Luis and then Leo join me off Catamaran Beach

Luis parked behind me shortly after I got my tank off. I was cold and needed a long surface interval to dry off
 and warm up. Once I had, we geared up and got in the water.



We descended just past the swim buoy off Tower 4, but then headed out NNE. Spotted a lot of fish on a 3 foot ledge, so we headed there and followed the ledge around.

I got this shot of an Intermediate French Angelfish









and this shot of a Social Feather Duster.

Then we headed out due East. The topography was nothing like I expected. It was flat and grassy. There was one spot that looked like a ledge, but it was filled in with sand above and opened to a large sandy area. I found a large Gaudy Natica.

We turned the dive at 1500 psi, but Luis was cold and in a hurry to get out of the water. I was hoping to drag the return trip out so that I would get 2 hours, but I surfaced with 400 psi still in my tank. I could have made 6 minutes on that.

Bottom temperature was 75 degrees; dive time was 114 minutes; consumption was 21.75 psi/minute at an average depth of 18 feet and my SAC was 14.08 psi/minute on an aluminum 80.

Leo was at the beach and waiting for us when we got out from our dive, but I needed some time to warm up. Took an hour. Luis could have taken longer. We geared up and got back in. I explained to Leo that the topography was more interesting to the North so we tended in that direction.

While it is difficult to recognize specific reef or rock formations, we did get into areas that were much more interesting that what Luis and I just dived.


I spotted this Atlantic Guitarfish and took this photo.

Also got this shot of a Sand Diver swimming,

 and this shot of a Spotted Scorpionfish waiting.


I was hoping we might find the anchor, but we didn't. Still it was an interesting dive and we saw a lot of life, though nothing stands out.



Bottom temperature was 76 degrees; dive time was 113 minutes; consumption was 22.90 psi/minute at an average depth of 17 feet and my SAC rate was 15.12 psi/minute on an aluminum 80.

Found a Large Plow Anchor While Night Diving off Catamaran Beach

Got to the beach early. Geared up and got in the water. I descended while still over the white sand in about 8 ft of water. Slowly made my way East to the swim buoy, but the current set me to the North. Swam more or less to the NE.


I got into some interesting topography with lots of fish. In one area the formations had eroded into squares, like brownies shaken up in the baking pan. I spotted an interesting pile of either thick snakes or rope and went to investigate.


Turned out to be a plow anchor, its chain rode and a fair amount of anchor line. I thought about marking it with my SMB, but that seemed like a bad idea at night, so I decided to surface and try to get my bearings. I had been set way North and seemed straight out from the Marriot Courtyard. Probably no more than 30 minute out from the beach. I hoped I would be able to find it again, maybe bringing my lift bag.


Bottom temperature was 75 degrees; dive time was 44 minutes; consumption rate was 23.20 psi/minute and my SAC rate was 15.32 psi/minute.


After my 6 minute surface interval, I dropped down and already I could not find the anchor. I spent 10 minutes looking, and getting no where. I was now in 23 feet of water, whereas the anchor was in less than 20 feet. I kept

heading East and exploring.



Spotted this Scrawled Filefish and got this shot.  Look at those teeth.

Also found and photographed this Hogfish.

Then I was on a large field of sand. At about 1400 psi, I turned the dive and began swimming West, back to the beach.




Bottom temperature was 75 degrees; dive time was 40 minutes; consumption was 22.83 psi/minute at an average depth of 19 feet and my SAC rate had dropped to 14.50 psi/minute on an aluminum 80.


After another 6 minute surface interval, I descended to 20 feet and continued making my way West towards the beach. The sun was rising and I was enjoying watching the Sailfin Bennys pop out of their burrows and do their dance. Maybe when it is warmer and I don't need hours between dives to warm up, I'll come out and just shoot pictures of the Blennies.
I got this shot of a White Grunt trying to get a Bluehead to clean its mouth.

Also got this shot of a Smooth Trunkfish searching for its next meal.


I ended up at a swim buoy as I got to the white sand beach, but it was the swim buoy off Tower 2, not the one off Tower 4. I surfaced and then swam on the surface back to Tower 4.

Bottom temperature was 76 degrees; Dive time was 44 minutes; consumption rate was down to 20.91 psi/minute at an averate depth of 18 feet and my SAC rate was at 13.53 psi/minute on an aluminum 80.

