Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Mostly Titlow 2-22-09 11:00 am 37 ft 41 minutes

So , I have been having a crappy time in the water lately. I got dry gloves & started closing the valve on my dry suit when I dive. This is good because no longer do I get wet or cold. It does however present a problem with my buoyancy. UP DOWN UP DOWN UP DOWN- you get the idea. Taking pictures while fighting with this hasn’t been fun or pretty, so I haven’t had a lot to share.
Ok, I know this is a crappy picture, but I was excited when I looked up close & saw it wasnt a flipped over sunflower , but a baby Stimpsons sun star!!
This was taken at Redondo , but I didnt like any other pictures so didnt bother to post any from that dive..


So diving at Titlow with Chris Stacey & Linda wasn’t without challenges, but we did it!
I think Linda didn’t want me to miss Jared not diving with me so she made sure to follow me around & try to get the same shots as me. I wasn’t actually trying to get a picture of the elusive “camera fish” but I did get a few shots … Should I send them to Andy lamb for a positive ID??



I almost missed this guy on the way in from the pilings. How cute is he??

A master in Camo...


I have to say, I was pretty excited to see Orange Sea pens at Titlow! Not saying they weren’t there, but I never personally saw one. It almost looks like a White Sea Pen, how sparse the polyps are. I only saw the one , but now I’m keeping my eyes open…




A Stubby Rose anemone

Found these Freckled sea lemons on the underside of a log or piling. They look rather chummy don’t they :)

And last , but not least an Ocher star....



All done for now...

Sunday, February 15, 2009

1-24-09 Edmonds underwater park 12:20 pm 41ft for 61 min

Ok, so I havent Blogged in ages.. But prolly only I read it anyway...love this little sculpin
Big ugly Cabbie!!
One of the 2 Nudis I saw on this diveHe lies in wait...

Sunday, January 18, 2009

1-18-09 Sunnyside 10:36AM 43minutes & 72 feet

Today's dive was shared with Chris & Rob Scott & Steph and of course Marty & I ... We dove in Steilacoom at Sunnyside Beach-
This is what it looked like at 15 feet today..

One thing there was an abundance of today was Hermit Crabs! Little ones, big ones- You name it !



This guy here hid from me on my safety stop. I figured as long as I was hanging out there - I might as well wait for him to come back out of his shell ......& VOILA!!!!

If you look closely this one is digging...Also How about the crazy eyes??!!



A Striped nudibranch...



How about a Tube dwelling anemone???

Or a gigantic Pink Star


That's all she wrote ......................Till tomorrow- 2 dives at Redondo 1 pm & 7pm...=)

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Redondo 1-17-09 7:21PM 80 ft 39min

This dive was a last minute decision , since the club dive at Les Davis SUCKED due to silt out... So we headed up to the old stand by ! Chris Eddy & Rob teamed up So did Pete & Linda and Marty , Chris Stacey & I had a threesome.. Went to the carousel boat again & Chris had to dive an aluminum 80 so we had a shorter dive - which I'm sure he wasn't sad about since he dove wet again!



Pacific Staghorn Sculpin


An Ocher orgy just for Pete!!


Have no idea what this thing is -maybe a Plumose before it finds a permanent home???!!!







I'm not sure on the ID on this one I believe it is a C-O sole...



Friday, January 16, 2009

Redondo 1/15/09- 86 Ft 50 minutes


Wow , this was the longest & the deepest dive I have done in a while!


Chris Eddy & I took off in the lead & decided if we were going to dive before freezing to death; we had better be on our way...Leaving Marty & Linda and Rush & Sonya as following teams..


We headed out to the carousel boat drifting north across the sand flat before working back in..





Giant pink star


The visibility still sucks .The divers that were there before us said there were a couple seals buzzing around- so it was SUPER hard getting decent shots .





I call this one - "Sniff my butt"




These suckers were HUGE!!! Big giant eaters I say..



Perky little anemone..

This was a GINORMOUS stubby squid- we stalked (and molested him I'm sad to admit) but here are a couple shots







Up close & personal


A sand star
Northern Kelp crab- No clue to the type of poacher this is , but he was cute & posed for me ...

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Redondo- 7:02pm 49 minutes

So as my first post , Im gonna go overboard . I was excited to see a lot of firsts- for me. For the first time I saw :

A Sea urchin south of Hornby

A molted Shrimp shell

Baby Plainfin Midshipman's

A scallop at Redondo!!


So here are some pictures



The Molted Shrimp

Blackbelly eelpout with more growths than I have ever seen!
Baby Plainfin Midshipman

Another one

Tubesnout eyeballing me...

Bay Pipefish

I believe this is a Great sculpin due to the mouth extending beyond the eye & the 2 cheek spines...

Coonstripe shrimp

Cute little Grunt sculpin

some itty bitty shrimp that Im not even trying to claim

Close up of what I BELIEVE is a baby GPO since I dont see the eyelashes

Same guy with a pipefish

Little octo in a tennis ball

Cant help taking a few of him....



Red -Trumpet Calcareous tubeworm

Another Coonstripe shrimp with a Spiny pink scallop in the background..

I was quite excited to see this White sea urchin to the right of the Chitons

A spiny Pink Scallop !! At Redondo none the less!