock and East to the Crescent Moon Rock. Drifted Northeast with the current. Missed the Barrel Sponges, but found the Staghorn Coral where I got this picture of a Striped Parrotfish.

Graysby (Cephalopholis cruentatus)

and this picture of a Graysby and a couple of French Grunts.

From the Staghorn Coral, we went East to the Sectioned Rock where we turned North again to drift along the reef line.

White Grouper (Mycteroperca cidi)

Got to the Coral Head on top of the Shelf and turned West across some sand and smaller rocks.

As we swam West, I spotted this White Grouper and got this picture (left).

Blue Dartfish (Ptereleotris calliura)

Also got some shots of what Humann and DeLoach called Blue Gobys (Ptereleotris calliurus) in their 3rd Edition of Reef Fish Identification and now call Blue Dartfish (Ptereleotris calliura)(Humann & Deloach 4th ed.)

Red Grouper (Epinephelus morio)

 Also got these shots of a Red Grouper (left)

Nassau Grouper (Epinephelus striatus)

and a Nassau Grouper. (right)



Turned South and worked against the current to get to the Staghorn Coral again. From there we headed back to the Wrap Around Ledge and buoy off Tower 4.



We killed a few minutes just past the buoy line to get the dive time to 2 hours then surfaced to swim in even though the lifeguards were not yet on duty. Climbed out without incident. Good dive, all in all.

Dive time was 121 minutes, maximum depth was 18.9 feet and the bottom temperature was 80.6 degrees. I calculated my RMV at .39 ft3/minute but the Suunto program calculated it at 0.35 ft3 /minute.

My pictures from this dive are available at the following link:  13 May 2019_Swiss Cheese Reef

Saturday, 11 May 2019

Martha and I dive the Fish Camp Rocks

Martha swimming with an adolescent
Green Sea Turtle (Chelonia mydas)

After getting stuck on the Causeway Bridge yesterday morning, we left the apartment at 6:45 am and got across the span before 7:00 am when it would open for boat traffic. We were parked behind Tower 17 by 7:00 am. I had time to test the housing on my Mark iv before we got geared up and in the water at 7:20 am.

Green Sea Turtle (Chelonia mydas)

I fell getting in the water and crawled/rolled over the sand to get into the water. I needed to crawl quite a ways before I was in deep enough water to let me get my legs under me.

Once I stood up, I finned up and we swam out past the buoy line to descend. We headed East towards the Fish Camp Rocks and I photographed a small Green Sea Turtle who was curious about us. We followed the turtle South for several minutes before he left us.




I lost track of where we were while we swam with the turtle, but I  recognized the Big Coral Knoll as we swam by on it's Northern edge. We then headed South to the Fish Camp Rocks and discovered that the SeaFan organization had securely placed markers on seemingly every one of the Green Monsterous Corals of the Rocks inviting people to "take photos of this tag and coral" and upload that information to the SeaFan website.

Spanish Grunt (Haemulon macrostomum)

We spent a good deal of our dive on the Rocks and I got lots of pictures:  including this shot of a couple of Spanish Grunts on the Rocks,

Gray Snapper (Lutjanus griseus)

this shot of a Gray Snapper,

Juvenile Schoolmaster (Lutjanus apodus)

This shot of a Juvenile Schoolmaster,

Add caption

Bluehead (Thalassoma bifasciatum)

This shot of a Nurse Shark resting under one of the coral heads at the Rocks (left) and this shot of a Bluehead (below)

Unfortunately, Canon's 5d mark iv has dual pixel technology which confounds Picasa3 so that I cannot use Picasa to edit the pictures. I am struggling with Canon's own Digital Photo Professional 4, which makes little sense to me right now.



We left the Fish Camp Rocks and swam over to the Gray Mid-way Rock, then swam West down the gun sight to the beach. We surfaced just inside the vessel exclusion buoys.

Dive time was 101 minutes, maximum depth was 18.50 feet and the bottom temperature was 80.8 degrees. My SAC was 16.70 and my RMV was 0.43 cubic feet per minute.

My pictures from this dive are posted at the following link: 11 May 2019_Fish Camp Rocks

Tuesday, 7 May 2019

Martha and I find and recover the plow anchor from yesterday


Martha and I left the apartment 10 minutes early only to get trapped on the Causeway Bridge, which allegedly blew a fuse trying to close. We got off the bridge at 7:25 and were in the water by 8:00 am.

