Dianne came over and we met Luis on the beach for two dives. The sea was fairly calm, but we elected to descend well before the swim buoy and go out across the sand, looking for Sea Robbins and Guitarfish.
Both Luis and I are photographers. Poor Dianne had to amuse herself as we tried to set up just the right shot.
I found a Goldspot Goby, though it took a bit of digging to identify it once I got home. Its is supposed to have a goldspot above its pectoral fin, but Reef Fish says the spot is "not obvious in some individuals." What is obvious is the black bar across the head and down each eye.
I also found a Sailfin Blenny, though I just could not wait long enough to get a shot of him unfurled. Although we had headed East from the concrete blocks, we ended up at the Perpendicular rocks and not the Fish Camp Rocks, so we swam over to the Big Coral Knoll.
On the North side of the Knoll, we found a Hawksbill Sea Turtle, which was quite calm and seemed to enjoy our company. We swam with it for a ways and I tried to get a picture of Dianne and the Turtle. Unfortunately, I never got the shot.
I did get a fair number of pictures of the turtle, including this one of the turtle gliding down the South Slope of the Knoll.
And this shot of the turtle swimming with two Initial Phase Redband Parrotfish. I entered this photo in the Underwater Photography.com photo contest and it picked up 11 votes in 4 days. After I got this shot, we headed back to the beach.
On our second dive, we actually swam to the Fish Camp Rocks. We found a Nurse Shark and a Spotted Burrfish, though I did not get any good shots of either. I did shot this juvenile Schoolmaster, but he was wary of me and I had to crop it down quite a bit to get the picture I wish I could have gotten.
Came back West to the beach and found a small Nurse Shark just lying on the reef. He seemed calm enough, though he was very exposed.
Got some pictures of some Jacks crusing the reef.
and a Sand Diver lying in wait.
I got this shot of a Yellow Jack. It turned out surprisingly well for a spur of the moment shot.
Found a Stoplight Parrotfish with a Sharksuckeer well affixed.
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