Diving with Luis off Catamaran Beach

Although I ended my dive at 7:13 am, I didn't actually leave the water for another 15 minutes and I spent 10 minutes getting the gear off, shells secure and finally drying myself off. I really wasn't ready to dive again when Luis got to the parking lot. I was still cold. Nonetheless, I did ultimately gear up and get in the water.

We swam just beyond the swim buoy and descended then headed due East. We went over sand and then a deep reef and back to sand at about 24-25 feet. Found a nice Gaudy Natica and several other shells. Got some pictures, but not too many.

Got this shot of an Atlantic Guitarfish

 this shot of a Gray Triggerfish,

This shot of a Starfish,

and this shot of a Yellow Sand Ray.


I turned the dive at 1400 psi and headed back to the beach. Luis and I were separated for a while, but he found my flag by the time we got to the white sand. He took the flag and we were in.


Bottom temperature was 75 degrees; dive time was 101 minutes; consumption rate was 25.99 psi/minute at an average depth of 20 feet and my SAC rate was 16.18 psi/minute on an aluminum 80.

More Night Diving off Catamaran Beach

Got the the parking lot just before 5:00 am and parked in the North lot at the entry way behind Tower 4. Geared up and got in the water. Descended well before the swim buoy on the white sand since I am not very familiar with this part of the beach. Headed out due East. I expected a lot of flat sand area and some 24-25 ft water, but was mostly in 19 feet of water.

White sand to patch reef to shallow reef and some interesting and well protected deeper trenches. Not a lot of sea life, however. Couple of anemones, including this Banded Tube Dwelling Anemone.



 This Sand Diver,

and this Shrimp.


No Bluespotted Coronetfish or other large fish.

I surfaced after 40 minutes to find that I was way North of where I thought I was. Spent the entire surface interval swimming South to get East of the Bahia Mar hotel building.

Bottom temperature was 75 degrees; dive time was 40 minutes; consumption was 26.94 psi/minute at an average depth of 16 feet and my SAC rate was 18.15 psi/minute.


Descended to 24 feet after my surface swim and continued heading South until I got to 1400 psi, then I turned West and headed back to the beach.

Found this Purplemouth Moray Eel and got a photograph.

Also got some nice shots of this Smooth Trunkfish, who was temporarily stunned by the strobe and then turned to give me a better angle.



Seemed to take forever to get to the beach. I had over compensated and was off Tower 2 when I surfaced, so I secured the flagline and headed for Tower 4. Wind was with me, as was the current, so it didn't take too long to get there. Getting out was a bit of a challenge. I was cold and my legs did not want to work. I took my time and made it just fine.


Bottom temperature was 75 degrees; dive time was 62 minutes; consumption rate was 26.66 psi/minute at an average depth of 19 feet and my SAC was 16.92 psi/minute on an aluminum 80.

Night Diving off Catamaran Beach

I got up early, set up the camera, the lights and my dive gear, then drove to the South Beach parking lot. The South end of the lot was blocked off, so I drove to the North end and parked next to the shower behind Tower 4. I geared up and got in the water by 5:35 am. I descended in about 10 feet and swam East into 20 feet of water. I spotted a large Sea Walnut Jellyfish and tried unsuccessfully to get a picture. Maybe too much strobe.

I spotted this Banded Coral Shrimp and took the pictures.











I also photographed a long Bluespotted Coronetfish, which remained unexpectedly calm while I got my pictures using the strobe.

I also spotted a couple of tube dwelling anemones and got some pictures.  I surfaced just shy of 40 minutes.








Bottom temperature was 75 degrees; dive time was 38 minutes; consumption was 26.37 psi/minute at an average depth of 17 feet and my SAC was 17.40 psi/minute on an aluminum 80.


On the surface, I was much farther North of Tower 4 than I had thought I would be. I swam South while on the surface. After a 5 minute surface interval, I descended to 24 feet and  spotted a Caribbean Reef Squid hanging in the water just off a sea rod, but I could not get the camera set up quickly enough to get the shot.

I completed my set up then continued swimming East towards deeper water. I spotted this Doctorfish with a Cymothoid Isopod attached and got this picture.

I also got this shot of a Spotted Goatfish at night.








Water temperature was 75 degrees; dive time was 30 minutes; consumption was 26.73 psi/minute at an average depth of 21 feet and my SAC was 16.34 psi/minute on an aluminum 80.


