Diving on the Big Coral Knoll

I got up early, but the dog wanted some attention, so we went for a walk. He was panting so I gave him a haircut. I didn't make it to the beach. I went to Ryan's at 9:00 am to dive with Ashley to finish her open water referral by having her remove her mask, then replace and clear it. After that, we planned to dive on the Big Coral Knoll.

We swam on the surface out to the blocks, where Ashley took her mask off, replaced it and then cleared it. She moved quickly, but she did it.

I got this photo of Ashley after clearing her mask and with her little Bar Jack buddy who would ride her brow wake.

Once she completed her skills, we swam up the gunsight. Good as far as it went. We missed the Cigar Rock and the Gray Mid-way Rock and ended up at the Green Mountainous Coral just West and a little South of the  Perpendicular Rocks. From there we swam easily to the Knoll and made a full circle. The Rock Hind was nowhere to be seen. Maybe she's gone. Too bad.

Took some pictures like this shot of a Blue Tang,

and this shot of a Seaweed Blenny on Irish Thighs.

I liked the goofy grin on this Redband Parrotfish.

Also got this shot of a couple of Spotted Cyphomas, which are not exactly rare but are unusual. Like the Flamingo Tongue, the animal wraps its mantle around the otherwise all white shell. 

We headed back to the beach when Ashley got to 1500 psi. Made the blocks at 1,000 psi in her tank and she got to the beach with 500 psi left. Nice dive, but it could have been a little longer.

Bottom temperature was 78 degrees; dive time was 71 minutes; consumption was 27.39 psi/minute at an average depth of 15 feet and my SAC rate was 18.83 psi/minute on an aluminum 80.