Uncle Pug once bubbled...
This isn't exactly a trip report... rather, it is a visit report...
Joining the illustrious ranks of ScubaBoarders who have visited Uncle Pug for a dive or two in the PNW was Mr. Rollerbearing himself - Detroit Diver.... What a great guy... if you ever get the chance to have him visit... jump at it!
We were able to get in a dive at the local training hole (Mukilteo) for a weighting check and get aquainted dance on the same day DD arrived in Seattle. Nothing eventfull seems to happen at this site and our dive was no exception. Perhaps I am jaded in this respect since we have such easy access to great dive sites.
The next day we were able to take Uncle Pug (the boat) out for two dives... one on a sunken ferry and the other on my favorite reef. We were even able to get in a little anchor riding.
The last day we went to Alki across the bay from Seattle and were treated to 50' viz and Shane's company.
I'll let DD fill you in on the details from his point of view... but I just wanted to say that getting to dive with ScubaBoard visitors is always a highlight and saying good bye to Detroit Diver brought tears to my eyes ;-0
I must say that as spectacular as the diving was, it was secondary to the wonderful people I met on this trip. Uncle Pug, his wife, and Shane are the most kind and gracious people you could ever meet. I feel honored to have been in their company for the few days that I was there. It was truly a pleasure.
Okay-the diving.
First day as U_P mentioned was a shore dive close to a ferry dock. As I had never dove a single 104 before (just doubles), I needed to set my weighting for the other dives. U_P's guess on weight was pretty much on the target, and we did a dive under and around an old pier. Max depth around 70 fsw or so and bottom time about 35 or 40 minutes (I'm not near my notes right now!). Lots of dungeoness crabs crawling all over the place. Large ling cod and rockfish also. vis was pretty good-I'm guessing 40-50 feet or so, water temps in the mid 50's. The thing that struck me was the large quantities of sea anemone. They were growing on just about everything. Absolutely beautiful.
The next day we were on the boat "Uncle Pug". This boat is cool. It is an old oyster trawler that is perfect for diving on. Okay, a ladder would have been nice! But it has character!
We drove about an hour or so to the end of Whidbey (sp?) Island and anchored. U_P was looking for and old wooden ferry boat. Ascending down the line was a little hairy-not much vis due to the plankton other stuff in the water. Once hitting the bottom the vis was much better-about 50 feet or so at 55-60 fsw. We swam from a boulder site to the ferry, which is quite impressive. It's very large-I'm guessing a couple of hundred feet or so-and the white sea anemone are growing like trees along the top edges of the deck. It looked like an anemone forrest. The inside of the ship was very accessible-we did not penetrate anything. Huge diesel generators. Lots of marine life everywhere. I only wish I had a camera.
U_P blew a marker bag and we surfaced and got back onto the boat. We're not heading to Hat Island-about an hour away. Like I said-this boat is cool. It's just not very fast!
Arriving at Hat Island, we set anchor and proceeded to follow the line down. Zero vis the first 20 feet or so. And then everything opens up. That zero vis thing is the reason that there is so much marine life around that area-it's their food.
We swam around more of these sea anemone ( can you tell I was fascinated by them?!!) and saw more rockfish and ling cod. But there were two highlights to this dive. First, UP pointed out a large (around 35 lbs) Pacific Giant Octopus. He/she was making their home in a concrete pipe section. I'd never seen anything like this, so it was really outstanding. Although it was in a ball, I'm guessing each leg at around 5 or 6 feet long, and suckers the size of baseballs.
We left the octopus and headed back to the anchor which was wedged in some boulders. UP was having some trouble removing the anchor, so I pulled on the line while he got the anchor free. That's when the "fun" began. There wasn't much of a current, but there must have been a decent breeze blowing on the surface 'cause the anchor and line took off with us holding on to it! UP tried to get the anchor to lock into the sand, but no go. We were going for a ride! I was trying to keep the anchor from bangin on the reef, and UP was trying to get it to set somewhere. He motioned something to me, and I thought it was to let go. Bad move. UP and the line/anchor took off like a rocket! I was swimming as hard as I could and barely gaining ground on them. At this point, think Indiana Jones... The rope is just inches from my hand.... can't quite make it.... one last push... got it! It wasn't the prettiest of ascents, but I wasn't going to let go of that rope again! I knew that I wasn't in much trouble because UP had the line and he would just bring the boat to me if I had to do a free ascent. All's well that ends well...
That night, UP and the Mrs UP and I had a nice dinner at a downtown Seattle restaurant. The highlight (besides meeting Mrs. UP) was watching UP eat escargot for the first time. I don't think even HE could believe that snails were entering his mouth!
The next day we slept in and met around 11am or so. UP was with Shane and we went to Alki which is in West Seattle. It's kind of like Venice beach in California without the weirdos! The view of the city of Seattle from here is nothing but mesmerizing. The weather was perfect-around 75 deg and sunny and we did another shore dive close to another ferry dock. Vis was spectacular-around 70+ feet from top to bottom. It was like swimming in a botanical garden. We stayed relatively shallow due to the multitudes of fisherman that were farther out. Nice easy dive. lots of smaller marine life. Surfacing brought the city back into view again. You've got to see it if you ever get out here.
We did pizza for lunch, and then I said goodbye to UP and Shane as I had a friends wedding the next day.
If you ever get the chance to meet UP and his family, I highly suggest that you do. They are truly a pleasure to be with.
And the diving's pretty nice too!
Jack
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