June 16 - Shangrila and drift diving through Agate Pass

Shangrila Report:

Visibility:  15 feet and snowing

Orange and White Tipped Nudidbranch

Current:  We weren't swimming back to the line



Agate Pass:
Visibility was poor, current was 3.8 knots.  We assembled on the surface, dropped in the North End at 20 feet, headed South, lost each other within 5 minutes.  The bottom passes by, a movie in fast forward.  Moon jellies dance in the current, tumble in space, are left behind.  I am flying, I am superman, I am weightless, I am an astronaut, I am alone.  Sea life is sparse, pink encrusting sponge covers the rocks, leather stars, red rock crabs, an occasional anemone.  I check and recheck my compass headings, I don't want to end up in the shallows along the bank. The goal is to hit 50 feet and then ascend.  I watch my depth as the world drifts by.  Sea Pens begin showing up in the sandy bottom as the floor descends and the current slows.  It's just a few small ones at first, each a few inches high.  I now use my fins to move along, the sea pens grow both in size and number becoming an unseen forest to the boaters above.

At 40 feet I begin my ascent for a safety stop at 18 feet.  My safety sausage is in my pocket and I allow the reel to drop down.  Pam suggested I leave it in my pocket, but my irrational fear of the line getting stuck as the sausage ascends pulling me with it causes me to let it drop.  I try inflating it with my secondary regulator but forget which button to push.  I inflate it and hang on to the string for my stop.  The last time I was here I had a cheaper safety sausage that required inflation by mouth.  That meant removing my regulator and blowing into a small black tube expelling the air from my lungs.  My ears pressed in as I sunk, my chest burning from lack of oxygen, this may be what it feels like as you drown.  I quickly slammed the regulator into my mouth, inflated the sausage on the surface and vowed to never to use it again.

The boat picked me up and I'm disappointed to find I'm not the furthest along until I found out Steve barely made it past the bridge pilings.  He says he meant to do that, Ben and Erik exchange glances.  The boat heads back to the dock.       

June 9 - Flagpole Point (Hood Canal)

"Okay, I got everyone safely to the surface, you're on your own swimming in to shore".  I listened to Katie shout these words at us while hanging onto the buoy marker.  The current swept past, pulling us towards the South end of the canal.  It was a long swim back.

Copper Rockfish on a Cloud Sponge

The four of us (Katie, Kari, Chris and Myself) arrived at the site early in the afternoon with a strong wind blown current running along the surface.  The plan was to swim out to the buoy, see the sponges, then swim back along the bottom to shore and avoid the current.  We dropped in on the reef with the visibility clearing as we approached the bottom at about 65 feet.  The sponges bloomed from the side of the reef with off-white folds and tubes like cumulus clouds on a warm summer day.  Thoughts of Dr. Seuss swam through my mind. 

Twenty minutes went by and nobody was making a move to swim back towards shore, tank pressure was down to 1800 psi.  The group loosely began to head in towards shore but stopped to look at an octopus so I signaled Katie I was down to half a tank, I wanted to keep moving.  Thinking I told her I was low on air Katie spun around and head straight back to the line.  I thought the plans changed and we needed to conserve air in case we got in trouble swimming back from the buoy.  Swimming along the surface in heavy current I wondered how far I could get swept along before making it to shore. 

The second dive we planned seemed daunting, we went for beer instead.

More underwater photos

June 2 - We don't need no stinkin viz

Katie and I dropped into the emerald green waters above Shangrila Reef, the sun filtering through algae and plankton so thick we couldn't see our fins.  It was a bright spring morning on the surface, it was twilight on the reef.  The current pulled at our bodies as we kicked with our fins struggling to stay in place.  Ready to go in, Pam had us wait 10 minutes for slack, it lasted for a few seconds.

Decorated Warbonnet on Shangrila Reef

Our lights reflected off the plankton, a million diamonds surrounding us, isolating us.  We circumscribed the reef looking for wolf eels and octopi.  A mosshead warbonnet pulled itself underneath an overhang, to narrow for a picture.  I tried sign language to get it to come out, Katie used a wave of her hand.  It rested on a ledge above us blending the colors of its body with the encrusting sponge on the wall and its face with the mossy kelp on the rock.  Ma and Pa wolf eel were in their den.  White flesh torn from Pa's upper lip, red streaks exposed in the open wound.

Katie trapped in the jello

Descending on Devil's Boulder was worse than Shang.  The plankton clumped, disorienting us in our descent.  Below 40 feet the filtered light diminished from an uneasy twilight to the deep black of night.  As we descended, dark boulders appeared from nowhere signaling the bottom.  We couldn't find the line to the reef so we followed a narrow string attached to a rock.  Katie was waiting at the end swinging the broken line from side to side.   Time passed as if in a dream.  20 minutes became 10 and 10 became 3.  Meteors streaked down upon us from the from the night sky above.  It was time to ascend and leave the exploration of this alien world to the others.



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May 19 - Rockaway: 2 feet of viz and it's beautiful

The beach at Rockaway that we normally swim over

The first time I dove in conditions like these I ran through a steel 100 tank in 20 minutes.  The viz was down to 3-4 feet on Saturday and 2-3 feet by Sunday.  This is the one time of year I can swim through a snow storm and night dive in the middle of the day.  White and green plankton hung in the water like large flakes of snow during a spring blizzard.  The tide was out so far that Ehren and I walked out to the buoy before we put on our fins.  The line was at our feet but we couldn't see it.  We eventually found it and zip-lined down to the main reef pulling ourselves along until the sunflower star popped up in our the way.