After a short surface interval, I descended to 24 feet. I spotted a relatively large shrimp on the sandy bottom and tried to get a good picture, but it was difficult.

I headed West Northwest, back to the beach in front of Tower 4. I got some photos of this purplemouth Moray Eel, but couldn't coax him out for a portrait.

Got this shot of a Tube Dwellling Anemone.


Came up in 8 feet of water, secured the flagline and swam in to the beach.




Bottom temperature was 75 degrees; dive time was 41 minutes; consumption was 25.66 psi/minute at an average depth of 17 feet and my SAC was 16.93 psi/minute on an aluminum 80.

Dolphins in the water with me off Tower 15

I had planned to make a series of night dives this morning from the South Beach parking lot,  but just could not get motivated. It was 64 degrees this morning. I went back to bed. I got up about 7:00 am and loaded the truck and headed for Birch State Park. When I got there, I discovered that although I had set up my camera, I had not loaded it in the truck. So I dived without the camera. Big mistake.

I swam out the to swim buoy and the Big Rock to start my dive and noticed a fin in the water. I held my mask on my face and looked to find a dolphin swimming next to me. I quickly put on my mask and descended. This lone dolphin swam around me, clearly curious, then swam off, only to return in a few minutes and circle me a little closer and a little slower. He made three such trips, then returned with two other dolphins. They swam together and made a complete circle around me. I held my arm out, but they stayed out of arm's reach, then simply swam away. While it would have taken me a little time to get the camera set up, I missed some really rare and possibly good shots of dolphin in the wild.

I headed along on my zig-zag path to the Little Coral Knoll and found a small Green Sea Turtle sleeping beside and partially underneath the tipped coral head on the NE corner of the knoll. Another missed photo opportunity.  I hung with the fish and explored a little to the East and South of the knoll, then headed to the Porthole Rocks, checking along the way to see if there was an octopus on the tall coral head. There wasn't. There were a lot of reef fish on the Rocks, but nothing unusual. I surfaced at 54 minutes.

Bottom temperature was 75 degrees; dive time was 54 minutes; consumption rate was 25.93 psi/minute at an average depth of 18 feet and my SAC rate was 16.78 psi/minute on an aluminum 80.


During the surface interval, I tried to take a bearing over the Porthole Rocks, but it was more or less due East of Tower 14. Might try to navigate from the beach to the rocks some day. After the surface interval, I descended and back tracked to the knoll. I found the biggest Pederson Shrimp I have ever seen next to a corkscrew anemone on the back side of the knoll. It was easily twice the size of the ones I have photographed before. Another missed photo opportunity.

When my tank got down to 900 psi, I started back from the knoll to the Big Rock. I spent some time looking for Gaudy Naticas on the Sand Sea, then swam to the smaller rock, turned North and swam to the Big Rock, where I spotted a Lionfish. Really need to fix my spear. Then I swam in to the beach.

Bottom temperature was 75 degrees; dive time was 56 minutes; consumption rate was 26.66 psi/'minute at an average depth of 17 feet and my SAC rate increased to 17.60 psi/minute on an aluminum 80.

Diving the Yankee Clipper Jacks

I got to the South Beach Parking lot a little after 8:00 am. Read for a bit, then geared up and got in the water. Swam on the surface past the swim buoy, past the Algae Patch and well onto the sand before descending. I spotted two dive flags to the SSE and figured the Jacks would be there, but it didn't coincide with my surface markers. I went SSE anyway.

Spotted this Bicolor Damselfish holding a preacher pose and got the shot.

Also found a nice Gaudy Natica and a few other shells. Even got a picture of the Natica on the sand.

Also got this shot of a Juvenile Green Razorfish.


After swimming SSE for 10 minutes, I decided that those dive flags were not on the Jacks. I did a 180-degree turn and headed North. Surfaced just before the Jacks.



Bottom temperature was 75 degrees; dive time was 40 minutes; consumption was 31.77 psi/minute at an average depth of 22 feet and my SAC rate was 19.06 psi/minute on an aluminum 80.


Swam on the surface to the Jacks during the 5-minute surface interval, then dropped to 24 feet and cruised West along the North side of the Jacks shooting pictures of mostly reef fish. No sharks or other larger animals.

Got this shot of a Glasseye Snapper

 and this shot of a Porcupinefish swimming along the top of the Jacks.

Got this shot of a Spotted Trunkfish just before leaving the Jacks.












