20200608_Fish Camp Rocks by way of the Big Coral Knoll

I got up early to take Mia for a walk then I packed up my dive gear, charged an extra camera battery and double checked that I had packed everything we would need. I loaded the jeep and Martha and I got to the beach at Tower 17 around 7:15 am. We geared up and were in the water by 7:30 am. There was a mild North current on the surface but we easily swam 30 yards past the buoy line to our usual starting point. We descended at 8:01 am, but I saw no landmarks that I recognized. We swim slowly to the South and East, hoping to correct for the current as we continued. 

We spotted a small Green Sea Turtle (Chelonia mydas) as we sank to the bottom and I got some nice pictures though I did not bring my Strobe.

The turtle may have been sleeping. In any event, it got up and swam slowly away as if we had awakened it

At about the 20 minute mark I spotted a pointed coral head I recognized by its caved in South side. We apparently had not gotten set by the North current, but had instead had over-compensated for the current and found ourselves North of our landmark. We swam to the Northeast  hoping to find  the Gray Mid-Way rock and its two sisters, but we did not find them. 

Instead, we ended up near this Smooth Trunkfish (Lactophrys triqueter) on the Perpendicular Rocks just South of the Big Coral Knoll, which has taken a beating during the past eight months while we have been in Laurel. Much of the coral has bleached and there are not as many fish as I remember. It is familiar, but different.  

As we crossed the top of the Knoll, a small boat or maybe a ski-do passed directly overhead. Scary. We got closer to the bottom which was only 8 feet deep.

This Bluestriped Grunt (Haemulon sciurus) seemed well settled on the Knoll, but I am much more accustomed to seeing  schools of French, Spanish, White, and Small-Mouth Grunts together with Bluestriped Grunts on the Knoll.

We swam around the perimeter of the Knoll then headed South past the Swept Rock and the Perpendicular Rocks and quickly found the Mid-Way Rock, where I spotted several lobster like this Caribbean Spiny Lobster (Panulirus argus).

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At the Mid-Way Rock, we turned East and swam to the Fish Camp Rocks, which is a collection of small and large coral heads. Like the Knoll, we usually find lots of fish and other marine life on and under the Rocks, like this Spanish Grunt (Haemulon macrostomum) on the right and this Black Margate (Anisotremus surinamensis) below.

We explored the Fish Camp Rocks until we were getting low on air, then turned West to the Gray Mid-way Rock and continued West to the beach. 

We came up well inside the vessel exclusion zone at 9:50 am. We swam in until we could stand on the bottom.

I exited the water, dropped my fins and camera on dry sand, then went back for Martha's fins and the flag, which I placed next to my fins and camera.

Martha fell over the step where the water was shallow. She began struggling to get her gear off. I took her tank and BCD, but I fell down, too, going over the step and ended up crawling out while she walked out of the water. Bill, the Lifeguard, offered to help me, but I was content to crawl out rather than attempt to stand a second time.  

Our dive time was 109 minutes at a maximum depth of 20.6 feet. My actual gas consumption was 25.17 psi/minute; my surface air consumption rate was 16.95 psi/minute and my Residual Minute Volume was 0.44 cubic feet/ minute.