Wonderful. You are embarking on life's greatest adventure. I distinctly remember the first time my son said, "Dad, those tanks are too heavy for you. let me carry them." It will come to you faster than you can believe it. Enjoy this time. It passes fast.
-Great grandpa Curt
Search found 1056 matches
- Fri Jul 17, 2020 7:22 pm
- Forum: Everything Else
- Topic: A belated birth announcement
- Replies: 6
- Views: 3334
- Thu Jun 25, 2020 7:18 pm
- Forum: Critter Watchers - PNW Marine Life
- Topic: Whidbey Island Critters
- Replies: 5440
- Views: 1061259
Re: Whidbey Island Critters
Jan: I've come across the odd sand dollar in Puget Sound, but you seem to find them in abundance in Holmes Harbor. I know a spot off Bainbridge Island where they were found in abundance. Have you encountered them anywhere else?
-Curt
-Curt
- Tue Jun 23, 2020 7:59 pm
- Forum: Critter Watchers - PNW Marine Life
- Topic: Whidbey Island Critters
- Replies: 5440
- Views: 1061259
Re: Whidbey Island Critters
Fish, ascidians, anemones, amphipods, medusae - a wonderful diversity of animals. Seeing your picture of the instructor with the "follow me" caption reminds me of a divemaster I followed years ago. She had one brightly colored blue fin, and an equally bright yellow fin. No problem picking ...
- Tue Jun 16, 2020 10:28 am
- Forum: Critter Watchers - PNW Marine Life
- Topic: Whidbey Island Critters
- Replies: 5440
- Views: 1061259
Re: Whidbey Island Critters
Wow Jan, you're rewriting the books again. Porlier Pass, Fearnie Bluff, Agamemnon Channel, and Deception Pass . I've dived each of those places, but don't remember seeing Aldisa . Not surprising, each one provides a bounty of novel sights - shipwrecks, cloud sponges, amazing walls - I would probably...
- Sun Jun 07, 2020 9:44 am
- Forum: General SCUBA Discussion
- Topic: Happy Birthday Scuba Jess!
- Replies: 9
- Views: 3195
Re: Happy Birthday Scuba Jess!
Jess: I hope it was a great day. I have been watching you from afar.
-Curt - Tue May 26, 2020 9:08 am
- Forum: Dive Recaps & Trip Reports
- Topic: 25-may-2020: seattle tennis club wrecks
- Replies: 3
- Views: 2028
Re: 25-may-2020: seattle tennis club wrecks
These wrecks may be just algae covered chunks of wood now, but they bear a history and many stories relate to them. I'm a fan. Thanks for the post.
-Curt
-Curt
- Tue May 12, 2020 7:31 pm
- Forum: Dive Recaps & Trip Reports
- Topic: San Juan
- Replies: 7
- Views: 3419
Re: San Juan
Love it. For many years, the San Juans were my go to dive, but you notice things I overlooked. Good stuff.
-Curt
-Curt
- Tue May 12, 2020 7:23 pm
- Forum: Everything Else
- Topic: Whales and Boats
- Replies: 1
- Views: 1266
Whales and Boats
Even though the law tells boaters to give a wide berth to whales, the whales don't always make it possible. Here are several instances I have seen this week while watching whales from home. DSC_4108 (2).JPG DSC_4110.JPG These kayakers decided to watch the whale when it came close by. DSC_4144.JPG Th...
- Fri May 01, 2020 10:27 am
- Forum: Critter Watchers - PNW Marine Life
- Topic: Whidbey Island Critters
- Replies: 5440
- Views: 1061259
Re: Whidbey Island Critters
Jan: I really admire your ability to find interesting things in what many of us would consider ho-hum dive sites, such as Holmes Harbor or the Driftwood ponds. I've heard that an intelligent man is never bored. -Curt
- Thu Apr 16, 2020 7:43 am
- Forum: Critter Watchers - PNW Marine Life
- Topic: Whidbey Island Critters
- Replies: 5440
- Views: 1061259
Re: Whidbey Island Critters
Jan: I often see bufflehead, mergansers, and other fish-eating diving birds swimming on that pond. Now I know what they are looking for, and I realize why the fish hide under the logs. I wonder how those spines feel on the throat as the birds swallow the fish.
-Curt
-Curt
- Sat Apr 11, 2020 5:54 pm
- Forum: Dive Recaps & Trip Reports
- Topic: Photos to view during lockdown
- Replies: 6
- Views: 3140
Re: Photos to view during lockdown
Thank you.
-Curt
-Curt
- Sat Apr 11, 2020 5:52 pm
- Forum: Everything Else
- Topic: Name that whale
- Replies: 2
- Views: 1483
Re: Name that whale
Jan: Coming into Puget Sound to feed on ghost shrimp was referred to as a "high risk strategy". I don't know the scientific consensus, but with the abnormally high mortality of gray whales last year, none of the Sounders were lost. CRC uses drones to assess the overall health of the gray w...
