20200908_Swiss Cheese Reef

The local weather forecast predicted thunderstorms at 10:00 am, so Martha and I were on the way to the beach by 6:30 am. We geared up and got in the water then swam out just past the buoy line and descended at 7:23 am while it was too dark to be taking photographs without a strobe. About 3 minutes after we descended, Martha spotted a Sharptail Eel (Myrichthys breviceps). I took several shots at various shutter speeds and ISO settings.    

I had the camera set for a shutter speed of 1/160, ISO of 250 and an aperture of 2.8. The picture looked dark, so I moved the ISO to 400 and tried a second shot, a third shot at ISO of 500; and a fourth shot at ISO of 1000 and the exposure at 1/400. After editing, the shots look the same. Still, they were different.

Martha and I got back on track, swimming into the Wrap Around Ledge and up and over the rubble then off to the Rock Line, North to the tire and East to the Crescent Moon Rock. Took this shot of a Spotted Goatfish (Pseudupeneus maculatus) as we swam NE past the Giant Barrell Sponges to the Staghorn Coral. 

I got some very nice shots of some  Graysbys (Cephalopholis cruentatus) on the Staghorn coral

and this shot of a Yellowtail Snapper (Ocyurus chrysurus). 

From the Staghorn Coral we swam East to the Sectioned Rock and then went North along the edge of the Swiss Cheese Reef.  

I took this shot of a Gray Snapper (Lutjanus griseus)  as we swam North along the Reef. 

This feisty Threespot Damselfish (Stegastes planifrons) attacked me when I approached him. 

My last shots were of an Ocean Surgeonfish (Acanthurus bahianus) on which some Cymothoid Isopods had attached.

We swam West from the Wrap Around Ledge. Our Dive Time was 145 minutes at a maximum depth of 19.4 feet. My Actual Consumption was 19.26 psi/minute; my Surface Air Consumption was 13.24 psi/minute and the Residual Minute Volume was .34 cubic feet per Minute. 

When we surfaced I took a wave squarely in the face. My contacts popped out but Martha spotted and saved -12.0 contact for my left eye. She held my contact while I climbed out on the beach. I put my camera, weights and the tank down and went back to take Martha's fins and the flag. Should have taken her weights, too, but I didn't think  of it. Finally, I went back in the water and helped Martha climb out with her tank still on. I washed my contact out and got it back in my eye, so we loaded the Jeep and I drove us home.