Northwest Dive Club

When I used to give dive club talks a few years back, I'd get to the Ratfish slide and inevitably someone would tell about someone they knew who had attempted to grab a ratfish and got nailed by the spine (which does have a toxin, as you know!). Not too brilliant of a move, I say. :tomnic: And it al...

Spend an hour Wednesday evening with marine life ID book illustrator Val Kells as she tells fish stories, shows photos and paintings of her highly detailed work, and answers your questions about the process of making fish ID books. She's already completed Guide to Coastal Fishes from Maine to Texas,...

Absolutely jaw-droppingly STUNNING!! (and you did a great sound track to go with it..very fitting). So what's interesting to me is that Three Tree seems to be year after year where divers see this mating and egg-laying frenzy. I even have a photo from 10 years ago, possibly even that same mooring li...

That is a fantastic idea! I suspect you had a hand in this - so thank you Jan!
- Janna

Agree 100% with Dusty. They're funky little/big things!

- Janna

Hard to see your first image large enough to figure out what it is.
But the 2nd one is a Northern Kelp Crab, Pugettia producta.
Best place to post WHAT IS THIS photos is in the Critterwatcher forum.
Thanks!
- Janna

I had a problem at PDX with my camera INSIDE my housing, inside my carryon. They said it appeared as "Electronics within organic matter". Um, OK. It caused quite a delay since they had to completely unpack my entire carryon, and inspect ME too. They said in the future, to take it out of th...

I used to shoot a Sea&Sea MX-10 film camera, and spent upwards of $8 per dive on film and processing for my prints. Five years ago I got a Canon G-9, an Ikelite housing for it, as well as a little Ikelite DS-51 strobe. At the time, I choked on the cost ($1700) for all of that, having previously ...

I came to the same conclusion Jen. I don't have the time to work on RAW files, and most of my showing and viewing of my photos is done digitally online, so I really didn't see the point either. I do keep my photos archived in the highest resolution possible with jpeg (180ppi, 4000px X 3000px) and wh...

So does Photoshop Elements still exist? I have found that to be WAY more than adequate for my photoshopping needs. And it used to be priced under $100. But I'm still on version 6. I had upgraded, hated it, and went back to 6.
- Janna

The scoop through the grapevine is the downstairs offices from Downriggers only had water damage. (this is where the compressor was located.) Friday Harbor marine was on the north side of the bldg, bottom floor, and certainly will have to move because it's likely the building will have to be trashed...

Agreed. And if you look through all the photos they have posted, it does appear that there was fire downstairs as well. :(

Dan, sorry your dive trip got canceled. Things were back up and running on Tuesday, so we were able to go out and view more Manacled in the kelp fronds at multiple dive sites along the Straits. Sekiu Jetty is a great dive, and a good place to find Silverspotted Sculpins and Tubenose Poachers, especi...

Early Saturday morning (about 3am) a fire broke out in the building that houses Downrigger's Restaurant, and the only scuba air compressor that I know of in the San Juan Islands (for the general public, that is) was in the same building, directly under it. I'm looking at photos/video and it looks li...

I don't understand the whole thing about divers paying fees. What resources are they using/taking? What are they taking from the environment? It makes perfect sense to have fees for those who harvest, because of the costs of managing the resources by WDFW. (determining seasons, monitoring and estima...

BillZ wrote:

nwscubamom wrote:One of the commissioners said we were 4th in the nation for attracting dive tourism already. I hadn't heard that before. I would guess Florida and California being ahead of us, but what would be the third?

Hawaii?

<smacks head> YES! Of course! Duh....
- Janna

Just found this in my inbox: Fish and Wildlife Commission extends octopus protections and sets hunting seasons for migratory waterfowl OLYMPIA - The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission extended protections for giant Pacific octopuses in Puget Sound today by prohibiting the recreational harvest o...

Just to clarify, the man giving the briefing to WDFW commissioners was Craig Burley, not "Bargman". I would assume you were talking about Greg Bargmann, who retired from WDFW a few years ago. I was impressed that there seemed to be much discussion and comments from the commissioners about ...

Oooh, I love this Laura! So crisp and clear, very detailed showing the mopping action. NICELY done.
- Janna

You might be able to find something here:
http://yosemite.epa.gov/R10/OEA.NSF/inv ... team+links
- Janna

I know I'm late to the party, but I've been shooting a G-9 with an Ikelite housing and the DS-51 strobe for years, with great results! Once in awhile I've had a problem with it blowing out. I sent in the strobe for repairs, but they could not get the strobe to duplicate the problem. I conclude it ma...

What little experience I have sitting in meetings and in groups where anglers and spearfishers are present, the animosity seems to come from: 1. That divers (spearfishers) have an 'edge' over the anglers, and are able to get fish in habitat that anglers can't go in (ie. Kelp) 2. That divers scare aw...

Yes indeedy, a Longspine Combfish!! It's pretty early - REALLY early in fact, to be having Low O2 problems in Hood Canal. I highly doubt that is the situation. It could have been 'sleeping'. Really. Lots of skittish fish can often be seen totally still on night dives because of that. Congrats!!! - J...

I have skimmed through most of the comments here and think one thing needs clarifying: The WDFW Commissioners (the 9 person panel that directs WDFW) created the 4 options. They then handed these 4 options over to WDFW to investigate. WDFW then formed a citizen advisory board, so they could get persp...

Your comments and input needed! Let WDFW know which option you like (or maybe you don't like any of them, or maybe you like a combination of some of them). No matter what, WRITE them, or attend a public meeting. Here's where you can give your comments: http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/regulations/octopus/...