Moon jellies drifted slowly by along the main reef, their translucent bodies undulating as the current carried them along.  Leopard dorids, on an endless search for food, crept along the rocks.  We checked in the cracks and crevices for the elusive pacific lumpsucker.  Ehren is on a mission to find them but not today.  The search continues.  A male scalyhead sculpin made an appearance and hung out on the rock, we communed together.  A thin brown ribbon like material was on the floor next to the reef and we stared at it thinking it was a piece of trash. Slowly it began pulling itself into a gelatinous casing in the sandy floor.  The body was about a half centimeter across with regularly spaced white stripes every cm and a thin white stripe along the meter long body.  It was a six-lined ribbon worm.

We headed down to the deep reef and ran through a school of ratfish at the second of the three sisters.  Down on the deep reef at 85 feet day turned into night and we headed for a tour around the rock.  I wouldn't let it out of my sight.  Copper rockfish lurked within the hollows and warrens, the octopus was gone.  Sunset slowly turned into day as we headed back to the main reef swimming through the murky green waters of the sound.

The viz had worsened on Sunday allowing for only 2-3 feet before staring off into the void.  The reef had changed overnight.  The thickness of the plankton cast a depressing, dreary light sucking the color out of everything it touched.  The red bands of the painted greenling dulled to brown while the the deep orange of the three-lined nudibranchs was blunted to a light pastel.  Steve occasionally appearing then disappearing back into the mist signaling his location by the distant flash of his camera.  We again headed to the deep reef dropping deeper as the awaiting darkness enveloped us, at least until Steve signaled that he was running low on air.  I could barely make out his hands but trusted something wrong and followed him back up.  Steve still had enough air to look in the crevices and again find a giant pacific octopus in the small rock along the South side of the reef.

Back on shore as we unloaded our gear a Coast Guard helicopter flew low overhead.  The next day we found out a diver drowned off of Blake Island while spearfishing for lingcod.  A gentle rain fell from dark clouds while the satiety of our dive calmed our souls calling us back another day.    

May 5 - Cinco de Mayo at Rockaway

Sculpin

The day was warm.  Visibility on the reef was down to 7 feet.  Once it drops another few feet I'll be happy.  It's disappointing when you can still see your dive buddies.  We dropped in on the buoy line with the plankton thick enough that it was difficult to find the line at the bottom.  We followed the rope down to the reef and I wondered why I had brought my camera.  Lucas was being a good buddy though and shining his light on interesting things to photograph, which I did when I could see them.  A small red sculpin darted out from the reef and caught my eye.  It was patient while I attempted to photograph his good side, but I thought I couldn't get the lighting quite right.  Later on Lucas wanted to know why only one flash was working on my camera.  On the South end of the reef a white and red rose star moved silently along the rock.  Ehren hung out with me on the main reef while Katie, Russ and Lucas went down to the lower reef.  I didn't notice that they left.  Next time I won't sleep 9 hours before I go diving. 

April 28-29: Shangrila and KVI Tower and Rockaway, Oh My

Orange Zoanthids

It's amazing how different the visibility can be within the Sound, even around a single reef.  We dove three reefs in two days.  All of them were different.  One thing was consistent though, the further South we went the worse the visibility became. Our first dive was at Shangrila Reef and I stuck close to the Wolf Eel whisperer, Rick Hatten.  Every time I strayed on other dives I heard about all the cool things everyone else saw.  I wasn't disappointed.  Lenny and I were paired up so we both followed Rick around.  Rick found 5 or 6 wolf eels, I lost count, including the one eyed wolf eel and Ma and Pa wolf eel.  Only Ma came out this time, Pa was in a bad mood.  I was on a search for anything I could get close to, starfish, anemones, nudibranchs.  The spring rains and warm weather brought a bloom of organisms contributing to the burst of plankton diminishing water clarity and limiting our viz.

Red-trumpet Calcereous Tube Worm

From Shangrila we headed South to KVI Towers enjoying hot soup and bread on the way.  I was hopeful the water clarity would improve but that was a bad assumption.  It got worse.  I dropped in along with Lenny, Kari, Hal and Ryan.  I had been here before, the others had not, lead position was mine once again.  If you've read my previous blogs you'll know this is a bad idea.  We headed down the slope in search of octopi.  Part way down the slope I looked back and waited for the others to catch up.  Ghostly figures swimming in and out of focus approached.  I turned around and began back down the slope.  At 70 feet no one else was around.  I continued exploring but only found lingcod and tube worms.  Bright lights slowly appeared out of the gloom with Ryan following close behind.  We stayed together for awhile, then separated and found each other later.  Heading up the slope I followed the markers ending in 17 feet.  An Aleutian Moonsnail crawled along the kelp extending its body as the current swayed it back and forth while Ryan wondered why I kept my face buried in the sand.

Aleutian Moon Snail

Our last dive of the weekend was back at Rockaway with Katie and Lucas and Rick and Jackie and Kelly and Alyssa and Jon and TC and you get the picture.  The water clarity decreased as we approached the reef dropping to about 10 feet of hazy twilight.  I explored the lower reaches of the reef while Lucas and Katie explored the top.  We neared the Southern end with Lucas madly flashing his light to get our attention.  We found our octopus.  A large red male giant pacific octopus was out hunting.  It glided along the rocks aggressively exploring the cracks and crevices with its tentacles flushing out prey as it moved along its erratic path.  Fifteen minutes later it appeared to duck into a rock so I motioned for us to go down to the deep reef.  I didn't really suspect anything was down there to see, I just wanted to go deeper.  Lucas and I circled the deep reef realizing at the end that Katie was not with us.  We shrugged, we swam back to the main reef, we headed North, we found Katie still watching the octopus.  Katie later told us we really blew it going down to the deep reef and is now having recurrent thoughts that won't go away "Still replaying in my head is the octopus flushing out the large, juvenile wolf eel. Intertwined yet rippling past each other like silk ribbons."  Another time and smart enough to stay around when the octopus is out.


