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We have elephant seals in the northwest as well, but in smaller numbers. Last summer a juvenile lay on the beach in front of my house. They haul out at Race Rocks in British Columbia. While on a dive trip there a couple of years ago we saw five species of pinniped in one day: elephants...

The Coast Guard certainly doesn't tolerate alcohol use while operating vessels, I would be dismayed if they had a more tolerant attitude for other drugs. Here in Washington State one ferry, the Elwha, grounded under two different captains. One grounding was attributed to alcohol abuse and the...

Puget Sound nudis My photos don't match the spectacular ones posted, but I haven't seen these pop up here yet. Rostanga pulchra Petlodoris nobilis Just another diorona. -Curt

While traveling through the rivers and coastal waters of Vietnam during my service there, I encountered many sea snakes. I must admit they creeped me out. However, when I encountered the banded sea krait while on a dive trip to Fiji, I tried to act like a grownup. I had read that while they are...

Mr. Sound is absolutely right about Edmonds. Keystone Jetty on Whidbey Island offers greenling, perch, schools of black rockfish, as well as the expected lingcod. Watch for the small things: sculpins, poachers, gobis, blennies, gunnel, tubesnouts, pipefish and flatfish. If you go there with an...

You triggered great memories. I loved the Belize Blue Hole. I remember finning beneath a ledge with stalactites hanging down and watching bull sharks swimming lazily below me. The rest stop presented us with all of the expected reef fish. The surface interval on Lighthouse Reef offered nesting...

I keep a paper log for my own purposes. I have had to produce it several times for US Customs/Immigration and the RCMP. In each instance they were concerned about illegal border crossings. I have been boarded by the USCG and various police and have never had them ask to see my log.

I have been gathering my paperwork for my renewal. My problem is that I have recent injury which requires surgery and rehab, making it impossible to pass a phsyical before my current license expires. Has anyone experienced this? Is it possible to apply for renewal and contingent upon passing...

Bob's recommendations are good. Also Fort Casey State Park at Keystone on Whidbey Island. The jetty, pier, and Driftwood park are all nearby dives worth doing. Stop at the dive shop in Oak Harbor to get local knowledge as far as tides and currents. -Curt

Sure Bob. Like I'm going to post some of my pictures after seeing yours. -Curt O.K. These are so beautiful, even I find it difficult to screw it up.

The "duck" was actually a commom murre, which is an alcid rather than a duck. The alcids differ from ducks in several ways, one of which is that they swim with their wings rather than their feet. This gives them the appearance of flying underwater.

Early in my Navy career I served under Draper Kaufman, the first UDT commander. Initially, they didn't use fins because they believed fins would cause leg cramps on long swims. Our first frogmen swam ashore in enemy held territory with little more than swim trunks, a mask, and a knife. Tough dudes.

I just returned from a dive at Mukilteo where the video was taken. A very large octopus was sitting on a sunken boat with a few tentacles missing. It was not at all shy. It even reached out with a tentacle to examine me. I wonder if it is the same animal. -Curt

I suspect that the pipefish are a lot more common than you realize. Whenever I think, "It's been a long time since I have seen a pipefish.", I see one. Our bay pipefish can be so small, with such perfect cryptic coloration, that they are easily overlooked. When I look intentionally for them...

Michael: I have dived around Westport to check it out. If I lived there I would consider driving to Hood Canal or the Strait of Juan de Fuca to dive. I have done only shore dives there and haven't gone offshore in a boat which might be a better experience. - Curt

I had been diving with borrowed equipment when the State of Washington gave a $250 Vietnam Veteran's bonus in 1972. This was a little less than a month's take-home pay for me at the time. I bought a tank (steel 72), regulator (MR12), SPG, and wet suit with that money. God bless the legislature...

I visited The Dive Locker in Gloucester, Massachusetts. This is a dive museum which consists of Paul Harling's personal collection. Hats, regulators, rebreathers, shipwreck artifacts and gear of all kind is featured. Paul provides the highlight with his sea stories, such as diving the Andrea...

Florida has warm water, great visibility, caves, freshwater springs, many purpose-sunk ships to swim around, coral reefs, and colorful tropical fish. We have cold water, challenging visibility, screaming currents, and a real sense of wildness and adventure. Also abundant coffee, good microbrews...

As a "retired" spearfisherman, I have no dog in this fight. I wonder why with all of this talk about the slot limit you never hear of anyone shooting a fish which is too big? I went on a boat off Possession where all of the others were hunting. They all brought back a fish near the maximum limit.

The local industrial gas supplier told me he filled an acetylene tank stamped with the date 1906 but was still passing hydros.