Northwest Dive Club

Blood stars spawning at Keystone. Now if only the other star species would take the clue ...

Jan: 4:16 a.m.? Were you starting the day early or ending late?
-Curt

oldsalt wrote:Jan: 4:16 a.m.? Were you starting the day early or ending late?
-Curt

Early bird gets the worm,
or the cucumber

No wonder we see less sea stars in our waters. Even the anemones seem to be involved in the sea star reduction :(

Hi Jan,

Last Tuesday a friend witnessed (in one hour) three instances of young Ochre Stars being eaten by Seagulls. On the bright side, at least there were stars to eat (Ochres have been making a comeback in Port Angeles recently).

Optimistically yours,
Alex

Some bad news from Langley, eleven Ochre stars and two Mottled showing signs of the Sea Star Wasting.
On the other side of Whidbey at Keystone, ten healthy Sunflower and numerous Mottled, also looking healthy.

Weekend at Keystone, beginning of April ...

Since drones are in the news a lot lately, here is one from Whidbey Island waters.
Looking for marine life at my favorite dive site and found somebody's expensive toy instead. Unfortunately, like most of electronics, once they hit salt water, they become just another piece of trash. I was hoping to get the video of the drone actually crashing and maybe even few seconds of underwater footage. But when I downloaded the files from the camera's disc, the last frame was still from the altitude above the Deception Pass waters and no indication of trouble. If the owner is interested in the wreck, it will be on display in the Whidbey Island Dive Center in Oak Harbor. The date of the flight according to the EXIF data was April 5,2016 at noon.

Happy ending, sort of.
The power of social media. Within few hours since this posting, the owner of the drone contacted me and I was happy to hand him his drone few minutes ago. He drove all the way from Oak Harbor to get it. I am glad he can at least get his video back....

Dang. Nice work Jan!

The currents last two dives at the pass were no following the script.
Little late in turning around, I thought. But eventually the did and
I not only found a drone, but enjoyed the colorful marine life the
pass is famous for.

Looks beautiful!!! Great job!

The weather last week was so beautiful, I just had to dive every day and so I fell behind in processing
the pixels which I collected during these dives. I admit, for me, it is more fun to take pictures than
deal with them back home ...
So here we go, some from Keystone and some from Skyline :

Gorgeous colors Jan, and I just caught up on the "Rise of the Drones". Well, even though he might only be able to salvage a few spares, you made one drone pilot pretty happy with your recovery!

Thanks Calvin, glad you like the pics. As for the drone, the owner will try to resurrect it,
if not, he can get some insurance money for it
And few more from the Skyline dives ...

I hope the reddish stuff starting to grow on the wharf pilings isn't some killer algae.
It wasn't there in the last two years since I started to dive in Penn Cove :(

From the Whidbey Record front page: "Most of Possession Point State Park will be reclassified
as “surplus” and become eligible for transfer to another public entity or even sold to a private
party, under a long-range plan being proposed by Washington State Parks. "
It stirred lot of excitement among us divers and after receiving some e-mails today, I understand,
that it is not the case. At least not yet.
Here are few pictures from my recent dive there... It is not colorful like Deception Pass, but it is interesting, nevertheless.
It would be shame to lose it...

Saturday was a busy day at Deception Pass. Weather beautiful, so was the dive

Beautiful Jan. Glad you made it out there. How was the current?

It was little late turning, but not bad.

I returnd to Deception Pass for two more dives, this time spent almost half of the dive snorkeling
in the shallows trying to get picture of the fast moving sardines. The turbulent water was full of
silt, plus small fishing boats were catching the small silver fishies right in the same waters. The
much smaller smelt kept closer to the cliff.

Neat Jan, I love it.

Four days of Deception Pass on recent tide/current cycle.
Lots of catching up, the photo folder from the dives still waiting to be sorted through

4 days! You dive Deception Pass as often as some people dive, and somehow take pretty pictures to bring back.
I've done 3 this year and was feeling smug about that. So much for vanity, eh?

But unlike you, I don't have to drive through the nightmare called I-5 to get to the site. Considering that the access is closed until March, and it is only the beginning of May, three dives at the Pass is nothing to be ashamed of. I salute you and your dive buddies for that !