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April 21, 2012 - Sund Rock: The algae is back

All week I was planning on the Northwest dive show in Tacoma and then diving at Sund Rock on the way back.  That was the plan until Friday night rolled around and the thought of being in a noisy convention center after being stuck on 2 airline flights earlier in the week just wasn't going to work .  Lenny and I settled on meeting at Hoodsport n dive at 1PM on Saturday, which was fine except I didn't know what Lenny looked like.  Fair enough, he didn't know what I looked like either.  We figured it out.     

Sea Whip

The sun and warmer weather had finally hit the Northwest which for divers here is both a blessing a curse.  Now we can get in our dive gear and into our 45 degree water (that's Fahrenheit not Celsius) without feeling like we were in a refrigerator first.  Once again though the algae and other small creatures are inhabiting the Sound mucking up our pristine 25 foot visibility.  Lenny and I dropped in on the Northern buoy and I immediately became disoriented due to the low visibility and lack of light.  And this is the other problem with the algae bloom, sunlight penetration is severely reduced.  It will get so bad that diving on a sunny afternoon will be like night diving in a dark closet.    This was my excuse for immediately heading off in the wrong direction moving a bit South and missing the northern wall completely, even though the visibility had cleared considerably below 20 feet.  At 50 feet I knew we had missed the wall.  At 70 feet we found the sea whips.  At 80 feet we turned around.  At 40 feet I went South in the completely opposite direction of the wall.  I eventually turned us around and headed North reaching the wall with 1100 psi in the tank.  We never did find the octopus on eggs that John McKenzie mentioned was at the Norther end of the wall, but I had gotten us to the wall and that was good enough.

Stripped Sun Star Eating a Stiff-footed Sea Cucumber

Visibility for the second dive was as bad if not worse than the first.  We made our way over the rocks on the South side of the inlet by feel, certainly not by site, before heading off along the wall.  The nutritious broth we swam though was home to numerous jelly fish fluttering through the cool, murky water.  As we dropped down towards 40 feet the structure making up the South Wall appeared before us in perfect clarity compared to the broth above.  The area was devoid of octopus and wolf eels that are normally abundant in the area.  Nudibranchs and other animals were missing from the landscape.  Copious numbers of plumose anemones, bound forever to the rock, stretched their frilled tentacles while tube dwelling anemones, embeded in the soft sediment, extended their outer tentacles in search of food.  Well into the dive the cold began wrapping its icy fingers around my torso causing small tremors I was helpless to stop.  We turned around and headed back, until feather duster worms provided one final distraction.  Again we entered the murky waters to watch the jellyfish billowing their translucent bodies.  We finished our safety stop and stepped into the sun filled afternoon of a Northwest spring.

Tube Dwelling Anemones

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April 7 - Rockaway: The starfish and spring

Lucas and Flat Stanley

Normally we would have swam out to the buoy at Rockaway but today it was in only 4 feet of water so we walked instead.  Flat Stanley accompanied Katie, Lucas and I on the dive so we could give my neighbors niece a memorable picture from Bainbridge.  As we made our way down the line towards the reef clouds of milky fluid periodically dispersed from the sandy floor.  The clams were randy today. We rounded the reef and our lights illuminated the starfish in their mysterious ritual of reproduction.  As if through an orchestrated signal the sunflower stars were arched up on multiple arms erupting with a stream of opaque fluid from a white ring around the edge of their central mass dispersing gametes into the water column above.  I went to take a picture and the dreaded message appeared on my camera "out of memory".  I couldn't believe it, I forgot to put the SD card back in the camera again.  Trying to delete pictures to free up memory while diving at 40 feet was no easy task and I soon gave up.

A week had gone by and the fish population still hadn't returned to the reef although a new mass of unguarded ling cod eggs was stuffed between gaps in the rock.  I wondered if they would soon become someones dinner.  We lazily swam down to the three sisters passing other sunflowers stars in the same ritual as the one on the main reef and another, still leaking fluid from its ring, was moving along the sandy floor.  Redish-purple tentacles undulated within a small cave in the deepest of the three reefs, reminding me of matriarchs protecting their children dancing and playing in the folds of their skirts in their world under the sea. 

Mosshead Warbonnet

The Southern reef was no less beautiful with green and red kelp blanketing the rock and offering protection to the animals within the protective confines of their homes.  Lucas found the mosshead warbonnet that lives within a crevice on the eastern edge of the structure.  At first it stayed within its protective confine eventually emerging to observe the curious creatures in black with eyes ringed in bright color. Again I ran out of memory and began working to clear it while Lucas patiently waited, blinding the fish with his light.  As our air ran down it was time to head in.  With only 3 feet of water at the buoy it was a long walk up to the log where Katie patiently waited for us to return. 

March 29 and 31 - Rockaway: Changes

It rained all day Thursday, so I thought the water would be all mucked up and the dive would be lousy.  I was wrong.  I left my camera at home so I could get some much needed underwater therapy and contemplate the nudibranchs in the sand and the barnacles on the rocks.  The signs of spring so prominent just a few weeks ago all but disappeared with the green, red and brown seaweed covering the line with ruffled and dimpled leaves being our barometer of impending change.  Only a few copper rock fish could be found on the main reef with even fewer on the deep reef.  A month and a half ago there was a plethora of copper rockfish on the deep reef.  A multicolored dendronotid adorned the edge of the main reef with its yellow tips swaying gracefully with the current.  As Steve photographed I meditated on hundreds of small barnacles covering the rocks extending their feathery feet extending in a rhythmic dance capturing plankton and other detrius for their consumption.   

