San Juan Islands Photos (modem burner)

Tangfish · Post by **Tangfish** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 2:59 pm

A bunch of us went on a NWSD-organized dive trip with Deep Sea Charters this past weekend. We did 3 dives and had a great time in the sun. Here are some of the photos from Sunday's dives.

<a href="" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1134/764 ... 7853_o.jpg" width="800" height="624" alt="Clown Nudi, Crawling"></a>

<a href="" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1026/764 ... 501d_o.jpg" width="800" height="800" alt="Feather Worm"></a>

<a href="" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1425/764 ... 5ce0_o.jpg" width="800" height="600" alt="Giant Pacific Octopus"></a>

<a href="" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1353/764 ... 71cf_o.jpg" width="800" height="523" alt="Juvenile Crab"></a>

<a href="" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1306/763 ... 12ee_o.jpg" width="800" height="617" alt="Juvenile Wolf Eel"></a>

<a href="" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1382/763 ... 92a2_o.jpg" width="800" height="600" alt="King Crab Macro"></a>

<a href="" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1219/764 ... 658e_o.jpg" width="800" height="690" alt="Strange Home"></a>

<a href="" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1397/763 ... 5ef5_o.jpg" width="592" height="800" alt="Sea Cucumber"></a>

<a href="" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1092/763 ... 0de0_o.jpg" width="647" height="800" alt="Nudibranchs in the Current"></a>

<a href="" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1057/764 ... 6653_o.jpg" width="800" height="521" alt="Puget Sound King Crab"></a>

<a href="" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1282/764 ... a26c_o.jpg" width="800" height="600" alt="This fish looks like Zorro"></a>

<a href="" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1358/764 ... 358f_o.jpg" width="800" height="600" alt="Sea Urchin"></a>

The highlight of this trip for me was seeing the Puget Sound King Crab!

Jan K · Post by **Jan K** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 4:27 pm

Superb stuff, some real beauties..

Joshua Smith · Post by **Joshua Smith** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 6:23 pm

Cool pics, as usual, Calvin! That was a really fun trip- we have to do that again, soon. I wish I'd seen that PS King Crab with you and Ken, but- oh, well. That's something to shoot for on the next trip!

Tangfish · Post by **Tangfish** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 6:49 pm

Oh, I forgot to mention, the rest of the pics from this trip are on my Flickr page.

Sergeant Pepper · Post by **Sergeant Pepper** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 7:49 pm

Nice pics Calvin, wish I could have been there.

nwscubamom · Post by **nwscubamom** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 9:39 pm

Calvin,

I totally love the leopard dorid in amongst the sponge covering the Swimming Scallop! Very cool find!

- Janna

LCF · Post by **LCF** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 8:22 am

Beautiful pictures, as usual. I'm envious of the Puget Sound King Crab -- I have yet to see one.

Is that a long-finned sculpin?

Tangfish · Post by **Tangfish** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 9:36 am

nwscubamom wrote:Calvin,

I totally love the leopard dorid in amongst the sponge covering the Swimming Scallop! Very cool find!

- Janna

The funny thing is, Janna, I saw that scallop swimming by with the little nudie on it's back after Ken spooked it. I couldn't tell if I heard a tiny little 'yeeeeehaw!' or if it was an 'oh ****, the world is spinning again!'.

Either way, it looks like that nudibranch had made quite a comfy home out of that scallop, judging by the carved out sponge.

BDub · Post by **BDub** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 9:44 am

Sounder wrote:Lynne - you need to come with us to Patos Is! They were EVERYWHERE!!! When you're looking at one, 4-6 more of them "drop" down on top of you... it's quite strange. They "jump/fall" from the rocks above you when you're under them and land on you.

I experienced the same thing at Patos, Doug...totally bizarre.

John Rawlings · Post by **John Rawlings** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 10:10 am

BDub wrote:
Sounder wrote:Lynne - you need to come with us to Patos Is! They were EVERYWHERE!!! When you're looking at one, 4-6 more of them "drop" down on top of you... it's quite strange. They "jump/fall" from the rocks above you when you're under them and land on you.
I experienced the same thing at Patos, Doug...totally bizarre.

That's actually an escape tactic that they use to get away from predators or hostile rivals. As a deep water crab whose habitat is steep, rocky walls, the PSKC has no problem "falling" off a ledge and moving quickly into the depths, and another ledge....as a matter of fact, that is the ONLY means they have of getting anywhere quickly!

I suspect that when they "leap" down on a passing diver it is because the presence of divers has alarmed them and they are merely trying to get away.

But then, who REALLY knows what is going on in the mind of a crab?

- John

nwscubamom · Post by **nwscubamom** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 10:29 am

Our bubbles go UP - so the presence of them would alarm a crab above us, right? So they jump....and it just so happens they come down on top of us.

Do they do this if a diver is on a rebreather?

If not, then I stand by my bubbles-as-perceived-threats theory

- Janna

John Rawlings · Post by **John Rawlings** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 11:52 am

I can go with that!

thelawgoddess · Post by **thelawgoddess** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 9:12 pm

nice, calvin! we were there a few weeks ago and i loved the swimming scallops!!!

Ken G · Post by **Ken G** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 9:33 pm

I think the scallops were my favorite critters on these dives. Watching them swim around was almost comical. Although that PS king crab was sooo cool as well.

Joshua Smith · Post by **Joshua Smith** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 9:53 pm

The scallops freaking crack me up- they look so funny jetting around like that!

mattwave · Post by **mattwave** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 2:51 pm

Nice Pics!!

Tangfish · Post by **Tangfish** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 4:57 pm

Thanks Matt, and sorry to have missed you on the boat. We all had a great time. Thanks for putting it together!

JDelage · Post by **JDelage** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 10:17 am

Great pics - I particularly like those crabs. They look like tanks from a Sci Fi flick...

mattwave · Post by **mattwave** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 12:26 pm

Calvin wrote:Thanks Matt, and sorry to have missed you on the boat. We all had a great time. Thanks for putting it together!

Yah Yah, I am dissapointed I missed it.
I am crossing my fingers for the next one Aug 5th.

Diver_C · Post by **Diver_C** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 4:56 pm

Great pics! Thanks for sharing!

Rich