Tuesday, 11 June 2019 Dive off Tower 15 looking for the Little Coral Knoll

Martha and I left the apartment at 6:45 am and drove Federal Highway to Sunrise to A1A to get to Tower 15 by 6:55 am. Leo had advised us that the Little Coral Knoll was 130 degrees from the large rock to the NE of the buoy off Tower 15. We got in the water, swam out to the buoy, located the rock and descended at 7:27 am. A 130 degree bearing seemed about right so we headed out. As we headed out, a school of about 20 Tarpon swam by. It was majestic.

Not long after the Tarpon left, I spotted a Giant Anemone and took some pictures that included shots of some cleaner shrimp.  A while later, I was getting some pictures of Spotfin Butterflyfish when Martha came to me and wanted to show me something. I knew that if I followed her, I would never get back on the bearing, but I went anyway.





She pointed to a small shell in a nook of a rock. I reached for the shell, but it would not come out. Instead, an octopus tentacle wrapped itself around the shell. I continued to pull and the Octopus did as well. I was hoping to pull him out of the rock, but he let go to avoid that.







I gave him back the shell. Took some pictures, but this was a small octopus in a dark hole and I had no strobe. We continued on.









Got some pictures of a Long-Spine Urchin, a Queen Angelfish and a few other critters when I spotted a Green Sea Turtle who was apparently just waking up. He swam out of the way but did not seem to mind if I followed him. He just did not want me getting in front of him.








We swam into another turtle and the first one raced off so I followed the second turtle. There is really something very calming about swimming. with a turtle.









We next ran into a Scrawled Filefish (Aluterus scriptus) who was floating head down and pretending to be a floating branch. I got very close to him and took a picture. He did not move until I touched him. Then he bolted.









My last shot was of a Red Grouper (Epinephelus morio) who had been patiently watching me with the Filefish.

The Dive was 134 minutes, maximum depth of 21.8 feet and a bottom temperature of 80.6 degrees. My SAC was 14.26 psi/minute and the RMV was 0.37 cubic feet per minute. 

Sunday, 9 June 2019, Martha and I Dive on the Fish Camp Rocks

 Martha and I left the apartment at 6:30 am. We got to Tower 17 about 15 minutes later and got my favorite parking spot. We geared up and got in the water at 7:20 am, swam out near the blocks and descended at 7:43 am.






There was no current this morning. The wind was less than 3 mph and SSW. We swam to the Gray Mid-way Rock and then East to the Fish Camp Rocks.









We found the usual Bluestripe, Smallmouth, Spanish, French and Caesar gunts as well as some Yellowtail and Gray Snappers.

 A Gray Snapper near one of the several Fish Camp Rocks.

 A shy Squirrelfish (Hollocentrus adscensionis) heading into one of the several Green Coral heads that make up the Fish Camp Rocks.

 A Yellowhead Wrasse (Halichoeres gamoti) cruising through the Rocks.

A picture of the invasive Red Lionfish (Pterois volitans) perched on one of the Fish Camp Rocks.

A calm Hogfish (Lachnolaimus maximus) on the rocks.











 The same Hogfish (Lachnolaimus maximus) but now showing that it is involved











Several Tarpon (Megalops atlanticus) in a small school.

Bottom time for the dive was 122 minutes; maximum depth was 19.6 feet; my SAC was 14.21 psi/minute on an 80 Cubic foot tank and an RVM of 0.37 cubic feet/minute.

Saturday, 8 June 2019, Dive on the Yankee Clipper Jacks with Leo and Luis.

Martha and I left the apartment at 6:45 am and got to the beach early. Leo and Luis got to the beach at 7:30 am, just as they had promised. We got geared up and in the water by 8:03 am. We swam to the Three-tiered Reef in 20 minutes. I spotted two single Jacks and one group of two or three.

We descended at 8:29 am and I spotted the West end of the Jacks just moments after getting to the bottom. We split up: Leo and Luis went down the Northside of the Jacks while Martha and I went down the Southside of the Jacks.



There were many of the usual reef fish: Bluestriped, Smallmouth, Spanish and Caesar Grunts as well as the pair of French Grunts to the left settling some dispute.

There was no current to push you on or off the Jacks and lots of fish to look at and photograph. We saw small schools of smaller/younger Bar Jacks (right) and a number of older Yellow Jacks (below).

There were numerous Yellowtail and Gray Snappers










and several Juvenile Schoolmasters. (right).










We also spotted and I photographed a small school of Palometa (Trachinotus goodei). I have seen these fish before but had not had an opportunity to photograph them. These fish seemed quite at home on the Jacks and I got several shots.








Martha likes to hunt for shells and is often over the sand. This morning she found a very small Flounder in the sand about 20 feet South of the Jacks. She came and got me and my camera, but had some trouble locating the animal. We spent several minutes looking and she was successful in finding this 3 x 4 x 1/4 inch fish lying near the Eastern end of the Jacks. I took some pictures and we switched sides with Leo and Luis to swim back. 




On the way back, we spent 5 minutes swimming with a larger school of Midnight Parrotfish (Scarus coelestinus).

We also spotted a lone Nurse Shark (Ginglymostoma cirratum) (below).

Our bottom time was 120 minutes; the maximum depth was 24.3 feet; my SAC was 15.77 psi/minute and my RMV was 0.41 ft3/minute.