Monterey Lemon Peal Nudibranch

Lucas, Russ and I returned 2 days later continuing the exploration of the reef for additional signs of spring.  Frosted nudibranchs were scattered among the seaweed that seemed to have grown in number and size from my previous visit.  We made our way around the main reef, fins periodically kicking up the silt on the bottom as we moved to close to the floor of Puget Sound.  Juvenile red rock crabs, no bigger than a dime, raised their claws towards the surface as if in joyful praise for being alive.  An octopus lounging in its den and a copper rockfish part way down the rock were one of the few signs of life as we crawled along the reef.  At the end of the reef I veered towards the line going towards the deep reef until I felt a tug on my fin.  Russ and Lucas were turning around to head back to the line.  The deep lemon yellow of the nudibranchs against the burnt orange of the sea cucumbers attracted my attention.  Lucas found me later contemplating the flowing, translucent cerata of the frosted white nudibranch making its way along the sand.  We headed to the small reef exploring the crevices and holes and finding a mosshead warbonnet deep within its home.  I became cold and we headed back to the beach.

Frosted Nudibranch

Decorator Crab on Anenome

The final dive was along the shallows at 15 to 20 feet heading South.  We were looking for small reefs at the inlet to Blakely Harbor.  We only found sand and turned around.  As you travel from the one small bay to the next along the contour the ecosystems change from rocky at Rockaway to sandy with stands of eel grass then kelp before hitting the Metridium Reef.  Anemones are scattered throughout the dive with feather duster worms of all colors from white to burgundy and brown staying clustered in the small bay South of Rockaway.  They seem to sense the slightest movement in the water and pull themselves inside there calcified tubes before I can get close enough for a photograph.

We ended back at the beach after an hour and a quarter under water.  A bit cold, feet numb and happy for another dive in Puget Sound.

Saturday March 24 - Possession Point Ferry and The Fingers

Our destination today was the Possession Point Ferry on the South end of Whidbey Island.  According to Emerald Diving Photography (http://www.boydski.com/diving/dives/possession-point-ferry.htm) the wooden, diesel-electric ferry, originally 227’ long and 44’ wide was built in 1926 as the Golden State for use in San Francisco.   In 1937, it was purchased by the Puget Sound Navigation Company and converted into the Washington State Ferry,  Kehloken.  Infamous for its sad role in 1942 of transporting the Japanese residents of Bainbridge Island to Seattle for placement into California relocation camps, the Kehloken provided nearly 50 years of faithful service.   In 1975, she had outlived her useful life and was sold for $25,000.  She was then towed to Lake Union to be converted into a club house and restaurant, but in 1979 was set on fire and burned to the waterline.  What remained of the Kehloken’s wood hull was then towed out to Possession Point on the South end of Whidbey Island and intentionally sunk in 80 feet of water.

We arrived at the dive site after an hour and half of nervous excitement and expectations (at least I was nervous) with the current running fast enough that we dragged the buoy underwater after tieing off the boat.  Steve H. was our dive master and worried enough that he was considering another dive site.  At least until Pam came aft, looked at the buoy, checked her tide tables and simply stated "wait 10 minutes" and walked off.  Five minutes later the tide slackendeed and 10 minutes later we were splashing into the water.  Katie and Kari were paired, Steve and I were buddies and Ryan was buddied up with Ryan. 

Swimming Anenome

Transparent Tunicates

We hit low tide with a final depth of 67 feet and one of the most beautiful wreck dives in Puget Sound.  Every exposed part of the ferry was covered with anemones, sponges and tunicates with lingcod and rockfish scattered throughout the wreck.  White plumose anemones created living archways inviting us into the depths of the wreckage.  Steve and I headed down the port side of the vessel taking in the expanse of swimming anemones and translucent tunicates that covered every inch of the ferry.  A decorator crab scampered by covered in encrusting sponges and translucent tunicates ducking into the white, lacey plumes of the anemones .  We went out 20 minutes, made it to some large round metal structures showing there exposure to the salt water, then turned around and headed back to the line.  At the surface the current picked up so we let go of the line and caught the ladder before being swept passed the boat and around Whidbey Island.

Orange Cratered Encrusting Sponge

The fingers was a completely different dive from the Possession Point Ferry.  While the ferry is a man made reef the fingers are a series of geologic protrusions on the North/East edge of Whidbey which start from a gently sloping sandy bottom then drop off at 30 feet on a series of ledges to depths greater than 130 feet.  Here we find sandstone like walls with overhangs and ledges providing protective cover for the sponges, worms, tunicates, fish, crabs, anemones and crabs scattered along the wall.  Prior to getting in I was complaining to Pam about how I hurt my back and she informed me of the free chiropractic care at 90 feet.  I took her advice and tried it out but forgot to tell anyone I was going deeper so that everyone was gone when I returned a few minutes later.  No problem, I went North along the fingers swimming through a school of black rockfish and investigating the slime stars and tunicates before turning back.  Periodically, I would come across perfectly round natural holes in the rock wall.  

I eventually came upon Ryan who was ascending from the depths below.  At the safety stop I hung out on the sandy slope observing the siphons sticking up from the geoduck clam.  I wondered how old they were.  Geoduck clams can live over a 100 years.  Back on the boat I was accosted by Pam letting me know they were worried about me.  The crew was following my bubbles and they apparently disappeared while I was at the safety stop.  I'm fairly sure I was breathing and blowing bubbles the whole time but I have nobody to back up my claim.  It was good to know they were watching out for me and next time I'll try to breath more.

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Saturday March 17 - Watermans and ShangriLa: It's always a good day to dive

While on the boat heading out to the dive site I thought of a great name for today's blog "It's a good day to dive".  Brilliant, until I remembered Ryan used the name for his video of the local dive sites.  Shameless as I am I used the name anyway.  I will point out that I added an additional word to avoid any infringement on his copyright.

It was another 7:30 am dive call and for the life of me I don't know why anyone wants to get up so early on a Saturday morning other than a bunch of zealous divers, strap on a 100 pounds of gear, jump in 43 degree water and breath compressed air at a 100 foot depth until the tank is almost empty.  I personally don't call that sane, but I do call it fun.   