Swam up one buoy North along the buoy line. We descended at 8:15 am and swam 120 degrees from that buoy, but did not spot the chain or the anchor. Went North and then West and got back to the buoy from which we started. Tried again on a 150 degree bearing from the buoy, but ended up on a large sand flat. We headed East onto some rubble and then South and I spotted the anchor chain. Turns out that was the easy part.

I put the 50-pound lift bag on the anchor and it was enough to float the anchor but not the chain. I inflated my BCD and held the chain in my arms and we swam more or less West at a depth of 10 feet. I had to drop the chain and catch my breath a few times on the way in, but we eventually swam in just a little North of the buoy off Tower 4. Got into 5 ft of water and gave Martha my fins and had her go put her gear away while I dragged the chain and then the anchor towards the beach.

I was just getting out of the water as she got back. Together we carried the anchor and chain up to the showers to clean off the sand. Then we put the anchor and chain into the truck. Surfaced at 9:15 but we didn't leave the parking lot until 10:30 am.

Dive time was 60 minutes, maximum depth was 17.7 feet and the bottom temperature was 77 degrees. My SAC was 25.57 psi/minute and my RMV was 0.66 cubic feet per minute. I was working hard.

 Monday, 6 May 2019

Martha and I photograph some kids dragging their anchor across the coral


Martha and I left the apartment shortly before 7:00 am and got to the beach about 7:20 am.  Bob Simac was just leaving and we spent a few moments catching up before we geared up.

The beach had been recently graded.  The slope to the water was steep and the sand was loose. I felt my bad leg sink in the sand as I pulled the camera out of the way and I fell. How embarrassing. I drug my gear to the water where I got back into it.  Marth and I swam out to the buoy and descended at 7:59 am

Nurse Shark (Ginglymostoma cirratum)

I got some pictures of the small reef community that has formed on the submerged portion of the buoy (above) and then Martha and I headed East to the blocks and the Wrap Around Ledge. As Martha spotted a Nurse Shark under the coral on the South West side of the Ledge, I spotted another swimming West and then turning North. I got a few good shots of that shark (on the right) but could not get a good shot of the Nurse Shark under the coral


We went across the rubble to the Rock Line and East at the Tire Rock to the Crescent Moon Rock. Headed NE and found the Staghorn Coral and got some good shots of the French Grunts and a Graysby. Went to the Sectioned Rock and headed North along the reef until we ran into a poorly set Danforth anchor being drug across the reef by two teenage boys in a small fishing boat. I surfaced to help them properly set their anchor somewhere other than in the coral, but they flipped me off. Got some shots of the anchor and the boat with its registration numbers.



Martha had told me she had 3135 psi when we geared up and now showed me that her computer registered only 1700 psi while mine showed 2600 psi. I didn't see any air leaking from her, so we cautiously continued the dive.

Flamefish (Apogon maculatus)

Martha and I continued North along the Swiss Cheese Reef to the Coral Head on top of the reef ledge. There we turned West and swam along the sand hoping to find the weight packet Mitch had dropped during his checkout dives. We didn't find it. I did find and photograph a Flamefish. (left). Martha found a 50-pound plow anchor with 41 feet of chain rhode attached.

White Grunt (Haemulon plumierii) seeking a
cleaning from a young Porkfish (Anisotremus virginicus

I spent some time trying to move the anchor and chain, but they were just too heavy. I finally decided to leave them on the reef. I surfaced and measured the bearing to the nearest buoy at 120 degrees. That was the buoy just North of the buoy off Tower 4. I hoped we could come back tomorrow with a lift bag and recover the anchor and the chain.

Also spotted a Bluestriped Grunt seeking help from a Juvenile Porkfish regarding a mouth cleaning.

White Grunt (Haemulon plumierii) seeking help
from a Juvenile French Angelfish (Pomacanthus paru)

 We found the Wrap Around Ledge and I got a shot of a White Grunt seeking a mouth cleaning from an Intermediate French Angelfish.











Martha's computer still showed her with 1000 psi. We swam past the buoy-line and surfaced with 400 psi still in her tank. Climbed out of the water very near to where I fell when we got in, but both of us managed to climb out without incident. RMV was .42 cu ft per minute on my computer and .49 cu ft per minute by my calculation. Dive was 89 minutes.

My pictures from this dive are posted at the following link:  6 May 2019_Swiss Cheese Reef