Whidbey Island Critters

[Jan K]

Thank you Valerie, John. When you get two hours of bottom time (two days) in such rich environment,
there is plenty to photograph, even if the visibility is not that great lately ... Here are some
more snapshots from Deception Pass ...
Beware - the fishing season is upon us ! :biggrin:






Enjoy ...

[John Rawlings]

Jan, I want you to know that I am not only happy that you choose to post your fine work here, I am PROUD that you do so! It's not everyone that can keep me spellbound on a regular basis, but you certainly do so!
- John

[Tom Nic]

Wow. Where do I start!

Creative, delightful, varied, interesting, informative, beautiful, inspiring...

Oh, and it makes me smile too.

Thank you Jan, thanks so much for the work you do - we are blessed and better for it!

:smt038

[Jan K]

Thanks guys for all the encouragement.
Saturday at Keystone was appreciated by many, the weather was fantastic,
the underwater visibility not that stellar, but still enjoyable ..
Looks like the Lingcod is trying to hide among the rockfish :biggrin:

[LCF]

That's funny -- all the fish sitting on the bottom. We dove Hood Canal on Sunday, and I saw yellowtail rockfish sitting on rocks, too; I've never seen them anywhere but in the water column before, the same as the blacks. Wonder what's going on?

[fmerkel]

At Deception there were quite a few fisherman out. Randy Williams put out a flag but either the fisherman don't care, or don't have any idea of what it's for. Both my buddy and my wife had LARGE hooks go flying by them while diving and my buddy got near tangled in some line strung on the bottom. I was doing a REEF survey and only saw a couple of ling cod, a few more greenlings, and a school of intermediate blacks near the end.
The likelihood of actually catching anything there is pretty poor.

[Jan K]

I'd like to be under the sea
In an octopus' garden in the shade
He'd let us in, knows where we've been
In his octopus' garden in the shade

We would be so happy you and me
No one there to tell us what to do
I'd like to be under the sea
In an octopus' garden with you. :biggrin:

[John Rawlings]

Wow! Great info and beautiful shots of one of my favorite critters! Thanks, Jan!

[LCF]

Great photographs, as usual, Jan! For people who are curious about these very cool animals, there is an entire book devoted to them: Super Suckers. I read it when we were weathered in in Port Hardy, and I found it fascinating.

[dwashbur]

Great photographs, as usual, Jan! For people who are curious about these very cool animals, there is an entire book devoted to them: Super Suckers. I read it when we were weathered in in Port Hardy, and I found it fascinating.

I picked it up at the Expo last year (autographed and the whole bit) and it's a terrific book. It's written with divers who want to observe them in mind, and well worth buying and re-re-re-reading.

[smike]

[quote="Jan K"]... I had an interesting encounter with Penpoint gunnel ... the gunnel swam up to me and took hold of my glove !

Last summer, I had an encounter very similar. My gunnel was quite large, and green. On safety stop in 10 - 15', near the oil dock in Mukilteo. Got some nice pictures, too, somewhere on that large gigabyte memory card that I can't find, dog-gone-it. Unfortunately I did not get the pictures onto the computer before I lost it. It was a very cool experience. I was surprised how long it hung around my hand, I think I must have played with it for three minutes or more. Toward the end it curled around my hand, and when I tightened a little, it didn't seem to mind.

A month or so ago, I was diving with a new diver and we came across a buffalo sculpin that was mostly buried in the sand. I drew my finger lightly across it's dorsal fin, and it stayed put, raising it's dorsal up slightly, then laying it back down. I "pet" the fish three or four times, and then left, it moved around some, but did not leave. I was very surprised!

[Jan K]

I was watching this Tritonia slide up to the sea pen and I was amazed how fast the sea pen retreated into sand. Unlike the Arminas, the Tritonia lost interest in the sea pen once the polyps closed into a tight ball.

[Jan K]

More critters from the Possession Point Fingers;

[LCF]

Gorgeous photos and artwork as always, Jan . . . but those tunicates are cool. I can't remember ever seeing anything like that before.

[Jan K]

Thanks you Lynne, the tunicates are common in some sections on the wall at the Fingers.
And now more adventures of the Diamond Back Tritonia....
Picking up hitchhikers and talking to strangers. Everything mom said not to do. :biggrin:

[Jan K]

Another creature in our waters, quite shy one too...

[LCF]

I really like those crabs, because they can be so pretty with the green coloring and the banding. But I'm always puzzled by the size range given in the books, because I'm quite sure I've seen some that have been quite a bit larger than what's listed. They're fairly distinctive crabs.

[Jan K]

This Deception Pass dive required to set the alarm o'clock for 4:00 AM ! Driving up to the north end
of Whidbey Island to catch the slack... Lucky Paul lives much closer. We had a very nice dive , currents
were very manageable for a 58 minute dive. The underwater colors there were worth the effort ...

[LCF]

I'm going to do that dive for the first time on June 5th, but not at 5 AM!

[Dusty2]

Up at 4am drive all that way, Truck all that gear down that long trail to be in 50 deg water at 6am just to take pictures.... and then we try to convince people we're not crazy????

Nice work Jan. I love the octo piece but then I can't say I have ever seen one of your posts that I didn't like. Thank you for the many hours you spend researching and preparing these wonderful posts and for sharing your talents with us.

[Jan K]

Up at 4am drive all that way, Truck all that gear down that long trail to be in 50 deg water at 6am just to take pictures.... and then we try to convince people we're not crazy????

Thank you Dusty, it sure helps helps to be little :roll: crazy ,
I managed to squeeze in another dive at the Deception Pass before the winds arrived. And I had almost one more hour of sleep on yesterday's dive there... few more snapshots ...

[Jan K]

From the shallows of Keystone Pilings. The fish enjoying the safety of underwater park ...
And I enjoy their company :biggrin:

[PeninsulaDiver]

This is why I don't ever have to buy a descent camera. I can simply enjoy your work.
It almost looks like the Black Rock fish has it's fin around the Sculpin.

Very cool and Thank you!

-Mark

[dwashbur]

It almost looks like the Black Rock fish has it's fin around the Sculpin.

Theirs is a forbidden love..........

[LCF]

Jan, it just makes my day, every time I open the NWDC and discover you have put up a new page. Thank you so much for the work you do to make us smile!