20200609_Sand Flat off Tower 4

I woke up a little after 5:00 am. I packed my dive bag and got the camera ready. We left the apartment a little after 7:00 and parked behind Tower 4. We geared up and walked to the water. There was no step this morning and the water was fairly calm. We got in easily and swam East off the first berm. At 7:49 am we descended a little shy of the vessel exclusion buoy to the South, but it was right on the empty pin for the buoy that should have been in front of the Life Guard Tower. 

We swam over the blocks to the Wrap Around Ledge, then over the rubble and East tot the Rock Line. From there we went North tot the tire and then East to the Crescent Moon Rock. We headed ENE on the next reef line and came upon this Balloonfish (Diodon holocanthus) in a Barrel Sponge. We were hoping to get to the Staghorn Coral, but I saw nothing familiar so we went East to the Swiss Cheese Reef and the large sand flat on top. Martha hunted for shells while I took pictures.  

We just kept heading East until Martha hit 1500 psi. Then, we headed WSW and ended up at the Sectioned Rock where I took some pictures of a Giant Anemone (Condylactis gigantea) and then swam over the Staghorn coral taking pictures of the many fish on that reef. From there we swam SE to the sand flat and back to the Rock Line.

Ran into an Atlantic Spadefish (Chaetodipterus faber) who took a liking to my black and silver fins. He followed me down to the vessel exclusion line rubbing his body along the tip of my fins. 

As we were coming in to the beach, a group of 6 or 7 Tarpon swam past us, slowing down to see what we might be doing. Unfortunately they were moving faster than I was. I got no shots as they swam past us. 

It was a good dive. Both Martha and I walked out of the water without incident. Dive time was 103 minutes at a maximum depth of 23.9 feet. Actual consumption was 25.3 psi/minute and the SAC was 16.7 psi/minute. Suunto computed the RMV as 0.46 ft3/minute and I calculated it at 0.43 ft3/minute on my form.