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.