I had a surprise day off on Thursday, and sent H20doctor a message asking whether he was free to show me around Edmonds Underwater Park. I was here briefly, once, before I even had double-digit dives, so it was pretty much a new experience for me.
I left home around 9 am, headed south on my island. I figured to catch the ferry, then pop down the freeway from Mukilteo to Edmonds. Little did I calculate that the holiday would bring so many other ferrygoers. I ended up waiting through two ferries, and in fact, was the next car in line when they cut off loading the second ferry. Dangit.
Arriving at Edmonds Underwater Park around noon, I walked briefly to check out the dive shop just up the road. Let me give a nod to John, who was manning the shop. After checking out the shop, but not buying anything (it's kind of a good feeling that there's not really anything left that I
need to buy, except tanks; much easier on the wallet), I perused the maps at the park. A man out for a walk paused to chat with me, asking about the display I stood in front of, which showed divers and the diverse species to be found in the park. His opening question of whether people actually get into these cold waters on purpose led to a nice talk, as I explained to him that the scores of buoys we could see were all marking a point of interest in this 27-acre park. I further told him that there were several sunken ships to look at, that it is a marine sanctuary, such that the fish get very large, and most if not all of the experience was created and maintained by volunteers working every weekend on it. He didn't look very convinced, but my argument was helped immensely by two divers surfacing just then. I pointed them out, and he seemed impressed by the divers' hardiness.
My buddy, Mr. Awesome himself, showed up about then. We geared up in the parking lot, stepping carefully around two ducks who were quite taken with my left front tire. They checked it out, then settled to sleep next to it for at least the next 30 minutes while we were getting dressed. Judging by the traps they left behind, they were there for a while.
For those unfamiliar with the site, Edmonds is mostly a gentle slope, very shallow, with the deepest part being 45 feet at high tide. While not terribly current sensitive, one does need to be careful not to be swept into the ferry lane. There's a post on the restroom walls listing the times when the ferry had to deploy rescue boats or otherwise pause to aid divers in distress. It amused me that the amount of time the ferry was delayed by these actions was so carefully noted. The surface swim out to the buoys can be rather brutal, so I made sure to attach my snorkel so I could change swim positions. During the swim out, I discovered that I still don't like the snorkel. I mean, I
really don't like it; it makes me panic and feel like I can't breathe, plus there's a major fear of water getting in the tube. Honestly, though, this surface swim is not a patch on the one at Skyline. That one's a killer, this one is just an annoyance.
Diving with Chris is always great. He has a very keen eye for critters, and can always produce something to look at. He stuck his face in the water, then looked up and said there was a moonsnail. Apparently I had just swam over the blasted thing and missed it completely. 'Course, I was backswimming so I'm going to give me a pass on that one. New critter #1 for my camera today!
Coming back up, we continued swimming out. We passed the eelgrass, and sure enough, there were a bunch of hooded nudibranchs clinging to the stems. We didn't spend much time there; I figured we could stop by on the way back in. We dropped near the closest buoy, and a kelp crab waited atop a large pipe to welcome me with open arms. :luv: This is gonna be a good dive! There were quite a few of these coonstripe shrimp all over the dive site. I've seen them many times, but never of such a solid size. The ones at Driftwood only get a few centimeters long. These were up to a few inches.
Shortly thereafter, Chris found our first cabezon. The last time I saw cabezon was at the Mukilteo clay walls, in July, so I was pretty thrilled to see so many of these. From what I've picked up, they are the largest member of the sculpin family. I also hear that they are good eating, but have no firsthand experience of that. I did find out that, much like other sculpins, they will sometimes waiting in one spot patiently while I try to get juuuuust the right shot.
We came to the first sunken boat of the dive. I have no idea of its name or origin, but I was very impressed by the very large lingcod laying along its side. The thing was laying on the walk-path area, where you can step to get to the front of the boat. Not only was it laying along that path, it was overhanging it. That's a BIG fish!
Speaking of getting some perspective on some of these creatures, look at the size of the cabezon's head compared to my dive buddy's. I have a small picture book of my dive pictures at work, for customers to look at while they wait. I get many comments, but one thing I have trouble explaining well is just how big some of these fish are!
At the second boat of the dive (we dove pretty much from east straight out to the west, then back) the sun came out just as a massive cloud of tubesnouts surrounded us. It was beautiful to see them, shining in the sun, looking to see their school stretching far beyond us. As the last straggler disappeared into the green distance, Chris waved forlornly after them. He held his hand out and waved it back and forth, and a little shrimp launched itself from the seabed to come straight at his hand. It was one of the funniest sights of this dive, although he stopped waving before the shrimp could rip his face off.
Swimming between the second boat and the Triumph, once again my buddy's sharp eye found a wonderful new specimen. He held the piece of kelp this little leopard nudibranch sat on so I could get another addition for my collection. I got one pictures, then he let go, the kelp turned back over, and I have decided to be happy with the shot I got, rather than foolishly lament only getting one
Checking our air supply, we were good to go. We headed from boat #2 west to the Triumph. This is a large wooden tugboat, sunk to create habitat. It's definately the largest wreck I've attended so far.
There was quite a welcoming committee here, including several big lingcod, including a very pregnant one who hid her eyes behind a beam and thus figured we wouldnt see the other five feet of her which still hung out
I wonder whether the high ground is advantageous for an ambush predator like this cabezon.
I don't know what kind of fish this is, but it's very pretty.
Yay, we made it to the Triumph! Let's have a big smile for the occasion!
Done with the wreck, we headed back toward shore. I noticed a starfish with a meal, so checked it out to see that he had himself a pointy-legged crab of the kelpish variety. Thanks, Jan, your picture collages have made me check out starfish to see these things!
We encountered a small pod of divers as we reached the second wreck. Chris tweaked the guy's fins like a seal, which got his attention. I'm not sure whether his heart rate shot up or not, but after a moment of figuring out what the heck did that, we exchanged greeting waves as we parted from that diver and his buddies.
At the end of the dive, Chris had me pass him the TIE Fighter so he could show me how a true photographer took pictures *grin* More proof that any deficiencies are mine, and not the camera's.
Seventy minutes at 35 feet, we watched the westering sun paint the scattered clouds with pink and orange as we swam back to shore. Vis today was not horrific, probably around 20 feet in most places, with no noticable current, and water temperature in the low 50s. I had a wonderful time at Edmonds Underwater Park! Impressive fish, great sights, fun dive; I'm going to have to go again! Thanks, Chris, for being such a good buddy!
The student was ready.
it's nice to have low expectations, sometimes - lcf
I said keep going, not start whining -airsix