As we sat in the warm cabin (Mike, Jon, Ryan, Rick, Steve W., Hal and I) of the Salish Explorer we once again rounded the buoy as we passed Fort Ward and watched the seals lounging on the platform.  A large male extended its neck as if waiting for us to throw him handouts.  The boat chugged on through the falling snow.  We reached the site and our Captain (the other Mike) put us on top of the reef.  My hand was still sore from a few weeks ago so Rick, my valet, placed my rig on the back deck and plugged in my air hose.  It was into the water with Ryan and down the wall we went to 105 feet.  Rick made it past us to 130 feet, the recreational diving limit.  I followed Ryan with his bright lights for videography at one point coming back over the wall like something from a cheap horror movie.  As I gazed at a california sea cucumber on our way back I was surprised to find it could swim, at least with the help of Ryan's fin.  I was disappointed when I emerged at the surface with over a 1000 psi of air left in my tank.

Swimming Anemone in Current

At ShangriLa Mike invoked the three strikes rule of diving and wouldn't go in since his regulator decided to free flow while on deck, leaving him with only 900 psi of air in his tank.  I never did find out what the other 2 strikes were.  Ryan and I were once again paired and we did a fantastic job of missing the wolf eels and octopi that the site is famous for.  We passed a lone swimming anemone with its tentacles gracefully bending back with the flowing current.  I stayed with Ryan as he shot video of a lingcod on eggs and I examined the intricacies of the encrusting sponges and short plumose anemones nearby.  We swam back up to the top of the reef with Ryan stopping to check his air.  I checked my air.  Ryan showed me his gauges and pointed to his tank pressure, 500 psi, I had 1200 psi.  I won!  No, I lost since Ryan wanted to surface.  His Big Kahuna tank, which holds 120 cubic feet of air, was sad and lonely back at his house.

Plumose Anemone oral disk

At the safety stop Ryan thought I was narced at 18 feet.  I swam circles around him periodically moving up higher then diving down lower while I waited out my 3 minutes.  You shouldn't do this since the activity can release trapped nitrogen but I couldn't keep my buoyancy correct like I did on the first dive.  On that dive I added 2 pounds while I was testing the water tightness of a used camera housing I purchased.  I incorrectly thought the additional 2 pounds would be too much and removed them for the second dive.  This, combined with finally figuring out my neck seal, yes I stayed dry, made me too light at the safety stop so I was forced to circle Ryan like a wacked out shark while maintaining my depth.

It was a great day to dive and no better way to celebrate St. Patrick's day than swimming in the emerald waters of the Salish Sea.

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Friday March 2 - Alki at night: Diving with seals again

It was Friday morning and I woke up cold.  I took my truck since I was going diving with Katie in the evening at Alki, but that didn't help with warming me up, I was still cold.  I wore my coat all day and all I could think about was going diving and being in the warm water.  5PM finally arrived and I took off for West Seattle through the maze of the waterfront traffic on my way to the West Seattle Bridge.  Katie was already getting ready when I arrived and in between sentences I got my gear together.  I was going to leave my camera in the car since I still get nervous diving at night but Katie was teasing me that I'd see all kinds of cool stuff and I'd miss the shots.  She was right and so were my instincts, we saw lots of cool stuff and I should have left my camera in the car. 

Ratfish (the only picture I took worth showing)

We got into the water and as I reached around to check my computer an intense pain shot through the back of my hand, which was now part of the reason why I couldn't get my pictures as I couldn't move my light into the proper position.  Down we went and I immediately realized I once again hadn't done my neck seal right so all night I was fighting my buoyancy.  I finally fixed it in the last 25 feet of the dive after I soaked myself from top to bottom with a slow leak of water creeping through my undergarments.

Diving that night was unnerving, but not for the reasons I mentioned above.  A week ago another diver died in the area and thoughts of that tragedy slowly crept through my mind, I felt helpless to stop them.  Every time we looked under a metal panel or over a rock I expected to see lifeless eyes staring back from behind a mask.  This was not to be the case and the sleek spotted black and grey form of a seal went flying by at 55 feet.  Seals again.  They glided past with their long whiskers and dog like faces effortlessly gliding through the water, following our lights to the fish and creating a cloud of silt along the way.

At one point Katie stopped on the bottom and kept pointing with her light at a dark spot on the sand so I would take a picture.  Okay, I don't see anything interesting.  She pointed again and I still couldn't figure out what it was.  Finally she took her finger and poked the sand so that the Stubby Squid would swim up off the bottom.  The silt kicked up so Katie moved the little guy above the silt, he swam around with his stubby tentacles and flapping appendages reminding me of gossamer wings beating in a gentle breeze.  I never did get myself situated to get a picture worth showing.

On the way back to our safety stop thoughts of the diver that died once again clouded my conscience, but this time they reminded me it was good to be alive and to dive with the seals another day.

Sunday February 19 - KVI Towers and ShangriLa

Before I get going on this blog I need to have a good rant about something that really pisses me off.  Rude divers.  Unfortunately, we had one on this trip and I'm willing to bet he was so self centered he didn't know and I suspect wouldn't care.  The behavior I saw that so annoyed me I've seen with other dive photographers as well.  We found 2 octopuses out in the open on this trip.  When the first one was found he seemed to think everyone should get out of his way so he could get photos.  Okay, take your photos.  But he didn't stop taking photos until the octopus had found another rock to crawl under and disappear.  So maybe he was just excited to see it, but he did the same thing on the second dive planting his ass right in the middle of everyone and taking photos of a dieing Octopus until the group had left.  Then he had the audacity to move things around so he could get a better shot and not allow other photographers to get photos of what was going on.  I take photos and I enjoy it very much, but rude?  Nay, I try hard not to be.  There is always another time to get a photo.  If he was new at this possibly we could forgive him but he had a nice camera and had obviously been diving for quite some time.  So if you are taking photos, be courteous.  Okay, I'm done ranting and am much better for it so now I'll get back to the story. 

