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