Got this shot of a Queen Angelfish on the 3-tiered reef.









 




Saw a small school of Atlantic Spadefish swimming over the Jacks and I got this picture.

Current slacked off after leaving the Jacks and was pretty dead by the time I hit the white sand. Surfaced in about 7 feet of water, got the flag squared away and swam in to the beach.


Bottom temperature was 73; dive time was 47 minutes; consumption was a hearty 31.98 psi/minute at an average depth of 15 feet; and the SAC rate was 21099 psi/minute on an aluminum 80.

Discover Scuba Open Water Dives with Arantxa Jordan and Carlota Salazar

On the way to the beach, a cop stopped me coming off the Causeway Bridge and gave me a ticket for speeding as I passed him when we crossed Eisenhower Blvd. Nice way to start the day. Still beat Leo to the parking lot; Luis, too, who I was not expecting so I didn't recognize him until he got out of the vehicle. About that time, Leo came with the two women: Carlota and Arantxa. These two had gone through the classroom presentation and pool session yesterday afternoon with a third friend, but he couldn't make the dives this morning.

It took a little longer than usual to gear up, but we got in the water and were getting fins on when Arantxa had trouble getting into her fins. They were too small. Really. Her feet were bigger than the fins. I thought that I must have put the wrong pair of fins in her bag, but they were the only pair of blue fins I found when I got home. Anyway, Leo found a way to get them on her and we dropped onto the sand in about 5 feet of water and slowly made our way to the East.

Arantxa and I buddied up and Leo and Carlota buddied up, but we all stayed pretty close together. Arantxa had some minor ear issues that she communicated to me and then resolved. Carlota got cold, stayed vertical and spent most of the dive apparently waiting for it to be over. Arantxa was horizontal and worked on her breathing. I could see her smiling even with the mouthpiece in place.

We got over the Algae Patch, over the sand to the 3-tiered reef. Leo indicated that Carlota was low on air, so we turned the dive and made it back to the beach. Along the way I spotted an Atlantic Guitarfish. Arantxa found a couple of Balloonfish and I showed her a Flamingo Tongue. Then we were over the white sand and she was having a hard time staying down. She was down to about 600 psi and we were in 6 feet of water. We surfaced, got out of the water and headed back to the truck. Carlota was cold and I teased her a little about it and about staying vertical. Leo thought she was over-weighted. I persuaded the women to get the gear off and get dry so they could get warm, which was a hard sell since the air was much colder than the water this morning.

Bottom temperature was 73 degrees; dive time was 64 minutes; consumption rate was 27.09 psi/minute at an average depth of 14 feet; SAC rate was 19.09 psi/minute on an aluminum 80.

After an hour and a half, we were all warm enough to get in the water again, including Carlota, which rather surprised me. We geared up and walked to the water. Arantxa decided to put her fins on at the water's edge then walk out backwards. She quickly got her fins on and Luis and I helped her walk out. Then we swam on the surface out to the end of the Algae Patch before we descended. Arantxa had some trouble getting down even after I upped her weight from 10 to 12 pounds and took a few extra moments to equalize before she got to the bottom in about 18 feet of water. Carlota had no trouble getting down even though we had reduced her weight from 8 to 6 pounds.

We started swimming East across the sand and onto the 3-tier reef. Arantxa was swimming all over looking at everything with wide eyes and a full grin. Carlota was Luis found a single Jack, so we started looking for the double Jacks and the Eastern end of the whole row of Jacks. Found it, too. Swam East along the North side of the Jacks for awhile, then tried the South side. Always seemed like there were more fish on the other side. Luis and Leo spotted a small Nurse Shark. Both Arantxa and I watched from a distance, then crossed to the North side of the Jacks and found it hiding in the Jacks. It was young, and like many of the young, it just froze when we got to it. It let me gently hold its tail. I tried to interest Arantxa in touching it, but she moved away, instead. She told me later she was afraid the mother was close by and might attack.

We turned the dive at about 1600 psi on Carlota's guage, but along the way Leo held onto Arantxa and Luis helped Carlota so I got to trail along behind them and watch the women swim and interact with the two divers. Carlota was doing much better, but she was obviously cold, but she was swimming under her own power and keeping up. We surfaced in 5 feet of water just South of Tower 2. As Carlota and I walked onto the beach, Bill the lawyer from Tower 17 showed up and he carried her tank up to the parking lot for us. Nice guy.