Solo Dive with my New Camera on New Year's Day

Awoke very early and read and napped until 6:00 am.  Went over the camera and housing to make sure everything worked, then packed it in the truck. Packed my dive gear, as well and headed for the beach.

Parked in the South Beach lot about 8:30 am and set up my dive gear.  Walked in the water before anyone was on the Tower, but it was close to 9:00 am and I was getting worried.  Cruised the Algae Patch off Tower 2 and tried to remember how to shoot pictures. Ended up with a lot of out-of-focus shots, but I also got some good shots like the following:

 Banded Coral Shrimp

 Bandtail Puffer

 Christmas Tree Worm

Dusky Jawfish

 Gray Triggerfish

Juvenile Blackear Wrasse

 Juvenile Porkfish














Smooth Trunkfish














Swam out to 20 feet of water on the sand, just before the tiered reef, then headed back.  Maximum depth was 20 feet, but the average depth was only 14 ft.  Dive Time was 115 minutes and I could maybe have stretched that to 120 minutes, but I was in less than 10 feet of water and didn't want to swim  back out, giving the lifeguards a reason to hassle me.

Water temperature was 76 degrees; Consumption at an average depth of 14 feet was 24.28 psi/minute; SAC rate was 17.05 psi/minute; RMV was 0.44 ft3/minute.

Han Makes his Third Open Water Dive

Han made it to the apartment by 8:10 am and we headed to Birch State Park.  Luis got there just in front of us. We all geared up and headed for the water. Decided to swim NE to the Ledge off Tower 17. Didn't quite make it that far North, but we got well North of Tower 16 and ran the ascents in 30 feet of water. Luis held the reel. Han and I buddy breathed and then ascended while buddy breathing. Han did just fine, but was a little slow. The second ascent was the CESA and, again, Han did fine, but he ran out of air at 10-12 feet and was hurrying to the surface. My computer warmed me the ascent rate was too fast, but I checked the computer profile later, and he was well within PADI's 60 ft/min ascent rate.

After the CESA, Han and I descended, picked up Luis and headed for Tower 15. We went slowly to give Luis time for photographs. At a little past 60 minutes, I surfaced to see where we were I didn't recognize the topography, but we were just a little North of Tower 15. Descended, corrected and swam in.

Water temperature was 76; Dive Time was 72 minutes; consumption rate at an average depth of 18 feet was 26.71 psi/minute; SAC rate was 17.28 psi/minute and the RMV was 0.45 ft3/minute.

Solo Dive on the Eastern Ledge off Tower 15

Han was supposed to meet me at the apt at 8:15 this morning and we would go to the beach to finish the two dives he needs to get certified.  He didn't show. He didn't call. He didn't text. I went to the park.

I geared up and entered the water and swam out to the swim buoy. Before I descended, the lifeguards were on the Tower just setting up. No one hassled me, but I was in the water before they got to the beach. I decided to explore some rather than just head for the Little Coral Knoll.  I headed due East to the Eastern Ledge off Tower 15 to see if there is any deep water there for Han's ascents, should he ever get up before noon.  Deepest waster I found was on the sand, just beyond the reef.  It was about 30 feet.  I did find a lot of little spiral like conch shells and a few of the Gaudy Natica aka Moonsnail shells.  On the way back, I swam over the  Dog Rock, though it took a few moments to recognize and verify it.  Then I followed my trail back to the knee high coral, the smaller rock, the Big Rock and the beach.  Chilly, but not unbearable.

Water temperature was 75 degrees; Dive time was 100 minutes; consumption rate at an average depth of 20 feet was 27.77 psi/minute; SAC rate 17.29 psi/minute; RMV was 0.45 ft3/minute.  

Anna-Kaisa Rantanen and I dive the Yankee Clipper Jacks

I met AK in the South Beach Parking Lot.  We geared up, got in the water and swam on the surface out to the swim buoy.  There appeared to be a South surface current from the North wind, but the current was headed North on the bottom.  We swam East, but the bearing was 300 degrees to adjust for current set.  We ended up right at the Jacks.  Had a nice leisurely swim along the South side of the Jacks and came back most of the way on the North side, but there weren't many fish on the North side, so we crossed over.  Then swam into the beach.  AK had just enough air and I was down to 500 psi when we got there.

