Two Solo Dives on the Ledge of Turtles

Storm clouds along the horizon kept the day dark well after dawn.  I geared up and went down in about 10 feet of water and swam to the reef.  Had to surface to find that I was well North of where I thought I was, but I found the Rock Pile and headed up the reef at 120 degrees.  I was not able to find the octopus that I had played with last Tuesday.  No sigh of him. Too bad.

 I spotted Turtle Rock and swam on to the Ledge, where I found a small Green Turtle.  Got some pictures of him, then just hung out and took photos of other fish.

Like this Bicolor Damselfish,

this Juvenile Striped Parrotfish,

This Striped Parrotfish,

and this Rock Hind.








I stayed on the Ledge until I got down to 1000 psi, then I headed down the reef to the Rock Pile and West to the beach.  Dive time was 141 minutes with an RMV of 0.37.






I needed some extra surface interval before making a second dive, but also needed to get in the water before the evil lifeguards came, so I swam out to the reef and just floated for another 10-15 minutes.  Still ended up with the "tissue level warming," but it was manageable.  I descended as soon as I saw the life guard and quickly found the Rock Pile.  Headed up the reef at 120 degrees, again, but this time I ended up getting set South and found the Round Brain Coral to the SW of Turtle Rock.  Still swam right to the ledge.

Found another of the leafy gobys.  This looked like the one I photographed at the Little Knoll on Sunday, except it was whiter.  Still can't identify them.

 This, on the other hand, is a Townsend Angelfish, which is a cross between a Queen Angelfish and a Blue Angelfish.

 This little Yellowtail Damselfish looks like he's really giving me a piece of his mind.

And this is a Yellowhead Wrasse.



I stretched my air some and got 151 minutes of dive time.. My RMV was .36 ft3/min.