20200530_Yankee Clipper Jacks

Martha and I had been looking forward to diving the Yankee Clipper Jacks since before we left Laurel. I called Leo and we agreed to off Tower 2 at 8:00 am this morning to make that dive. 

Martha and got to the beach early, which was good since I discovered that the tank I had planned to dive was a short fill at 2300 psi. I drove back to the apartment to get a full tank and left Martha and Leo to gear up while discussing what they each had been doing over the winter. 

I got back and quickly got my gear on. We entered the water at 9:23 am and tried to swim along an 89 degree bearing keeping the black lamppost in the parking lot positioned in front of the narrow red brick chimney on the South side of the Fire Station on A1A. Things worked fine until we were maybe 200 yards out when the lamppost went behind a tree and was not seen again. We continued swimming on an 89 degree bearing.

Once we spotted the Three Tiered Reef, I decided to head NE and hoped to run into the jacks, which we did about 25 minutes later. Some of that time was spent recovering the flag which I had been carrying, but which escaped the line I was holding. Leo was behind me and quickly recovered the flag in the five or so minutes it took me to realize what had happened. Only a few minutes later, we came upon the Jacks about 50 feet East of where they started. 

We had a pleasant tour of the area. Martha got to explore to the area South of the Jacks and I just drifted along. We spent the better part of an hour then headed back to the beach. The wind was 7 mph which created some nasty waves hitting Martha and I from behind. The Life Guard drove her four wheel vehicle down to help us exit the water, but by the time she arrived, we had all emerged from the sea despite a fall or two. Martha later confided that she was nauseous by the end of the dive. 

Our dive time was 94 minutes with a maximum depth of 24.0 feet. My actual consumption rate was 24.28 psi/minute; my surface air consumption rate was 16.02 psi/minute and my Residual Minute Volume was .41 cubic feet/minute.