Water temperature was 75 degrees; Dive Time was 95 minutes; consumption rate at an average depth of 16 feet was 28.18 psi/minute; SAC rate was 18.98 psi/minute; and RMV was 0.49 ft3/minute.

AK and I dive the Little Coral Knoll

AK and her parents are back from their cruise and she's going to join me diving this morning.  They got to the apartment a few minutes late. I had guessed at the gear she would need and she tried it on, but she only tried on one fin and turns out we had  three 5-6 fins and only one 6 1/2 - 7 1/2 fin. Of course, that one larger fin was the only one she tried on.

We loaded up her gear and drove to the park, geared up at the truck and walked to the beach. We walked out into the water, but AK had trouble putting on her second fin. I tried to move her out into deeper water and get her to descend, but she resisted and wanted to stand in shallow water.  While we're having this discussion, the current is moving us North. So we move back in and stand in shallow water while the waves break over us and she struggles with her fin. I suggest we just go back to the beach, but she just gets more determined. She gets both fins off and discovers that one is smaller than the other. So she puts the small one on first and then the larger and we're off, but we have lost position in the water and need to swim South to get to the swim buoy. We do.

We descend, but I see that we have drifted near to the smaller rock, so we go there and get back on track.  Swim to the knee-high coral and across the sand sea then to the counter-weight and to the knoll. Visibility is getting poorer. Not a lot of life on the knoll and not much sunlight this morning. Looked pretty dull. We go East to the tiny knoll and the comfortable coral, but not a lot of life there, either, and between the lack of sunlight and sand in the water the visibility was terrible. We went back to the knoll and then off to the Porthole Rocks, but no eels there today. No turtles, either. We went back to the knoll and she was down to half a tank so we went back to the smaller rock, up to the Big Rock and West to the beach.

Water temperature was 75 degrees; Dive Time was 73 minutes; consumption rate at an average depth of 17 feet was 27.27 psi/minute; SAC rate was 18.00 psi/minute; and RMV was 0.46 ft3/minute.

Solo Dive on the Little Coral Knoll

I changed the battery in my computer, so it was working just fine.  I got to the Hugh Taylor Birch State Park about 8:40 am and parked a little closer to the gate. I geared up and walked down, but a woman said the gate was locked and it was only 8:53 am, so I waited. Then I also noticed that only one side was locked. The other side was held in place by a pin, but I lifted the pin, opened the gate and went through. Walked to the water and got in.

Swam out to the swim buoy.  Visibility was okay and I could see the Big Rock, so I  descended and swam to it. From there, I went South to the smaller rock, then 130 degrees to the knee high coral, the dead sea rod, and I saw a little green turtle swimming by as I approached the sand sea.  I crossed, found the group of dead rods and went South to the counterweight.  From there, I went  at 130 degrees and tried to compensate for the current.  Found the bare rods, the two rocks North of the Dog Rock and the red and green coral.  I continued on the 130 degree bearing and found the little knoll. Explored a bit to the East, then headed over to the Porthole Rocks, which are about to lose their porthole. Came back and explored to the East some more then I was down to 1000 psi so I headed back the way I came and swam in to the beach. Saw several eels and a large blenny I did not recognize.

I bought a new camera and it's here, but I need to set it up and I really need to get it insured.  

Water temperature was 75 degrees; Dive Time was 104 minutes; consumption rate at an average depth of 18 feet was 17.00 psi/minute; SAC rate was 17.47 psi/minute; RMV was .45 ft3/minute.

Han Simpson's First Two Open Water Dives

Han was a little late getting to my apartment, then I missed the turn into Ryan's. Actually, the construction crew had blocked it off and I needed to enter at the Park Tower Building, then drive next door to Ryan's. Eventually, we got there.

Ryan was ready and wanted to hunt lobster. Han was a little under the weather, still, I think. He didn't have much to say. We got geared up and walked down the driveway, across the street and got into the water. Ryan and Han both wear booties and have open heel fins. They finned up on the beach and walked backwards through the surf. Of course, Han fell down. Tide was low, so they had a ways to walk, but. eventually, we all got into deeper water, where I finned up.