Swimming Anemone

I left my house under the steel grey skies of a Seattle morning.  Sea Lions lolled on the buoy under  bright skies as we passed on our way to KVI Towers.  I was paired with Kari whom I enjoy diving with since she always finds great things to photograph.  The first thing she found being a Giant Pacific Octopus stuffed deep underneath a boulder.  He was a messy eater and left crab parts all over his front porch.  Giant orange and white Plumose anemones covered the rocks and the cement pillars thrown haphazardly about among the scattered boulders as the Moon Jellies swam languidly by.  We made our way down to 65 feet where Rick found another Octopus among a pile of concrete beams and boulders.  The mantle was the size of a basketball with a color of reddish ocher.  It moved among the debris entwining its tentacles around concrete and stone looking for a place to hide.  I wished I could post a picture but that is past history.

Squid Eggs

As the rest of the group headed to deeper depths Kari and I headed towards shallower depths.  Eggs like styrofoam masses were tucked into rocks and crevices; Lingcods warily guarding them but unwilling to attack.  An unguarded egg mass was engulfed by a sunflower star feeding on the unhatched eggs.  We were back at the line.  Kari was cold and went up.  I stayed down to photograph, became cold and went up as well.

It was an hour back to ShangriLa from KVI Towers.  We ate spicy soup to warm up while we talked about all that we saw at the site.  Half way back Adam called down for Rick, there was a situation occurring in the sound.  We didn't know what it was at first and called Rick to come up to the bridge.  Later we found out there was a missing diver at Sea Crest Beach and were requesting help to look for him.  We didn't have enough divers trained in search and rescue so continued on to ShangriLa Reef.  The diver was found about 6PM that evening by his friends.  The search and rescue teams had been called off at dusk.  Sad.  Very sad.  

Red Irish Lord

At ShangriLa we went down as a group.  The cold fingers of Puget Sound once again enveloping us as we dropped down the line.  The Wolf Eels at the bottom of the line were on eggs and wouldn't come out to play.  The Wolf Eel egg mass looks like a white styrofoam pellet football wrapped up by grey bodies of the parents hiding it in the back of the cave.  We headed South and came upon another Giant Pacific Octopus with it's color fading and it's Mantle slowly moving with shallow breaths as Sunflower Stars feasted on its tentacles.  For the Octopus it was a good day to die.  We stayed on the reef for quite some time finding an abundance of Wolf Eels, anemones, Sea Stars and small fish, at least until I lost everyone and the current picked up at the end.  I found a portion of the reef at 19 feet and slowly kicked in place while I did my safety stop then surfaced to find I was well separated from both the boat and the other divers who had surfaced shortly before me.  It was a good day for a swim.             

Saturday February 11 - Diving Rockaway: Spring is emerging on the reef

Sometimes the worst part about diving is cleaning your gear in the dark.  I don't mind cleaning the gear itself but what I do mind is pulling the hose out and putting my hand right on top of a large, squishy, slimy leopard slug stuck to the hose.  Yuck.  Other than that I absolutely love to dive and can't get enough of it.  After a long week of work it's down to Rockaway Beach to meet Katie and watch her molest sunflower stars burrowed in the sandy floor of Puget Sound.  One of them did try to turn her into its dinner but I saved her at the last minute before it engulfed the third finger of the left hand.  It took awhile to remove the tentacles that didn't want to let go.

The dive itself was fantastic and of course it was the one dive I decided I could leave my camera in the car and just enjoy the dive itself.  Sorry Pam, I'll take it next weekend.  This week you'll just have to read about it.  I was put in charge of leading the dive with a heading down to the main reef then on to the deep reef.  Luckily, Ryan, Lucas and I cleaned the line just over a month ago and the visibility was about 20 feet.

The main reef was rather bare except for the hoards of Coon Stripe Shimp in every crack and fissure.  Mid way down we found out why.  In a crevice cut into a cleft in the middle of the reef was a Giant Pacific Octopus about 6 feet from end to end.  Its Mantle was a deep reddish/purple with its tentacles spread out displaying its suckers underneath.  The garden was a mess, the Octopus was full.  Further down the reef we found a pile, and yes it was a pile, of leopard nudibranchs.  The Wrinkled Dogwinkle Snails which were also piled, and found last weekend, had laid down a mass of eggs, yellow and shaped liked ovals with points on each end.  We also found a mass of Lingcod eggs that looked like white styrofoam balls stuck in a crack.  This was one of the larger egg masses I've seen so I went over to investigate.  Katie later told me she was waiting for the Lingcod to ram me in the head, but it didn't and we never saw it. 

While the main reef was still bare of fish the lower reef was teeming with them.  Copper Rockfish of all sizes were all around the reef and in the crevices within the rock.  No Octopus.  The swimming anemone that I've wanted to photograph for a long time was thrusting its small orange and white tentacles out, taunting me with its grace and beauty that I would only remember.  We swam around the lower reef passing an expanse of Orange Zoanthids covering the rock, their stalks covered in silt.  Katie continued to look in every opening convinced we'd find an Octopus.  No Octopus so we headed back up the line towards the main reef passing the largest Lemon Nudibranch I've seen, molesting Sunflower Stars and tickling the Plumose along the way.

