Sund Rock Trawler

[sheahanmcculla]

We did our virgin dive at Sund Rock Sat. It was a blast and viz. was killer and there was lots of life. I would love to go again and check out the south wall more. The only downside was it took 4 hours just to get there.

Here is the Trawler. It's my 1st video too!

[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/8519195[/vimeo]

[BDub]

Good job with the first video, Sheahan.

IIRC, the trawler's name is the "Helen H". Haven't done that in a few years. Fun dive.

Thanks for sharing

[pogiguy05]

Very nice video and I wish I was able to get a dive in on Sunday there. definitely going back.

[Sockmonkey]

Nice job with the vid dude. Looks like it was a fun one... worth the drive no?

-Eric

[dieseldude]

I Love it. Finally my 3 seconds of fame. I think Sheahan wll agree it was worth the drive although for him it was more of a ride.
this was an SPD fun dive(yeah, there still makin' a go of it)& I felt honored to be asked. Truth be known, I wasn't sure I wanted to drive that far to dive but could not say no after being asked. I'm glad I went. We had a couple guys camped out down there & one with a boat(they did some other dives too). The rest of the group piled into 2 vehicles & made the trip. The last time I was at Sund Rock was a club dive which is where I met he who shall not be named(ha-ha)& we dove the south wall. As I recall from that dive, we saw 5 wolfies! Pretty hard to beat, Huh?
Try 7 wolfies! And 2 GPO's!
I'll throw a few stills on Sheahan's report. We headed out for the north wall with a plan B of hitting the wreck if the current permitted. Our guide scootered out as scout & led us out on what looked like it might be sort of boring. A few anemones, scattered copper rockfish, couple of blacks. Nothing spectacular. We got to the end of the wall & Aaron turned around & shrugged his shoulders which I think meant:"ok, now what?" I had drawn the entire site on my wrist slate(yeah, I'm weird like that) I pointed at the wreck & he seemed to know what I meant so off we went. Pretty flat along the way & then up from the fog loomed the port? side our wreck. I saw some Sea lemons & a couple heath's Dorids on the hull. There were some sort of feather dusters that creeped up the side like a Madrona stretches out for sun on the shoreline.

We found several quite large lings, one that would rival some of the ones at EUP or Keystone. I came across this one on eggs & was amazed I got this close without being eaten(poor shot but I wasnt getting any closer)

When we cruzed back to the bouy we dropped on we found someone waiting for us under the cement block.
This wasnt part of the 7 wolfies by the way, this is still dive 1

There were little flurries of plankton swimming about & the fish just hung out & waited for the orderves to pass by & then snatched them up. The color of some of the plumose anemones was fabulous

We had some clam chowder during our SI & made our plans for dive 2. We entered on the South trail which is in better shape than I remembered & we dropped on the South wall. Almost immediately wolfie #1.

After watching everone try to coax this guy out, we moved on & My octo finding fool of a buddy found a fairly large octo under a rock. I won't pain you with the poor shots I got of him but if there are any doubters, pm me & i'll send you some bluury arms with large suckers on them. I found this very large Sea lemon with no lungs. Couldnt figure that part out.

Did I mention the many Tube dwelling anemones?

Then off in the distance we see...

Did I mention we saw allot of wolfies??

There were 2 more wolfies that I could not get shots on. Too far in. Heres a few parting shots.

At this point we started back & found our divers interacting with the wolfies. They never did come out but one of our crew got to pet a wolfie & my buddy looked more like he was giving a wolfie noogie and I am generally against touching the marine life but I have to admit the little booger was enjoying his head rub. I thought I would have to leave them alone for a few minutes. They made me blush! My camera battery gave up on me as we exited. It was expected. It was cool to get as many shots as I did & I'd like to thank all of the divers for making it great day. We ferried over but drove around to go home.
Music starts up-cue in SuperTramp, Take the Long Way Home......I sure do love to dive!

[sheahanmcculla]

Wow...way to add to a report Mike, great job! Your pictures turned out great.

Good job with the first video, Sheahan.

IIRC, the trawler's name is the "Helen H". Haven't done that in a few years. Fun dive.

Thanks for sharing

Thanks! I thought there might be a name, but I was to excited to post the video to look it up.

Nice job with the vid dude. Looks like it was a fun one... worth the drive no?

-Eric

Thanks Eric. Ya, it was worth it. But it might be a different story if I was the one driving.

Very nice video and I wish I was able to get a dive in on Sunday there. definitely going back.

Big thanks to you south end divers! You keep posting about your trips, and we will eventually have to come check them out!

[John Rawlings]

Great stuff! Sounds like you guys had a tremendous set of dives!!!

[2loud4u]

Nice summary and pictures MJ, sounds like you guys had a blast.


Brendan

[Cold_H2O]

I miss diving Sund Rock. Its always worth the drive.
Lots of Wolfies and GPO's you just have to look for them sometimes.

[octo$teve43]

definatley one of the best dives. certainly the best dives at sund rock. and for sure going again soon

[raptor]

What kind of camera and housing are you using?

[sheahanmcculla]

What kind of camera and housing are you using?

It's an old point and shoot Cannon powershot SD630 in a el chepo housing (not sure of the brand, it's blue)

[H20doctor]

Nice pics guys .. Glad you had great Vis and you got to dive Sund Rock .. I have dove there with MZ.. And we had a great dive with him , and the shop down there .. Thanks for the report !!

[loanwolf]

Looks like you had a lot of fun on the dives. Been a while since I have been thier myself. Your vid makes me want to go back soon.

[sheahanmcculla]

Looks like you had a lot of fun on the dives. Been a while since I have been thier myself. Your vid makes me want to go back soon.

I have been told that summertime is horrible to try to dive Hood Canal. Is it true it's only good in the winter?

[Tom Nic]

There are some killer blooms in the summer that can make surface viz non-existent.

Hoodsportndive usually has a viz report on their web site, and a phone call will get you up to the minute reports.

Don Coleman of PacAdventure (see banner add or look them up) would also be a good source for how the viz has been on his last boat dives.

The Hood is always good, but Winter is a fantastic time to dive. If I wasn't chained to my desk I'd be at Sund right now enjoying the viz, and I've already got a charter with Don planned. More than worth it!

[Agent 47]

That was truly an awesome set of dives and a few of us went back yesterday. Several wolfies and a couple of octos, good visibility and a plethora of other animals to boot.