Sunday, October 16 at Shangri La and China Reef

Nanaimo Dorid

Hudson's Dorid

The Nudibranch's were out in force on Sunday, but not the Frosted Nudibranch's that are covering Rockaway, these were the Hudson's Dorid and Nanaimo Dorid's.  The Hudson's Dorid are a beautiful translucent white with yellow tips on the hair-like papillae and a thin yellow line around the perimeter of the body.  The Nanaimo Dorid is similar but has a maroon tip on the gills and rhinophores.  I'd like to say I've learned all this during years of experience, but in fact this information is courtesy of the encyclopedia on "Marine Life of the Pacific Northwest" by Andy Lamb and Bernard Hanby.  The Hudson's Dorid was by far the most abundant with multiple ones plentiful on many of the rocks and in crevices.  Steve also found a Golden Dirona which he pointed out to me for photographing.

It helped to have a personal guide on the tour of ShangriLa Reef and Steve did an outstanding job.  Being the Divemaster he couldn't take his camera so watching me photograph had to suffice.  Along with the Nudibranch's we found a number of Wolf Eels including a juvenile who stayed too far back in the hole to photograph and our toothless friend looking for handouts.  According to Pam there were a number of GPO's on the site as well but we only found one far back in it's hole.  On the boat Rick, Kari and Katie confirmed there were a number of GPO's and couldn't believe we didn't find them.  Too busy looking at the Dorid's and Wolf Eels.

Golden Dirona

Orange Zoanthid

After a relaxing break on the new Salish Explorer it was time to dive again.  We were dropping in on China Reef.  As I headed down the line I felt a small bit of cold creep down the front of my neck.  I didn't think much of it at the time.  As we descended further on the line it was necessary to add air to the drysuit for buoyancy and I felt some air burp out the neck seal.  Odd, but nothing that worried me.  We landed in 65 feet of water and I was having a hard time adjusting my buoyancy. As I added air I felt the drysuit burp around the neck.  Then I began to feel the cold creep down my chest.  I knew from the last dive I still had a bit of leakage and I thought this was from the valve.  I fought to stay off the bottom and couldn't float my legs up.  I even added some air to my BCD to see if that would help.  As I struggled to stay with the group the cold had crept down further and was hitting my feet.  Time to head for the surface.

I signaled to the others I was heading up and Steve, our Divemaster, went along with me.  I was fairly certain by this time the dry suit had flooded but I didn't know to what degree.  I tried to let Steve know I was okay and that he could stay down but he knew better than to listen to me at that point.  I was usually one of the last ones up, not the first.  Back on the boat after getting out of the now "wetsuit" it was clear water had soaked my thinsulate undergarment and the inside of the suit.  Theories abounded as to what caused the problem but I'm fairly sure I didn't fix my neck seal properly.  Pam and Alyssa are checking it out back at the shop this week so I'm keeping my fingers crossed it wasn't the zipper.  Still, it was another great day of diving in Puget Sound.

Later in the week Alyssa told me both valves had to be replaced along with fixing another small hole in the drysuit.  Issues that wouldn't have caused the flooding at depth.  Next time I'll make sure my neck seal is done properly.

Click here for additional Photographs of Puget Sound Sea Creatures