Dive #99 - Rich Torkington's Dive Log
© Copyright 2010 Rich Torkington Mesa, Arizona

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Bottom Time to Date:

86h
35m


Dive Info:

Dive Start:
11:10AM

Bottom Time:
58 minutes

Maximum Depth:
82 feet

Safety Stop:
3 minutes

Beginning Air:
3000 psi

Ending Air:
500 psi

Weather Conditions:
80°F

Surface Conditions:
Calm

Surface Water Temperature:
76°F

Bottom Water Temperature:
76°F

Visibility:
100+ feet
99
TITLE
* * * *
March 17,
2002
POWER HOUSE
SALT CAY, TURKS & CAICOS ISLANDS, BRITISH WEST INDIES
BOAT DIVE
VIDEO
Michael (divemaster), Linda and Janel (buddies), Linda (NY), George (MN)
Photo
These schoolmasters are great!
Videograph by Rich Torkington in TCI 2002 
Dive Journal: The mid-morning dive takes us to a new site called Powerhouse, so named due to the Salt Cay energy plant on shore near this mooring site.

This is a GREAT site – we love it. Just over the reef wall edge there are sleepy schools of HUNDREDS of fish. Isolated packs of french grunts, sailors choice, caesar grunts, bluestripe grunts, and schoolmasters. Parrotfish, tangs, goatfish, and chromis are mixed in everywhere. The fish seem to travel in waves through little highways in the reef wall, a flowing carpet effect. I am a total sucker for these schools – it makes easy wonderful video and I simply find the scene enchanting. It reminds me of the dense schools of fish off El Cardonal in the southern Baja (see Dive 61).

I especially like a school of schoolmasters here – a chummy collection of dopey-looking fish (with faces that remind me of The Incredible Mr. Limpet) who like to stay with their bodies polarized. They hover like a little cherub choir slightly swaying in the surge. Wonderful!

There is one of my old friends here, a grey angelfish, and also another porcupinefish. There is also a good sized lobster underneath a shelf, but nearly impossible to get video.

“Welcome to Salt Cay!”

More
Dive
Info:
Fins:
Mares Avanti Quattro
Computer:
U S Divers Matrix
Tank:
80 ft3 Al
BCD:
SeaQuest Spectrum 4
Dive Type:
BOAT
Body of Water:
Caribbean Sea
Mask:
U S Divers
Protection:
3mm full wetsuit
Regulator:
SeaQuest
Spectrum XR2
plus Oceanic
Slimline octopus
Weight:
12 lb
Water Type:
Salt
Video Equipment:
Sony DCR-TRV11 digital handycam in Top Dawg housing