Sunday February 5 at Rockaway - The Altar at the Church of the Holy Water

As I drive over the New Zealand style bridge on Rockaway Drive I think about how it is time to once again Baptize ourselves in the holy waters of Puget Sound.  It is Sunday and we all belong to the Church of the Holy Water.  In just a few hours we would be punching our yearly man cards at the unholy altar of the NFL.  Jon manned up and wanted to cleanse his soul so dove with a split up the second finger of his right hand glove.  We dropped in at the buoy with no specific plan knowing our guardian Angel Fish would watch over us.  Steve dropped in with us but after hitting 12 feet signaled that his ear was bothering him so decided to stay behind in the shallows.  That left myself, Rick, Ben and Jon to commune with the reef.

The trip down the line was uneventful arriving at the reef with little expectation other than we'd see our rock at 50 feet.  As we turned the corner and headed South along the structure it was apparent we'd be searching in cracks and crevices bowing our heads to view with in the sacred chambers.  We were not disappointed.  Ben found a Longfin Gunnel deep within a crevice set off of the main reef.  Farther down on the main reef a Red Irish Lord guarded its home within the rock while a Sailfin Sculpin loitered nearby.  The Lord puffed its face flared out its fins and made short charges at me while I peered into the crevice.  I suspect it was sitting on eggs.

Shortly thereafter Rick called me over as everyone shined their lights into another crack.  I went over to take a look.  Nothing there, Not at thing, Nada.  Later on Ben assured me there was an Octopus in there.  If he says so.  Rick called me over a second time.  This time I did see it, an Octopus compressed into another crevice with only its mantle, eye and mantle cavity showing.  From there we continued along the main reef finding dismantled crabs with others waiting to be sacrificed to the GPO for dinner.

Wrinkled Dogwinkle

Part way back up the reef we came across Ryan's tire signalling the way to the Southern Reef.  Rick checked our air supplies, 1500 PSI all around and we headed off.  Jon had felt the pain of his sacrifice by this time and headed back to the line going in.  Rick navigated for us along the 50 foot contour reaching it with 200 PSI less air.  We scouted around the reef finding a large GPO with its inch wide suckers showing along an opening in the rock.  1000 PSI and it was time to head back.  Rick led the way again.  They knew better than to let me navigate as they didn't want to end up in Seattle.

Along the line was a Feather Duster Worm hiding within the seaweed but feeling the change in current pulled into its tube as I approached.  At the end of the line I saw the yellow of Ricks fins and followed them in until I became distracted and unknowingly veered off to the right.  The depth at 10 feet stayed constant so I surfaced to get my bearings and yes, I was North of the exit point.  I dropped back down and found a long shallow reef I didn't know was there and pursued it in until I hit 4 feet and surfaced.  The sun was out, the temp was up to 54 degrees and it was a beautiful dive at the altar of the holy water.   

Sunday January 22 - Rockaway Beach: Diving in the middle of winter

The water temperature when we dropped in was 45 degrees Fahrenheit, 7.2 degrees Celsius or 280.35 Kelvin degrees.  Whichever you prefer the fact is the water was cold.  In water we lose heat 25 times faster than in air and at 45 degrees Fahrenheit it's estimated you will be unconcious within 45 minutes.  We dove for an hour.  Why am I throwing out these facts? Because all of this was spinning through my head as we dropped down on the line at 11:40am on Sunday morning with the snow still melting from the storm that kept us inside for the past few days.  The sky was dark with a light, steady rain blanketing the Sound as we swam out to the buoy.

The landscape on the bottom reminded me that we were in the middle of winter.  The visibility was decent at 20 feet and I could follow Steve as we made our way along the line to the reef.  What was absent was many of the creatures we normally see.  The line was devoid of the seaweed that renders it invisible in the summer and the sandy bottom appeared more similar to a garden in the early spring before the growth takes over.  The kelp crabs were sparse and I could count on one hand the number of nudibranchs I saw during the whole dive.  Once we passed the brick pointing to the shallow reef the sandy floor was barren of anything but an occasional sunflower star or crab.

California Sea Cucumber

Down on the main reef the current kicked up and pulled us forward as we tried to stop and photograph an interesting sponge or an occasional sculpin or nudibranch along the way.  The rockfish, ratfish, greenlings, lingcod, sculpins and painted greenlings that we saw just a month or two ago were gone, vanished with nothing left behind to mark there stay.  Looking deep into the cracks and crevices we found the occasional pair of eyes staring back from the rockfish or painted greenling that didn't have enough sense to leave.  Incredibly, the coonstripe shrimp appeared to have multiplied 10-fold and piled one on top of the other with there black eyes staring back when we peered into the cracks lighting the voids between the rocks with our lights.  They didn't venture far from these cold dark homes leaving the front of the reef bare and desolate with even the starfish appearing to sense the barren landscape and not waste precious energy searching for food.

On the way back up the reef Steve was excitedly flashing his light at me as I approached the small rock he was peering into.  At first I saw nothing and couldn't understand what he was looking at.  The crevice was a few inches wide and about 2 feet deep.  The seaweed obscured a good view inside, but then I saw a flash of brown movement.  I looked again with my own light and spotted it, a small juvenile wolf eel gaping at us from the confines of its den.  Its narrow face and long slender body was muddy brown not yet taking on the grey and black coloring with the face of a fat shrivelled apple doll so characteristic of mature wolf eels.  He opened and closed his mouth showing rows of sharp teeth but we had nothing to offer and so eventually moved on.

By the time we came back up the line, did a safety stop and got into shore the rain was coming down in sheets.  I felt so tired I could barely drag myself out of the water and stared at the rocks I needed to walk up wondering how I would get the energy to do it.  Eventually I just put as much gear down as possible and heaved myself onto the first rock then crawled up to the grassy berm and stood up before grabbing my gear and plodded the last 100 feet back to the truck.  I dove in the middle of winter and knew it.      