- Sat Apr 11, 2020 10:45 am
- Forum: Everything Else
- Topic: Name that whale
- Replies: 2
- Views: 1483
Name that whale
My fascination with whales goes back a long time. In 1960, a pod of Orca surrounded the boat I was rowing. I was frightened. They were bigger than our boat and the dorsal fin of the bull rose above the head of this seated teenage rower. This was before we gave them cute names; there was no Shamu or ...
- Thu Apr 02, 2020 7:17 pm
- Forum: Critter Watchers - PNW Marine Life
- Topic: Whidbey Island Critters
- Replies: 5440
- Views: 1061259
Re: Whidbey Island Critters
Congratulations on a new species. In birding circles, it would be referred to as a "lifer", that is a new one to add to your life list.
-Curt
-Curt
- Wed Apr 01, 2020 3:51 pm
- Forum: Critter Watchers - PNW Marine Life
- Topic: Whidbey Island Critters
- Replies: 5440
- Views: 1061259
Re: Whidbey Island Critters
Wow. A monograph describing Salish Sea life dating back to 1845-55.The timing is amazing when you consider the Denny's started building a log cabin at the site that became Seattle in 1851 and Isaac Ebey arrived at Whidbey Island in 1850. Published studies of marine life existed prior to any signific...
- Mon Mar 30, 2020 3:35 pm
- Forum: Critter Watchers - PNW Marine Life
- Topic: Whidbey Island Critters
- Replies: 5440
- Views: 1061259
Re: Whidbey Island Critters
I thought i knew something about clamworms. It seems that what I knew is now wrong. Thanks, Jan
- Sat Mar 28, 2020 11:38 am
- Forum: Critter Watchers - PNW Marine Life
- Topic: Whidbey Island Critters
- Replies: 5440
- Views: 1061259
Re: Whidbey Island Critters
Jan: You saw no wasting, but were any pycnopodia present?
-Curt
-Curt
- Wed Mar 25, 2020 2:01 pm
- Forum: Everything Else
- Topic: The Bottle Thread
- Replies: 275
- Views: 183046
Re: The Bottle Thread
60south: I only give advice if asked, but I support your intention of disposing of the ammo. While I was not EOD, I spent much of my navy career in mine warfare. What most people think of as a mine, the moored contact mine dates back well over a 100 years. Salt water is supposed to make the explosiv...
- Tue Mar 24, 2020 4:32 pm
- Forum: Everything Else
- Topic: whales and isolation
- Replies: 8
- Views: 3633
Re: whales and isolation
The birds are a mix of diving ducks: surf scoters, mergansers, bufflehead, and goldeneyes. They often signal the location of the whales. My guess is that as the whales feed by scooping up the bottom they also stir up organisms the ducks feed upon. That's my story and I'm sticking to it, until somebo...
- Sun Mar 22, 2020 5:56 pm
- Forum: Everything Else
- Topic: The Bottle Thread
- Replies: 275
- Views: 183046
Re: The Bottle Thread
Thank you 60south, Roxndox, and JimboAk for the history lessons.
-Curt
-Curt
- Sat Mar 21, 2020 8:02 pm
- Forum: Everything Else
- Topic: whales and isolation
- Replies: 8
- Views: 3633
whales and isolation
We are taking the virus threat seriously. Older people with "underlying conditions" are particularly at risk. That's us. We are both 76. My wife is undergoing cancer treatment and I am under care for a heart condition. Fortunately, we live on the Sound and it provides stimulation. In the t...
- Thu Feb 27, 2020 9:45 am
- Forum: Dive Recaps & Trip Reports
- Topic: Galapagos on the Deep Blue
- Replies: 13
- Views: 4793
Re: Galapagos on the Deep Blue
Each one of these pictures deserves a poster. I still hope to see a whale shark one day. Congratulations. Being a whale geek, I am guessing those are bottlenose dolphins. Do you know?
Thanks, Curt
Thanks, Curt
- Mon Feb 17, 2020 7:13 pm
- Forum: General SCUBA Discussion
- Topic: "Advanced" and "perfected" diving
- Replies: 1
- Views: 1766
"Advanced" and "perfected" diving
I just ran across this excerpt from an 1870 edition of Scientific American. "No operation in submarine engineering is more important or attended with greater personal risk than diving. The art has, however, been so far advanced, and the apparatus for diving has been so far perfected, that diver...
- Sat Feb 15, 2020 10:37 am
- Forum: General SCUBA Discussion
- Topic: Down the memory line
- Replies: 377
- Views: 218991
Re: Down the memory line
Wow. What did I do with my life?
- Tue Feb 11, 2020 5:22 pm
- Forum: Everything Else
- Topic: Snorkeling in Panama, and more
- Replies: 9
- Views: 4008
Snorkeling in Panama, and more
I used to celebrate my birthdays with a dive. As a former diver, I celebrated my 76th by snorkeling in Panama. This first shot is an attempt at over/under with my little camera. You can see the jungle in the background. DSCF1127.JPG The reef offered many of my old tropical friends: Moorish idols, se...