Solo Diving on the Little Coral Knoll

Clouds on the horizon kept things dark this morning.  I got in the water and swam out towards the swim buoy, but descended, before I got there.  Shortly after descending, I found a capped bottle with some dark liquid and a dollar bill wrapped around the neck.  Not sure what that means.  I made my way slowly to the Big Rock.  There was a Nurse Shark under the Rock, but I could not get the camera and strobe set up and get focused before the shark swam off.  No picture. Took pictures of other fish, then headed off at 130 degrees.

Got this shot of a Banded Coral Shrimp at the Big Rock.

Spotted this Blackbar Soldierfish at the smaller rock to the South.  Took a while to get the shot, though, because of all the small fry on the rock.





I swam past a knee-high coral head and to some blocks and a counter-weight maybe on the other side of the sandy area.  Kept swimming and should have seen the knoll, but I didn't.  Got to a large rock formation and gave up.  I spent the rest of the dive just wandering, hoping to find something that would help me find the knoll.  I didn't.  Got some pictures.


Lots of lobster on the reef.  Unfortunately, mini season is coming up.

This Gray Snapper looks like he'd been hooked at some time.








Lots of the usual subjects,

but also got some shots of this Trunkfish with a Shark Sucker attached.

The Trunkfish seemed annoyed by the Shark Sucker, but couldn't seen to out run or out wit it.



Dive time was 131 minutes; RMV was 0.42 ft3/minute.








Short surface interval.  Just got out of the water and had to get back in to avoid the Life Guards.  Descended just past the swim buoy and found the Big Rock.  Hung out there a while and took pictures, then swam South to the smaller rock.  From the smaller rock, I swam 130 degrees past a knee-high coral head and some small sea rods. On the other side of the sand, I found blocks and rope.  Kept going and got to the knoll.  Yeah.  Hung out at the knoll for the rest of the dive, just hanging with the fish and taking pictures.

This Red Hind;

This little Rock Beauty;

This Spotted Cleaner Shrimp;

and this proud Hogfish.



 I headed back the same way I came.  Two other divers were just getting to the smaller rock as I got there, so I headed down to the Big Rock and killed some time until they left.

Dive time was 141 minutes; RMV was 0.37 ft3/minute.