2 Sept 2022
Even though I got in late again last night, I really wanted to dive the bridge once more, and the tide was late enough that I could sleep in a bit and still have time to go rent a tank and get to the park early enough to find a good parking spot- the park starts filling up the closer you get to high tide (which is the best time to dive) but since we were headed into a holiday weekend, it filled up a bit quicker than I anticipated, so I ended up having to lug my gear a bit further than I was hoping to. Fortunately, I was able to snag a picnic table to gear up at, so it worked out alright.
The goal is to start your dive about an hour before high tide, as the current slows down as you approach slack tide, but I got bored waiting and splashed a bit early. My plan was to explore the east part of the bridge and basically take the same route as I took with my instructor- I’m a really bad navigator, but figured I could remember the landmarks well enough to not get too lost:
Dive #4 – Blue Heron Bridge
I was a little nervous about carrying my own dive flag and my camera, but it actually wasn’t as tricky as I thought it would be- camera in one hand, flag’s spool/line in the other… totally doable!
Look at this little Spotted moray eel!
Juvenile Porkfish:
As he gets older, he loses that spot by his tail and gets two head-stripes instead:
Final adult version:
My pack of Sheepshead was still here!
Cheese!
These little guys were pretty common- I think he’s a juvenile parrotfish, though I’m not sure which one:
A free-swimming Sharp-tail eel:
There was a whole school of these Scrawled filefish under the bridge!
A Bearded fireworm:
Another fireworm:
Banded Coral shrimp!
and another!
Yellowline arrow crab:
and another!
These guys had the coolest purple claws! Both of them had parked themselves over a sponge of some sort and sat there picking off pieces to eat.
The giant school of Spadefish was still under the bridge:
They didn’t seem to mind me swimming through them:
hi!
I assumed this guy was a Scorpionfish, but according to my fish book, I think he’s actually a Barbfish:
Another free-swimming Sharp-tail eel:
A tasty looking lobster:
Two Banded coral shrimp AND a giant crab!
An older juvenile Highhat (the young juveniles have a really long dorsal fin):
I saw several of these Bandtail pufferfish, but none of them really wanted to be photographed 🙁
There were several Sergeant majors guarding nests- most were blue, but this guy has the normal coloration:
A sneaky Orangespot filefish:
…another fish that dislikes having its picture taken
A stealthy Scorpionfish:
and another!
A Bearded fireworm:
A Red-tipped fireworm:
A Sand perch:
Sharpnose puffer:
Bullseye sawfish!
This guy was cool! He tucked back into his hole when I swam past, but I turned around and sat still and he popped back out!
Couldn’t get him to come completely out of his hole, but he came out enough to see his cool markings!
This ended up being my longest dive to date- 107 minutes! but I misjudged my exit and surfaced on the far end of the beach, which left me with a much longer walk to my car than I had hoped for (dive gear gets heavy when it’s not in the water!). Still, I’d call my first solo dive a success!
Dive #5 – Blackwater
Tonight, I decided to try to photograph as many larval fish as I could, and then try to identify them…
First, an obligatory jelly:
I don’t know who this guy is, a driftfish of some sort?
Mantis shrimp larva!
Doesn’t he look mean?!
A siphonophore, or net-caster:
An especially hairy acorn worm:
A larval Sea basslet! Super-proud of this find (and just as excited to have a shot turn out decently):
Larval jack:
I was taking pictures of that little Jack when this squid came in:
I think he was looking for an easy meal, but that little Jack darted between me and my camera and hid there for the rest of my dive- this was about 20 minutes into my dive, so he was with me for about an hour and a half!
No snacks for you, squid!
Occasionally, my little fish would disappear for a bit, but he would always reappear a few minutes later. Most of the time he hung out right in front of my face, which was actually kind of distracting. It was really hard to get a picture of us- this is the best I could do:
and when I couldn’t find anything to photograph (which happened a lot on this dive, not a lot of critters to be found tonight), I’d pull my camera in close and snap a picture of my little stripey friend:
Drift fish hanging out by a piece of sargassum:
Clumps of this seaweed drifted through and while most times I just saw fish, other critters take shelter in it too (like seahorses!) so I checked out most pieces.
Another driftfish:
A Wire coral shrimp! This guy was small, about 1cm, but I saw something move while I was photographing the driftfish and got lucky with this shot!
One of the prettiest Venus girdles I’d ever seen!
It was about a foot and half long, and had the most vibrant coloration I’d seen!
It was pretty active too, but didn’t want to form into any cool shapes:
One final, unknown driftfish:
I succeeded in making this my longest dive ever- 109 minutes! Go me!