Solo Diving on the Ledge of Turtles

It was a little chilly when I got to the beach.  I read the Kindle for as long as I could, then geared up and got in before the Lifeguards took to their Towers and protected me from myself based on their arrogance and their civil service experience.  I descended early and swam to the reef underwater to look for the Rock Pile.  I had to surface to see that I'd been set way North.  I headed out at 120 degrees after allowing for the current.

Despite how calm and quiet the ocean was, visibility was poor.  The water was milky and  you couldn't see more than 15 ft clearly.  The current set me a bit North of the Turtle Rock, but I was close enough to spot it when I went by.  Went to the Ledge and hung out with the fish, taking pictures as unobtrusively as I could.

Found this Red Hind on the flat just South of the Ledge. He let me follow him around and get several pictures.

This Initial Phase Princess Parrotfish was much more timid and would race away as soon as I took the first picture.

This Striped Parrotfish was also camera shy.

I saw a lot of the French Grunts fighting, or at least I think it is combative behavior.  It's hard to tell with fish. No punches thrown just a shoving match.  Neither participant looks worse off at the finish, either.

Lots of Squirrelfish and I saw them chase one another but I never saw them go mouth to mouth like the French Grunts.










This guy just looks like he is ready for a fight.



As before, I headed to the beach at 1000 psi.  I stayed on the reef until I got to 350 psi and then headed across the sand.  I took a lot of pictures, maybe too many considering I did a second dive.  I surfaced after 126 minutes.  I was cold, but it was warm in the sun.