      

Saturday January 7 - Deco at Devils Boulder

We came around the boulder on devil's with 8 minutes on my no deco time.  After taking a few photos it dropped to 6 minutes and I headed over to see the Wolf Eels Rick had found under some rocks.  They were hanging back inside their den and wouldn't come out with the lights like they normally would.  I forgot to check my time and when I did I was down to 3 mintues and still needed to get to the main line.  I motioned to Rick I was heading up to the line and began to ascend to try and gain time.  That didn't work and the computer counted down to 1 minute.  I was still following everyone to the line but the computer went into deco and I decided to start a free ascent.  I had done these plenty of times before but not with my computer in full deco flashing my penalty time at me and giving me a 10 foot ceiling.  I continued up and stopped at 18 feet; 6 minutes on the safety stop.  This definitely put my heart rate up as this was the first time I've had this happen and the immediate feeling was that I wanted to go to the surface.  I had plenty of air plus the back up tank so the rational part of my brain won out and I stayed where I was supposed to not going above 15 feet.  Copious quantities of bubbles emerged from the depths below and I followed them hoping they would get me to the line.  They didn't but eventually Ryan and his student showed up to keep me company.

My computer cleared the deco by this time and reverted back to the 3 minute normal safety stop without the 10 foot ceiling.  I waited for Ryan to complete his safety stop figuring the extra time wouldn't hurt.  I should have deployed my safety sausage to let the other group know where I was since I ascended prior to the line but we don't always think of these things when everything is happening quickly.  Pam told me later I did everything right which made me feel better.  She had taken me into deco using a simulation program on the computer during a previous trip and this definitely helped with understanding what was happening at the time.

Tube dwelling anemone

Our first dive was on ShangriLa reef where we dropped in at 36 feet.  We went over the wall to visit old man toothless then headed along the wall with the reef on our right.  I was again looking in the cracks and crevices for small creatures such as the red dendronotids that showed up and everyone eventually went ahead.  I continued down to 92 feet trying to get pictures of the and scallops scattered all over the seabed.  The scallops were about 2 inches in diameter with a yellow shell and orange "lips" protruding when they were relaxed.  These pulled in whenever I came close.  I hadn't seen so many here before.  I took my time coming back up the middle of the reef and eventually saw a number of divers lights flashing in the distance.  They had found a GPO at the bottom of the line in a hole.  We missed him when we first went down.  The mantle was a beautiful rustic red fully displayed with its arms moving in a slow graceful dance.

We were out of the water for an hour and a half before the next dive on Devil's Boulder which was another deep dive to 90 feet or more.  I checked my bottom time when we hit the bottom of the second line at the boulder but time can get away from you fast.  Especially when things such as swimming anemones and wolf eels grab your attention.  I looked at my no deco time, it was 8 minutes so I had time for some photos.

More underwater photos

Thursday January 4 - Night diving at Alki with the seals

Their steel grey and black metallic bodies, so graceful in the water and clumsy on land, glided beneath us as we shined our dive lights toward the depths below.  Their phantom forms darted through our beams over and over as though we were only there to help guide them to their next meal.   We dropped into 6 feet of water not going past 15 feet before Katie found the seals just over the edge of a rock.  We followed them in the shallows mesmerized by their graceful movement below.  At times they would grab something and shake their heads from side to side while other times they would stop and lay on the bottom not moving but seeming to just wait for the fish to come to them.  While I tried photographing them they were too fast and when they stopped I was to unsure of what they might do to get close enough for a picture.

Starfish relaxing taunting the seals

We followed them, or they followed us, until we hit 30 feet at which point they disappeared.  We headed down to the old boat at 60 feet looking for the octopus that was under the steel plate.  It was gone but a lingcod on eggs had taken its place.  While on the bottom looking at the giant shrimp that made us hungry for dinner, Steve began wildly signalling us with his dive light.  I noticed it right before one a large shape darted past us within a few feet of Katie and I.  The seals stuck around for a bit then left and we didn't see them again for the remainder of the dive.

By the time we made it up to the safety stop the smaller creatures had lost some of their luster so I went on in after clearing my time.  At the beach I met back up with Steve and Katie and we stumbled out of the water jabbering about an experience we won't forget for a long time to come.

Monday January 2 - Skyline Wall

Thick  Strap Sponge? with Pink Encrusting Sponge

It was a good day of diving.  We timed the the tides so that the ebb pulled us out and the flood pushed us in.  The visibility was about 10-15 feet and the light decreased rapidly as we dropped down to 80 feet on the wall.  Similar to other sites in the area in the winter the usually abundant aquatic creatures were either gone or in hiding to return when the water warmed and the food sources increased.  The majority of the rock formations were covered with encrusting sponges of multiple colors including pink, brown and orange along with some other sponges in shapes reminiscent of the futuristic houses in Sleeper.  

We made our way along the rock formation looking in cracks and crevices for any creatures we could find.  I didn't know, but found out later, that Katie was waiting for me to swim by so that she could send a lingcod shooting my way.  Fortunately, I took to long and she tired of waiting.  We found one GPO deep within a crevasse with numerous copper and black rockfish residing under the overhangs along the wall.  The crimson anemones were few but the ones I did find were a deep red so I attempted to illuminate them with my dive light while photographing with my other hand.   

As our no deco time ticked down we began to move up the wall to shallower depths eventually ending up at 35 feet prolonging our time well beyond our air supplies.  We were well into the dive at this point so we began moving back along the rocks to the exit point at the beach.  As I stopped to take some pictures I quickly lost Steve and his son, Eric, since The flood tide came up fast.  Max flood was 2.5 knots, so it was difficult to stay in one place.  For the safety stop it was necessary to hold onto the rocks and the kelp while trying to take some last photos of the sponges eventually letting go and gliding through the kelp beds.  The swim back to the beach was long but well worth it and much easier with a little help from the current.  All in all a beautiful dive with friends.  Not much is better than that.