Northwest Dive Club

Took this photo early this morning ... about 4:30 AM early, in fact. This is the fourth time I've ever witnessed a GPO hatching, and the second time with a camera. The first time was back in my point-n-shoot days and I didn't get anything worth sharing or keeping. And I thought that was going to be the case this time. Everything was falling into place nicely ... the weather was perfect, water was very clear and calm, slight current running north ... just enough to help hold position over the den. But upon dropping down I made two discoveries about my housing that I thought would end in another disappointing dive. First was that the Servo button I use for focusing was ... MISSING! It wasn't broken ... it just wasn't there. I was concerned that the housing would leak, but apparently it's sealed on the inside. (And with a trip to Neah Bay coming up in two days I don't have time to get it fixed). The second discovery was that, for some reason I still haven't discovered, my Display button wasn't working ... so I couldn't see what the pictures looked like after I took them. That meant I had no feedback on whether my settings or lighting was right. I was going to have to do this like the old film photographers and wait till after the dive to see what I got.

Well ... all I can say is this ... "Bob, you one lucky sonofagun" ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Awesome shot!!!

FANTASTIC!

We are all lucky!! Thanks Bob.

Epic shot Bob!!!

Ultra cool! Do you know what the white part is?

Egg yolk

Yolk sac

YellowEye wrote:Ultra cool! Do you know what the white part is?

First of all, Bob is the man! Thanks for the post and motivation to see this amazing event.

Eric, I watched one after another exit the den. Probably about 20+. They are very difficult to capture, so that makes Bob's photo even more impressive. Anyway, I followed one for a while and after 5-10 minutes it finally let go of the little white ball. Looked like something they may feed on while in the egg sack. Here are my captures (took 80 photos, got 4 keepers) :-) I tried to get a couple without the white thingy, but missed by a fraction.

I like this one because it shows how difficult the shot is. The camera focused on the squiggly thing in front of the Octo.








Again, thank you Bob for the discovery.

Very cool Jesse and Bob! I can't believe how beautiful they are!

BOTH my cameras are out of service. AAAARGH!!!
I'm hoping they come back before the other sets of eggs hatch!

YellowEye wrote:Very cool Jesse and Bob! I can't believe how beautiful they are!

BOTH my cameras are out of service. AAAARGH!!!
I'm hoping they come back before the other sets of eggs hatch!

Thanks Eric.

Wow, that's frustrating.

I got hosed during the squid orgy too.
Oh well, I'm not planning on quitting diving soon

YellowEye wrote:I got hosed during the squid orgy too.
Oh well, I'm not planning on quitting diving soon

Oh man. Hang in there

Great photos Bob and Jesse! You're motivating me to switch back to macro.

I found out how lucky I was when I got home from work yesterday. Picked up the housing to see if I could jury-rig something to replace that missing Servo button and the internal bits just fell out! In other words, the only thing that prevented a total housing flood during that dive was water pressure against the o-ring. Once removed from the water there was nothing to prevent it from leaving a gaping hole straight through to the camera. I'm lucky I didn't end up with a housing full of water!

Had to brave rush-hour traffic to get the housing in to Optical Ocean ... I'm leaving for Neah Bay tomorrow, and have a Hawaii trip coming up in early September. Fortunately, I have a "back-up" rig sitting, still in the box, to use while the housing's off getting repaired. Guess I'll have plenty of opportunity in Neah Bay to get used to it ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Grateful Diver wrote:I found out how lucky I was when I got home from work yesterday. Picked up the housing to see if I could jury-rig something to replace that missing Servo button and the internal bits just fell out! In other words, the only thing that prevented a total housing flood during that dive was water pressure against the o-ring. Once removed from the water there was nothing to prevent it from leaving a gaping hole straight through to the camera. I'm lucky I didn't end up with a housing full of water!

Had to brave rush-hour traffic to get the housing in to Optical Ocean ... I'm leaving for Neah Bay tomorrow, and have a Hawaii trip coming up in early September. Fortunately, I have a "back-up" rig sitting, still in the box, to use while the housing's off getting repaired. Guess I'll have plenty of opportunity in Neah Bay to get used to it ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Holy smokes! Thank goodness. The dive and photo gods were looking after you. Please share more photos of your upcoming adventures Bob. Have a great trip.

WOW Bob & Jesse, such amazingly beautiful pictures!!!
I hope to see some baby GPO's in my dive adventures. You guys are so lucky!!!
Have a fun and safe trip Bob!! Glad your camera will be okay.

Here are a few more from our dive yesterday.











Also, I did some research on the white ball. I believe it is a yoke sac for the hatchling to feed off. Have fun out there.