Diving the Little Coral Knoll

Dianne and I were late getting away, but Luis pulled up beside us at the light at Sunrise and A1A.  We parked at Tower 15 and got ready to dive.  Leo showed up about 10 minutes later.  Peter Restivo did not show up while we were on the beach.  .    

 We swam out to the reef, but there was no swim buoy so I had no mark upon which to fix a bearing.  We simply swam at 300 degrees and took photos whenever there was something to shoot, which was not all that often.  Luis and Leo got separate from Dianne and I somehow during the first 30 minutes of the dive.  We swam more SE and eventually ended  up at the Porthole rocks, which were essentially destroyed this Fall.

  I got my bearing and was headed back to the Little Coral Knoll when I started overbreathing my regulator.  I knew that the valve must not be fully on and tried to get Dianne to turn it on for me, but she wanted to go to the surface to talk about it.  I wanted to stay on bearing and get to the Knoll.  She went up.  I took my gear off, turned on the valve and started towards the Knoll, but I was on my on.  So I finally went up.

Dianne complained that she was out of air, which would be quite unusual as I still had 1200 psi.  I assumed that she had not turned her tank on, but when checked, it was fully on.  I did not think to check her pressure gauge.  Turns out she still had 1200 psi, too, but thought she was out of air because the regulator was breathing differently.  Who could know.  Having now swum and drifted well off the bearing I gave  up and she and I swam in together.  Luis and Leo joined us and we swam to the beach together.

 I was wearing the Lavacore suit again and had been okay for the whole dive, but I passed on a second dive because I wanted to go to the Shell Show.  The Broward Shell Club was hosting the 47 annual Broward Shell Show in Pompano Beach this weekend.  They offered Shell Identification clinics, free admission and free parking.  I wanted to go.

 So Dianne and I went home, unpacked the truck and I downloaded my pictures.  I was editing them and falling asleep, so I decided on a nap.  Of course I woke up at 3:00 pm, just 30 minutes before the Show closed.  Great.  Maybe next year.