Northwest Dive Club

Keystone entertainment : While some need lots of expensive gear ( divers like me ),
others get by with a minimum

But if you want to see what is below the surface, gear does come in handy ...


These days the Keystone Pilings are the convention center for the Buffalo sculpins ..

The one dive I've done at the pilings was like that . . . the sea floor appeared to be composed of large cobblestones, but the cobblestones had tails, and moved if you got too close to them!

Like the Buffalo sculpins, the Opalescent nudibranchs are all over Keystone.
I was watching these two approach each other and I was expecting the usual outcome.
In most cases, when two slugs meet, it doesn't take long to see them realign themselves
head to tail and work on the next generation of slugs. Not these two. As soon as they
touched heads, they started to fight. The jostled for three minutes before parting their ways ..

Wow, who knew even the Sea Slugs fought. Did you get to see either of them lunge?

Chenari wrote:Wow, who knew even the Sea Slugs fought. Did you get to see either of them lunge?

My prescription mask is being being refitted somewhere in Chicago at this moment, so the fine details escaped
me, but it was not a friendly encounter between the two slugs.
Encounter with dogfish in murky water - easier to see, but harder to catch with a point & shoot,
for they are skittish around me ...

and a distant relative of sharks :

Jan glad you caught a picture of a dogfish! and at driftwood! Now I can finally rub it in the noses of people who said it wasn't so. Also very interesting knowledge about the dogfish. Never knew they were endangered in some areas.

I haven't seen a dogfish in a long time . . . lucky find, Jan!

And I may be strange, but I have loved ratfish ever since I saw my first one. The big, dark eyes, the gold line, and the silly pectoral fin swimming makes them absolutely endearing. They're translucent, too!

LCF wrote:
And I may be strange, but I have loved ratfish ever since I saw my first one. The big, dark eyes, the gold line, and the silly pectoral fin swimming makes them absolutely endearing. They're translucent, too!

They are adorable. But if you think they are innocent you should ask blaiz about our encounter with the killer Ratfish..of doom! and some other guy here that went to a MMM and a ratfish attacked him (or fled in fear into his chest).

So what if the day begins with rain.

And the anemonies love them!

Some of the usually timid Buffalo sculpins get feisty at times and "attack"
Got bumped few times lately . Maybe when hit by the air bubbles (diver below ! )

Wow, that's a cool catch, Jan! I don't think I've ever seen a buffalo sculpin do more than scoot a few feet away, and never up in the water column. I'm not sure I thought they could really swim

Saw this crab yesterday at Deception Pass.
It looked somewhat familiar

That's hilarious.

Too funny!

I love those little guys, who spread their claws in absolute defiance . . . of something about a thousand times their size!

What a better way to enjoy the few days of summer this weekend then dive my favorite site

Jan, that last photo is simply a summation of the best of PNW diving . . . fabulous color, amazing density of life. You do such an extraordinary job of capturing the magic!

I would really, really like to come up and dive the pass with you one of these days!

Little more Deception color :

hmmm so THATS why paul was so excited that he didn't have to dive with me this weekend

and wrap up for this tidal cycle at Deception Pass

Other than the egg mass, Jan, how do you tell the divae from the concinna? Your pictures look just like mine, to me.

LCF wrote:Other than the egg mass, Jan, how do you tell the divae from the concinna? Your pictures look just like mine, to me.

I took the easy way out, I asked the expert :

"Because of the really long straight smooth rhinophores - I'd go with C. divae.  Dave Behrens "

Interesting! I went back and looked at all my photos, and by those criteria, I saw a divae, too.

Langley Tire Reef revisited:

Oh, gorgeous shot of the greenling in mating colors! I still remember the first time I saw one, at the Maury Island Barges. I knew it had to be a greenling by the shape, but the color was so strange. I do think they are one of our prettiest fish, with their dark maroon and sparkles.