Ben & Jake's Excellent (Puget Sound) Adventure - 03/30/06

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Neither of us are Nitrox certified, but we came away from this trip committed to that as our next course of action. Due to Friday's 2 dives at 75ft we were limited as to what we could do Saturday. We were up until 1:00am Friday night/Saturday morning talking about the day's dives and working in Vplanner trying to work out the best plan for Saturday. We settled on two more dives at Alki to 45ft (planned for SouthEast of the white buoy this time) and then a dive at Edmunds UW Park.

We ended up missing Edmunds due to time, but had two more great dives at Alki.

-Ben

 

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This forest of plumose anemonies was so beautiful. From a distance it looked like clouds in the sky. I thought at first that it was a silt trail kicked up by a diver, but as we got closer we saw a forest of anemonies on the jack-straw pilings. Awesome!

 

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Next we check our compass and headed to where we hoped to find the honey-bear wreck. Along the way I actually managed to hover motionlessly long enought to get a macro shot that is ALMOST in focus. Oh well, only my third dive with a camera. I can't wait to get more practice.

 

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Luck was with us. We swam right to it! Didn't know what to expect - it was a pleasant surprise. This is SO fun!

 

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The crew came out to greet us.

 

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The tight-rope walking performance was entertaining.

 

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Jake gave her a thourough inspection. Fortunately his assessment is "not sea worthy" and we expect her to stay put.

 

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Sadly it was time to head back to the surface all too soon.
(oops - gotta clean up those dangles a bit more)

 

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Time to say goodbye for now. I wish we could have stayed longer and dove the rest of the site. Next time we'll be back ready to dive the deep end of the site in search of the big-name attractions.

I hope we get to come back real soon!

-Ben

 

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So we loaded up the gear, returned all the rental cylinders and headed back over the mountains. The return trip was a cascade of excited "Remember when we..." stories punctuated by solemn silent pauses while we thought about what we were leaving behind.

This was the first trip I've taken that was just my brother and I. But we are committed that there will be many more. Thank you for welcoming us to Seattle and sharing your playground for a few days. It was SO MUCH FUN.

<-- Big grin stuck on my face will stay for weeks.