Night Diving off Catamaran Beach

Got an early start on the day, but the dog required some attention just before I left and I didn't get to the beach until a little after 5:00 am. Took 10 minutes to gear up, but another 10 to set up the camera and fix the lights for the dive. Got in the water about 5:25 am, but swam out to the swim buoy before descending. Headed East, but kept turning into the current. I missed the staghorn coral and ended up on sand.

I spotted this little guy in a hole on the Swiss Cheese Reef. He was not fond of the strobe, but he sat still as I got three pictures and I moved on while he went back to sleep relatively undisturbed.

This guy was just on the sand and my strobe woke him up. This was the third and final shot I took of him, but it was too much he kept turning and swam away.










I also got some shots of a couple of Banded Tube Dwelling Anemones. They didn't swim away, but after a few strobe flashes, their arms start to curl in on themselves.










Once they curl up, they become just another bit of plant matter on the bottom.


I looked for but did not find any of the small gray octopus a saw a few nights ago. I was just South of the Marriott when I came up for a surface interval.


Bottom temperature was 78 degrees; dive time was 60 minutes; consumption was 25.98 psi/minute at an average depth of 16 feet and my SAC rate was 17.50 psi/minute on an aluminum 80.



I spent the 5 minute surface interval swimming to the South, back to the area in which I last found the plow anchor. I descended and looked for the sand corridor, but I didn't find it.

I swam SW and  spotted the little Southern Atlantic Stingray from diving with Carlota and followed it to an area loaded with fish.











Got several pictures of the stingray, who was not particularly frightened by the strobe.

I also got this shot of a little Yellow Sand Ray.


I was down past 1000 psi, so I headed back to the beach. I got to the white sand and surfaced in 6 feet of water to reel in the flag and get out.

Bottom temperature was 78 degrees; dive time was 53 minutes; consumption was 25.43 psi/minute at an average depth of 17 feet and my SAC rate was 16.78 psi/minute on an aluminum 80.