20200711_Fish Camp Rocks

I headed for the beach at 6:30 am. Martha was in New York and I was meeting Leo and Luis to dive on the Fish Camp Rocks off Tower 17. I had to park 4 spaces North of my favorite spot. Tourists had come to photograph the sunrise on the beach with their cell phone camera. After all the cell phones flashed, people started leaving and by the time Leo and Luis got to the beach I was in the first parking spot North of the Lifeguards reserved spot. 

Leo is taking his IDC with Grove Scuba in Miami for about twice what I paid Pavan of Dixie Divers in 2007. We geared up and headed for the water. Unfortunately I got button-holed by someone wanting to learn to dive but not wanting to pay for it. I had to hustle to catch up with Leo and Luis. We didn't descend until 8:47 am when Luis found the blocks.

Soon after descending I got the picture of an Intermediate Gray Angelfish (Pomacanthus arcuatus) above. We headed East to the Gray Mid-way Rock and along the way I got this picture of a French Grunt (Haemulon flavolineatum)   

As we swam East I got distracted by a bunch of loose fishing line and overcompensated for a mild South current so that we ended up at the Perpendicular Rocks where I took this picture of a Bluestriped Grunt (Haemulon sciurus). From the Rocks we headed North to the Big Coral Knoll and cruised around there for a while before heading South to the Fish Camp Rocks.

On the way to the Rocks, I got this shot of a Bandtail Puffer (Sphoeroides spengleri) (right).

 At the Fish Camp Rocks where there were a lot more fish, including a Spotted Moray Eel (Gymnothorax moringa) (below)

Leo had an external Macro attachment that allowed him to take some nice closeup pictures of a nudibranch.

I got a nice shot of a Caesar Grunt (Haemulon carbonarium) (below).

I also got a good picture of a couple of Doctorfish (Acanthurus chirurgus). 

We left the Fish Camp Rocks and headed West past the Mid-way Rock, the Cigar Rock and to the beach. We surfaced inside the buoy line at 11:03 am. 

Our dive time was 136 minutes at a maximum depth of 19.3 feet. My AC was 20.69 psi/minute; my SAC was 13.93 psi/minute and my Residual Minute Volume was .36 cubic feet per minute.