Darryn, Luis and I dive the Yankee Clipper Jacks

I was the first to arrive at the South Beach parking lot, but Luis and Darryn were only minutes behind me. Darryn has a new job on a 200 ft boat out of Papau New Ginea, so he settled up. Says he is leaving Tuesday. We geared up and got in the water. It was another day to leave the camera in the truck.

I walked out to neck deep water, submerged to put my fins on and came up kicking.  We had drifted a good bit North. I struggled and made up about half that distance, then watched Luis and Darryn get their fins on. Water was rough. Current was strong. It occurred to me that this might be a good time to descend where we were and make our way South underwater. So that is sort of what we did. crawled along the 13 foot shelf, pulling myself hand over hand rather than kicking. Had an extra 8 minutes from the fill yesterday and benefitted from the shallow depth. Crossed the shelf in 500 psi, then swam over sand to the 3-tiered reef.  Crossed that and went out on the next sand patch to 25 feet and turned South.

Found a small Gaudy Natacia as we swam along. Hit the Jacks at about 2100 psi. Followed along to the East, but staying on the North side, then crossed over and swam West on the South side. Current and surge were stronger on the South side.  Left the Jacks with 1500 psi.  By the time we hit the reef, Darryn was down to 1100 psi and about 600 at the 13 foot shelf. We shared my air over the 13 ft shelf, then separated when we crossed onto the sand.  I was fighting with the flag reel and Luis took it from me. I swam in by myself, but watched Luis struggling to free the flag line from his tank as he and Darryn rode a wave by me.  I came up in 4 ft of water.  We were South of Tower 1, so I let the current carry me North while I got my fins off and ambled onto the beach.  Exciting Exit.

Water temperature was 76 degrees; Dive Time was 91 minutes; consumption was a hearty 31.18 psi/minute at an average depth of 19 feet; SAC rate was 19.78 at and average depth of 19 feet; RMV was 0.51 ft3/minute.