20200807_Tower 17

 Martha and I got to the beach about 6:45 am. Chris Coney was not long behind. I put 14 pounds on him initially but swapped 2 pound weights for his 3 pound weights and that allowed him to inhale and rise some. Martha joined us and we began swimming for the closest buoy which was off Tower 16.  

When we finally got to the buoy, we took a few minutes to calm down then descended at 7:34 am. I indicated to Chris that he was to swim on a 90 degree bearing for 25 kick cycles then return. I watched him swim out but lost sight of him after 10 feet. I thought it might take a while for him to complete the swim, but next thing I saw was Chris swimming over Martha to complete his reciprocal leg. I signaled that I saw him and that he should next run the square pattern.

He acknowledged my message then started off to make the square. I followed to see how well he performed. He made his first corner after  swimming 20 feet, then made his second corner 40 feet from the first. On his third  corner he swung inside for 135 degrees and had to corrected his bearing in order to finish with a fourth and final corner of 90 degrees. Once he made that corner he swam straight to me to finish. I signaled that we should surface to debrief. It ws 8:00 am.

 We all surfaced for a brief review of his skills demonstration then we descended to head for the Big Coral Knoll and the Fish Camp Rocks. I had hoped to spot the Sphinx-like rock by the rocky rise that Martha and I had visited yesterday, but I saw nothing I recognized until we spotted the Swept Rock just South of the Big Coral Knoll. 

We swam past the Swept Rock to the Knoll where I got this photograph of a Yellow Stingray (Urolophus jamaicensis).

I also got this shot of a White Grunt (Haemulon plumierii) while we were on the Big Coral Knoll. 

From the Knoll, we swam South to the Fish Camp Rocks where I got this shot of a Bluestriped Grunt (Haemulon sciurus) 

and I also got this shot of a Gray Snapper (Lutjanus griseus). From the Fish Camp Rocks we swam West to the Gray Mid-way Rock and then continued West to the beach.

As we swam inside the buoy line, we were joined by this Green Sea Turtle (Chelonia mydas). As we got out of the water, Chris helped Martha and I over the step on the beach. 

Our dive time was 135 minutes at a maximum depth of 21.1 feet. My A/C was 21.33 psi/minute; my SAC was 14.21 psi/minute and the RMV was .37 cubic feet/minute.