Dennis had taken the open water course two years ago, but not completed his fourth and final dive needed for certification. This was Dennis's 4th Open Water dive in this class and the final dive he needs for certification. Leo lead the dive and Luis and I completed the group. We geared up and hit the water. Getting out was a bit of a challenge, but everyone made it. We swam to the blocks and descended, except we were North of the blocks. I found them, but no one else came, so I went up, swam to Leo's flag and pointed him in the right direction. From there we headed East, but got set to the South and ended up at the broken coral head, where we turned North and went to the Knoll. I stopped to watch a Smooth Trunkfish and the others swam away. I went to the Perpendicular Rocks, but no one came, so I surfaced to find the flag and swam to it. I was on the surface long enough that the computer ended this first dive at 41 minutes and started me on a second dive. Leo, Luis and Dennis were headed almost due South and I swam to catch them and get them headed to Tower 17, which I did. It was definitely work.
Dennis and I stayed out of the water for about an hour and warmed up, then we switched tanks so he had a tank with 1221 psi while I had his with 835 psi. We went in for a short dive. Leo and Luis came with us past the swim buoys, where we descended, then they headed East. Dennis and I just swam around hoping to find an octopus. No luck. I tried to get Dennis to focus on his breathing, but he wasn't having any of it. He used speed and inertia to try to stay on the bottom and he ran out of air minutes before I came up to deal with the flag. It was actually an interesting dive and something that dramatically brings home the diver's buoyancy control.
Got a nice shot of this Sergeant Major,
Green Sea Turtle,
a French Angelfish, and
a Smooth Trunkfish.
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