Today the weather wasn't so great, so our plans to get out to Tatoosh island went on hold. We dove Mushroom Rock and Chibahdehl Rocks instead. Vis was not good - maybe a murky 10 feet or so, and we were starting to get some big swells in the afternoon. I have been on magical dives to Mushroom Rock - and this was not one of them because of the viz today! Even so, there were beautiful soft corals and a crab I need Greg to ID
Another interesting note is there really seem to be a number of the Brown Jellyfish at a few of these sites this year. They stay shallow, so it doesn't affect your dive, but you do have to watch where you ascend. And they don't have the huge trailing tentacles that our Lion's Manes have, so they're easier to deal with than the Lion's Mane, really.
Morning exercises on the boat:
Entertaining myself on a safety stop, I got some shots of the Brown Jellies, which are actually quite beautiful:
Makah Marina has WiFi, and Porthole Charters has AC plugs under EVERY table in the cabin, which is way cool! So a number of us submitted our surveys sitting in the slip at the marina...
And, we got to watch Mike and Scott do their good deed for the day too! Coming into the marina after the day was done, we came across a disabled fishing boat. Mike and Scott towed them in - here's Scott throwing a line to the little boat. Mike then skillfully towed them to the fuel dock, and maneuvered perfectly out of the way while they slid right in along side the dock. Slicker than snot.
On top of some great diving today, we got to see a Gray Whale up close and personal!! Here's Mike out enjoying the view:
That's it for today...two more days to go! A few of the divers tonight went out to Sekiu Jetty for a night dive and found oodles of Silverspotted Sculpin, as well as Manacled Sculpin and Pacific Sandlance, shooting up out of the sand, as well as diving into the sand.
- Janna
