Diving the Eastern Ledge off Tower 15

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Diving the Yankee Clipper Jacks

The ocean was calm when I got to the South Beach parking lot.  Large rollers were breaking near the beach, but otherwise calm. I geared up and walked out to the beach, got in the water and was swept to the South by the current between the beach and the sand bar.  I finned up to swim out, but had to walk across the sand bar. Then I swam out to the swim buoys and descended.


Visibility was terrible and there was very little life on the algae patch. I took a very few pictures, but nothing good. This shot of a Gray Angelfish was the best of the lot, and that's not saying much.

 Or maybe this picture of a small transulcent hermit crab in a moonsail shell.

I kept this picture of a Sand Perch to demonstrate how bad the visibility was.



I went up at 45 minutes to find that I had overcompensated and was way North of where I should have been.  I was also cold, very cold. I wore the 3 mm jacket this morning, but it's a bit big and water flows through it or at least within it at strange times. I warm up on the surface.

Water temperature was 71 degrees; consumption rate was 30.27 psi/minute at an average depth of 19 ft; SAC rate was 19.21 psi/minute; RMV was 0.5 ft3/minute.

I got tangled up in the flag line on the surface. The North wind was fierce and there were large waves traveling East, but the flag was going West, then Southwest.  I untangled the mess and descended well North of the Jacks. I swam SW across the 3-tiered reef, then headed West but let the current push me a little to the South, too. I was hoping to find the juvenile reef squid or the nurse shark, but no such luck. I got to the sand and hung around killing my tank then swam in to 10 feet to ascend near the beach. I swam in on the surface, but had some trouble getting my fins off, the flag reeled in and my camera secured.  I wobbled around coming out of the surf and a large wave came along, picked me up and put me on top of the shelf. Probably could not have done that myself.

Water Temperature was 71 degrees; consumption at an average depth of 19 feet was 31.88 psi/minute; SAC rate was 20.23 psi/minute and RMV was 0.52 ft3/minute.

Diving the Yankee Clipper Jacks

Didn't leave the apartment until 8:30 am, so I'm really hoping the lifeguards aren't on duty until 9:30 am, which seems to be the case. I parked at 8:45 am, geared up and got in the water at a little after 9:00 am. I swam on the surface out past the swim buoys and then descended at 9:15 am. No lifeguards in sight. I headed East and was on the lookout for the juvenile Caribbean Reef Squid and the baby Nurse Shark I saw yesterday. Didn't see either one of them but I did get some shots of

 a Bearded Fireworm,

a Juvenile Green Razorfish,

 a closeup of a Sand Diver, and

a shot of a Yellow Sand Ray well hidden in the sand. After I took this shot, I found the tire and the Giant Hermit Crab I had seen and photographed yesterday. I moved the crab a bit to make a better picture, then went up while he calmed down and came out of his shell, again.



Dive Time was 52 minutes; consumption rate was 26.63 psi/minute at 20 ft average depth; SAC rate was 16.58 psi/minute and the RMV was 0.43 ft3/minute.



I used my breathing to get positively buoyant and go to the surface without kicking. Kind of like practicing a controlled emergency swimming ascent where I try to limit my exhalations so that I eliminate only the expanding gas while remaining slightly positively buoyant all the way to the surface, or at least as far as I can go. On the surface, I blew up my inner tube and floated, but it was pretty bouncy. I went back down hoping to find the Giant Hermit Crab and photograph him again, but I was over some patch reef and the tire and the crab were no where in sight. I was in 24 ft of water, so I headed South towards the Jacks, then decided I should really head SW back to the beach and spend more time on the Algae Patch looking for the reef squid and the baby nurse shark. I swam SE, but I didn't see either animal.

I did get shots of this small Spotted Goatfish,

this Smooth Trunkfish, and

this Sand Perch.

The water was a lot rougher today than yesterday and considerably colder, as well. I got back to the sand with still 500 psi, but only 38 minutes, so I killed some time along the algae patch before I headed in.  I surfaced in 10 feet of water pretty close to the beach. The flag line was wrapped around me and I could not stop shivering, but I did calm down and unraveled everything, then swam in. My left leg was useless. It tingled but did not respond until after I had crawled out of the water and onto the beach.



Dive Time was 41 minutes; consumption rate was 35.2 psi/minute at an average depth of 17 feet; SAC rate was 23.23 psi/minute and the RMV was 0.6 ft3/minute.

Diving the Yankee Clipper Jacks and the Tower 2 Algae Patch

I left the apartment at 8:30 am and got to the South Beach parking lot by 8:41 am.The surface temperature was colder than the water temperature. I geared up, walked to the water and got in. I swam on the surface well past the swim buoys but not off the algae patch, and then descended. Not much life on the algae patch, that I see, anyway. I take my first pictures of a small hermit crab inside a moonsail shell in the sand furrows just East of the Algae Patch.

I see and photograph a much bigger hermit crab on the Sand just East of the 3-tiered reef.  I also get buzzed by some jet skis, so I go up to yell at the little bastards and warm myself in the sun.

Dive Time was 53 minutes; consumption rate was 28.23 psi/minute at an average depth of 20 ft; SAC rate was 16.94 psi/minute and the RMV was 0.44 ft3/minute.


When I descend again, I turn South to get to the Jacks and swim along the furrows looking for the Gaudy Naticas (moonsail shells with delicate green patterns instead of the all white shell). I take some photographs of various fish when I get to the Jacks, including these Juvenile Creole Wrasse.

 I also get several shots of a little Southern Atlantic Stingray as he took off from the Jacks.

On the Algae Patch, I find and photograph a small Nurse Shark with small dark spots.













and a small baby Caribbean Reef Squid. Then I surface, wind up the flag reel and swim in.




Dive Time is 41 minutes; consumption is 34.88 psi/minute at an average depth of 16 feet; my SAC rate is 23.49 psi/minute and the RMV is 0.61 ft3/minute.