Northwest Dive Club

That was such a fun dive Jan - really cool to bump into you like that Thanks again for the photo!

Snapshots from Sunday dive on Hat Island barges. Or Gedney Island if you look
at a nautical chart

And not so far from the barges, perfect second dive to wrap up beautiful Sunday ...
Great weather and great company




they are still small, but numerous ...

I'm always amazed at side-scan sonar pictures! What a great way to get an overall concept of a very sprawling site.

To bad it's such an expensive toy. I sure would love to have one. I bet there are allot of dive spots just waiting to be found.

jan, i almost feel silly for asking, since I was there and totally missed them, but what is the fuzzy-brain-coral looking stuff near the lingcod?

Blaiz wrote:jan, i almost feel silly for asking, since I was there and totally missed them, but what is the fuzzy-brain-coral looking stuff near the lingcod?

SHORT PLUMOSE ANEMONE ( Metridium senile ), I think

You're not getting senile - you're right! Metridium senile.

nwscubamom wrote:You're not getting senile - you're right! Metridium senile.

Thank you for the diagnose, sometimes I wonder about that
Not a good shot, but it was raining topside and there wasn't much available light. The seal was
staying just on the edge of visibility, obviously not interested in publicity shot...

SEAL FROG KICK? Who knew?

I guess that means it isn't non-silting propulsion the Cove 2 seals need to learn, it's buoyancy control . . .

Since the visibility and critters were lacking in cooperation spirit, I tried to experiment with the light

jan, those look great, and they remind me of the aug 1997 issue of national geographic that's in our waiting room. in that magazine, there's an article about using ultraviolet on corals to get them to luminesce, and it made me wonder whether we have anything around here that does the same?

plus, how does one GET an underwater black light?

and if you have a flashlight, and an underwater black light, do you need a third light as a back up for your backup?

Man, some of those look positively Halloweenish!

The last one, with the light coming up under the metridiums, is just beautiful. It reminds me of some of the cave pictures I've seen with slave strobes. Amazing how you can make familiar things look different, just by changing how they are lit.

It looks like there will not be favorable current situation at Deception Pass until September,
so I took advantage of this week's window of opportunity to dive my Whidbey favorite.
And although the visibility wasn't that great especially in the early morning on Monday,
the only day my daughter could get away from her work - we had good time ... No new
critters or new behavior witnessed, but it was Maya's first time there

lovely shots from Deception Pass... I've got to get up to Whidbey again sometime! But currents on weekends have not been all that great the last few months :-(

Thanks Dan. Too bad the pass doesn't offer more opportunities for a shore dives ...
Maybe that is why I jump in on every chance I get. It helps tthat I live here

Jan: I always check your postings, often several times. "Honey, you have to come and look at this." To be able to dive in such a wonderful spot is a blessing, but to be able to do it with your daughter pegs out the meter. Thanks again.
- Curt

Curt I was happy to finally show her what I consider the best dive spot on our home island.
Too bad that she now lives away and we don't dive together much.
Anyway, I sneaked fourth dive in this week at the pass, but it proved to confirm the
unpredictable nature of diving here. The visibility went from 15 - 20 feet from day
before to very, very silty five feet. And the current did not turn the whole dive, even
25 minutes after the predicted slack, I was swimming into the flooding current, although
it did slowed down considerably. So it was time to shoot critters not too distant from the
camera lens...

Wrapped up dives at Deception Pass and now moving south - Keystone Pilings

Good to see you at keystone jan.. I got some great footage of all the black rockfish in the pilings ..

Having just spent three days in the Channel Islands, making inept use of a camera, I come back to this thread even MORE amazed at the exquisite artistry of the photographs and the cartoons. Jan, you're a treasure!

Thank you Lynne.
I am envious, you dived my favorite California site - Farnsworth Bank !
I didn't have strobe for my Nikonos camera back in 1971 so I have nothing to show for it. But my
memories are still good. I dove it again in 2002 with my daughter, and I was busy keeping an
eye on her so although I clicked here and there, nothing great. But I noticed that all the lost
fishing nets that used to hang over the walls in the old days were now gone. We did not fight any
bad current, needless to say ...

Wow, I can't get over those Deception Pass shots. I need to get me there! Thank you!

It was one of those dives ....