Diving the Little Coral Knoll

Since the tunnel was the only access to the beach, I decided to park near the park entry and walk along Sunrise Blvd to get to the beach. It beat trying to go up and down the tunnel stairs at the end of my dive.

I had a little trouble getting out through the surf because the bottom was very uneven. Peaks and valleys. But I got out and swam to the swim buoy off Tower 15, but I missed the Big Rock and searched for several minutes before finding it. Found a Lionfish on the Rock and got this shot.

Visibility over the sand was only about 3 ft, maybe less. From the Big Rock, everything went as it should except the current pushed me to the North and I had to adjust my bearing by 5-10 degrees to hold 120 degrees. Got to the knoll, but went slowly and it took time to get there. Just hung out and took pictures, for the most part.

Got this shot of a Juvenile Lane Snapper,

 This shot of a Hogfish,

and this shot of some Mat Zoanthid.

Surfaced at 1600 psi instead of 1500 psi because I couldn't read my computer very well.






Bottom temperature was 76 degrees; dive time was 57 minutes; consumption was 24.51 psi/minute at an average depth of 16 feet and my SAC rate was 16.51 psi/minute on an aluminum 80.




I thought I spent my surface interval above the knoll, but when I descended I found that I had drifted to the North with the current. As I came down, I spotted a small Green Sea Turtle in one of several holes in the reef. I set up my camera and got some pictures of the turtle. We even swam together for a little bit.

Then I spotted a landmark and headed West to the knoll. I stayed at the knoll until I got down to 900 psi, then I headed to the Porthole Rocks, where I spotted a Purplemouth Moray Eel swimming in the open.

Got a couple of pictures then headed West to the beach near Tower 14, where I had entered the water.

Bottom temperature was 76 degrees; dive time was 53 minutes; consumption was 25.64 psi/minute at an average depth of 16 feet and my SAC rate was 17.27 psi/minute on an aluminum 80.

Diving the Little Coral Knoll, sort of

Went to Birch State Park this morning since the whole South Beach parking lot is closed until next Monday. Geared up and got in the water, which was relatively warm but bouncy. I swam out to the swim buoy and descended. visibility was 3 ft or less, but I managed to find the old buoy pin and then the Big Rock.

I took a couple of pictures on the Big Rock, but visibility was really poor. I headed South to the smaller rock but ended up at the knee-high coral and went from there to the decorated sea rods, the dead sea rods and the counter-weight. That's as close as I got to the knoll. Think I got set North. In the low visibility, I just couldn't find the knoll.

I just swam around and got this shot of an Initial Phase Redband Parrotfish  

and this shot of a red-tipped Fire Worm.  I spent about an hour swimming and looking, then surfaced to find I was pretty much East of Tower 15.





Bottom Temperature was 76 degrees; dive time was 60 minutes; consumption was 25.07 psi/minute at an average depth of 18 feet and my SAC rate was 16.22 psi/minute on an aluminum 80.




After a 5 minute surface interval, I guessed that I was North of the knoll, so I descended to 18 feet and then moved South to 22 feet of water, but I never found the knoll or any of the various landmarks I know in the area. I picked up some shells and took some pictures, but visibility was so bad that I wasn't optimistic.

 I got this sot of a Juvenile Queen Angelfish

and this shot of an Orange Spotted Filefish.

I had to surface at about 700 psi to see where I was and how best to get to the beach. Turns out I was well South of Tower 15 at that point and since the A1A project had blocked the street entrance to the beach, I would have to go down the stairs, through the tunnel and up the other stairs to get back to the truck even if I did swim back to Tower 15. I decided to exit onto Sunrise and walk in the main entrance to the park. It was a longer walk, but no stairs would be involved. After being weightless for almost 2 hours it was important that no stairs would be involved.


Bottom temperature was 76 degrees; dive time was 51 minutes; consumption was 25.84 psi/minute at an average depth of 18 feet and my SAC rate was 16.72 psi/minute on an aluminum 80.

Looking for the Anchor in all the wrong places

Although I woke up early, I just did not want to race to the beach and make a night dive. I have a hard time tracking my location. Just as well, as Luis texted me to let me know he was ill and would not be diving this morning. I decided to head to the beach at 8:00 am and try to locate the anchor I saw yesterday morning.

I took both the SMB and my lift bag just in case I did find it. Swam on the surface out to the swim buoy, then headed ENE and got to the the area we dove with Leo yesterday. I tried to cover the area in an organized fashion, but since I have no landmarks underwater, I was going to be spending a lot of time at the surface, so I opted to just look around. Maybe I can get Leo and Luis to help with an organized search. Or maybe I can learn the area and  use underwater landmarks rather than hotels on the beach.

I got some pictures, like the Gray Angelfish above, and this Gaudy Natica.

 Got this shot of a Hogfish,

 this shot of an Orange Spotted Filefish

 and this shot of a Rough File Clam.

What I did not find was the anchor.






Bottom temperature was 76 degrees; dive time was 63 minutes; consumption was 23.62 psi/minute at an average depth of 18 feet and my SAC rate was 15.28 psi/minute on an aluminum 80.


I closed up the camera on this second dive, and focused on my search of the plow anchor. I descended to 26 feet and started working my way along the West side of a sand corridor. Problem is that I found the anchor in 20 ft of water and off of the Marriot Courtyard. While I do not know what the tides were yesterday, I'm guessing they aren't 6 ft higher this morning. So I decided I was looking in the wrong place and moved West to find shallower water. It didn't help. I ended up just swimming into the beach.

Bottom temperature is 76 degrees; dive time was 55 minutes; consumption was 24.58 psi/minute at an average depth of 19 feet and my SAC rate was 15.60 psi/minute on an aluminum 80.