I decided to take Han in along the sand on this first dive, and we descended in about 8 feet of water. We headed East and at least started out on the 100 degree bearing. I found a familiar area and turned South, assuming we had missed the blocks because of current set, and we had. We found them and then headed up the gun-sight, over-compensated and ended up a little South of the Gray Mid-way Rock, but I found that, too. We ended up at the Big Coral Knoll, though we went in East of the Perpendicular Rocks. Ryan wanted to chase lobster and did catch one. Han and I swam around trying to get him more relaxed and calmer in the water. I turned the dive when Han got to 1500 psi, but we stopped just past the blocks and went through most of the skills before swimming into the beach. Bill Evans was on the Tower. My computer stopped. Dead battery, I hope. Estimated times

Took about an hour for our surface interval. I brought tomato Soup, which tasted really good.  Then we geared up and got back in. Again, both Ryan and Han finned up at the beach before entering the water. Tide was really out this time and they had a really long walk backwards into the surf. This time, when we got to deeper water, we swam on the surface to the blocks, then descended and headed up the gunsight to the Fish Camp Rocks, where Ryan left us to chase lobster. Han and I swam out to the Ledge and down to about 35 feet where we practiced taking the gear off and putting it back on. He did fine. We swam back, picked up Ryan and headed back in to the beach. This time I was cold by the end on the dive.   .

Night Dive off Tower 2

I got stuck at the Causeway bridge, but got to the beach by 5:15 pm.  Darryn came at 5:30 pm and Luis was right behind him.  Darryn read the review questions and answers and we discussed how we signalled underwater at night.  We geared up and got in the water.  We swam out past the swim buoy to descend. Luis had a bad regulator hose, but it wasn't as bad as it looked, apparently.  We swam East slowly and turned South in 24 ft of water and swam over some reef to the beginning of the Jacks.  We then headed East along the Jacks and turned the dive at 1500 psi.  Darryn saw a turtle.  I found a small spotted moray eel.  Not terribly cold, but I was chilled for most of the dive.

Water Temperature was 75 degrees; Dive time was 100 minutes; consumption rate at an average depth of 17 feet was 25.87 psi/minute; SAC rate was 17.07 psi/minute; RMV was 0.44 ft3/minute.  

I set out to Recover the Plow Anchor Luis spotted a few weeks ago

I left the apartment just before 8:00 am and got to the beach about 8:12 am. Geared up. Wore long pants this morning. The surface was cold. I got in the water and swam out to the swim buoy to descend. Took the lift bag and decided to look for the plow anchor. Headed due East to the sand along the 100 degree bearing to the Jacks. When I came to the sand after 10 minutes, I swam 1 minute North and then headed back West. I made 3 round trip passes, then just kept going East on the sand to deeper water and turned South. I did not spot the Jacks, but headed SW. I found a nearly new Aqualung mask near the swim buoy, but I put it on my head backwards and it apparently fell off while I was swimming as it was gone when I turned due West and headed for the beach.  So I didn't find the plow anchor I was looking for and I lost the mask I found.  Great search & recovery dive.  Dive Time 101 minutes; SAC 17.89 psi/minute; RMV was 0.46 ft3/minute.

Luis and I dive the Yankee Clipper Jacks and swim with a Loggerhead Turtle

Luis wanted to make two dives this morning, but I only had the energy for one, so I offered to let him make a solo dive first, then I would make the second dive with him so the lifeguards would let him in the water. He decided to make only one dive. So we did.

Same basic pattern: we descended just after the swim buoy and head more or less East until we got to deeper water and then head South to the Jacks. Today, we spotted a Loggerhead Sea Turtle as we got into 25-26 feet of water and swam with it a little. Luis may have gotten some pictures. I decided that I would buy a mk iii and worry about what the new mk iv can do later. I was shivering uncontrollably by the end of the Jacks and I just swam West for the beach.

Bottom Temperature was 73 degrees; Dive Time was 100 minutes; consumption at an average depth of 18 feet was 28.71 psi/minute; SAC rate was 18.58 psi/minute and my RMV was 0.48 ft3/minute.