Northwest Dive Club

Absolutely wonderful. I only know Big Sur from the surface, and being a cautious mariner, I gave the coast a wide berth. You gave me a whole new perspective. Your comment about sea lions and mola mola: When I observed this many years ago, I was told that they bit the fins off to immobilize the fish ...

Mt wife and I spent the fourth on a whale watching cruise in the San Juans. For over forty years we traveled these waters in our own boat, so we found ourselves sailing in the wake of many memories. The most interesting animals we found were three Minke whales feeding south of Cattle Point. Just as ...

Reminds me of a recent conversation with a diver at Edmonds. After my recounting my old story about seeing a salmon shark in the San Juans, he counters, "I saw a hammerhead at Kayak Point." Trying to conceal my disbelief, I made some non-committal response. He follows with, "It must h...

Happy B'day to SJ and YE. I regret that I will never be able to dive with either of you. Your posts delight me. I feel that I am a friend.
Keep it coming, Curt

Jan: I love these posts. Several comments. In my recent trips through Deception, I tell those with me to check these posts because amazing as the pass is, it is more so underwater. Many times I would leave port in my sailboat, cruising through the magic of a sunny morning, just to encounter a curtai...

Wow!!! WEstport Seabirds? Is it a charter company? Curious. Kirsten Kirsten: Yes. The owners, Phil and Chris Anderson, do regular surveys of pelagic seabirds and cetaceans and take people out with them. Phil is not only a long time charter boat captain, but he is the former director of Washington S...

While on a diving trip at Race Rocks, a few years ago, we saw all five pinnipeds located in our waters: harbor seal, California sea lion, Steller's sea lion, northern fur seal, and elephant seal. I repeated that experience while out with Westport Seabirds last weekend. We first encountered this tagg...

Mike: I never got a chance to dive Skookumchuck, so thank you. That was wonderful.
-Curt
p.s. In my cruising years, I moored my sailboat nearby and watched the kayakers surf the standing wave there in 15-20 knot currents.

Laura: I applaud you and your work. You no longer surprise me with your contributions. Thank you.
Curt

Congratulations on another new species. Since you have been at it for so long and so thoroughly, it has become rare for you to see something new. I just realized I saw some additional new species of birds on my recent trip to the Gapalagos and Peru's Palamino Islands. In reviewing my photos, I found...

Chris: You have such a great eye. I feel I am diving with a great observer when I watch your video. Thank you.
-Curt

"The Three Princes of Serendip", a 16th century retelling of an old Persian folk tale, gave the English language the word serendipity. Serendipity, finding something while looking for something else, describes my watching gray whales lately. While cooking breakfast, the flipper and fluke o...

Are these baby salmon? I saw this school of them right at the shore (<5ft) in front of the staircase when I was coming back up. https://photos.smugmug.com/Underwater/Seattle-Diving/Redondo-Beach-Park-2019-03-21/i-bSNmXjh/1/2187e163/M/_DSC2693-M.jpg [/quote] I think you called it right. Salmon go thr...

I agree that this is an epic find. You should have fun over the years creating stories of how it ended up in you possession. I had a similar find years ago, not as old and certainly not as rare. For my own reasons it was special. I was diving the old "crab pier" at Mukilteo. During the Col...

Friends: Yelloweye insinuated you just scratched the surface with your report. Jan Kocian has been feeding us reports on his Fiji trip in installments. I would enjoy reading and seeing more.
-Curt

"They that go down to the sea...They see the works of the Lord and the wonders of His creation." Psalm 107
-Curt

Jan: When I think about it, I must laugh at myself. If I were to tell someone how eagerly I await your posts, and they asked "What is in them?" "Oh, pictures of oysters, sponges, flatworms, and slugs." Add my near obsession with whales and seabirds, no wonder I am considered weir...

Chris: Exquisite. Your opening time-lapse shot of the bay reminds me why I have spent hours staring at the sea. My son says time you enjoyed wasting is not wasted. The dog made me smile. The sea life you showed was an eloquent statement of why we love the ocean. Thank you.
-Curt

When I look at the wonders you depict, I think of an exchange I had with a cousin years ago. He asked why I didn't return to my birth state of Missouri. "It doesn't have an ocean for one thing" I replied. He answered, "What's the big deal about the ocean? It is nothing but water."...

Jan: You show us again and again the marvels one can see in what many consider sites not worth the effort: Langley, Coupeville, and Holmes Harbor. But you are an exceptionally gifted observer.
-Curt

Chris, I probably say it too often, but the pictures on this board are therapy for one who misses diving. I made just one trip to Barkley Sound, and focused on diving wrecks. It is one of the placed where I felt I was at the edge of the world. Your pictures are glorious. Also, doing that many mid-wi...

My access to internet has been limited while I was in the Galapagos. I just saw your trip photos. My goodness. My Fiji photos are so lame in comparison. Thank you,
Curt

I used to feel smugly superior as I strapped my gear on and looked at the tourists go by in their orange life jackets. Guess what happened? Old age! After a marvelous week in the Galapagos, we continued on to visit old friends in Peru. In earlier visits we had taken in the most common sites: Machu P...

YellowEye wrote:Very cool! Awesome!

What's a flightless cormorants? Do they just swim and dive?

That's right. They are endemic here. I was unable to get an underwater picture of them, but they are amazing when they are hunting. Here's a group of three. Notice the vestigial wings. Curt

Many of you know I had to give up diving. Life, while diminished, hasn't ended. I will mark my 75th birthday here at the equator, visiting the Galapagos. While snorkeling, a 5 meter manta ray passed beneath me. Plankton obscured the visibility and I was forced to shoot down, but I got a picture to s...