Local Scuba Dependency Workshop - WSSD

[Underwaterlyle]

Hey Deep where are Pictures of your pearly whites you took?

Yeah, that damn light canon needs to be donated to the deep! I’m sending it in Monday.

Thanks to my C-8 back up that I got any pics at all. The light at 115 feet meant that I had to nearly touch the big thing and shoot macro extreme closeup just to claim the catch. I’m pretty sure you were waiting for the sixgill to chomp me if I accidentally bumped it.

But it was worth it. Nice solid ten footer. If we hadn’t seen it so late in the dive, we could have hung with it longer. We followed it from 105 to 119 feet. Underwaterlyle came up with 200lbs after we finished the proper stop. Pretty darn good for a 100 tank. My 119 read 600.

It was a very good workout. It has to be a good 500+ yard swim just to the buoy. We need to hang a dive flag on that sucker. Nope, this is even better. Something even the ferryboat captains can see.

Yup, seemed like there were a number of cute critters in cove 2 last night.

Came up to freezing rain after the first dive, snow after the second, and then just cold and rain on the third and fourth dives.

I wouldn't miss it. See you there.

DeepDog

 

[DeepDog]

Hey Deep where are Pictures of your pearly whites you took?

Yeah, there's been a couple of questions on that.

Okay, Okay, You want teef you got teef.

And now on to the flounder I caught. I think it’s pretty cute. I handed it to Lyle too. Fun dives tonight.

Someone stuck a sea cuke in the poor already hyper-anxious wolf eel’s den! Boneheads! Now he’ll never come out. So I did a cuke-ectomy for the little guy and went on to catch the flounder.

Then we went to a new site and ran into good ol’ “monoclaw” and some other cool stuff.

DeepDog

 

[Alkiman]

Since Deep Dog has been slacking with his postings, I'll try and fill the rest of youse guys in. Last night, (1-20) Deepdog, Underwater Lyle, Dave and myself went to the junkyard for some therapy. Vis has been so bad lately at the coves, and besides, dances with seals are good dives once or twice or three times, but in the same week?The scenery starts to get repetitive. Besides, the night before we had been in Cove three, I was framing up a black eyed goby, had just gotten everything set up and...CHOMP! The pup ate my picture. ity_part So I was still a little bitter. Anyhow, as has been stated previously, tides were WAY out so we practically walked to the buoy. Deepdog and Underwater Lyle had just gotten their cannons in and were excited to try them out. I never thought I'd say this, but as we descended with three cannons for four divers, it looked like we might have too much light. Hit the line and started swimming and found a baby warbonnet(?) in between some cinder blocks. Pretty cool. Kept swimming and found some of the usual suspects, sailfin sculpin, ratfish, buffalo sculpin, and some others. Reached the block where the octo has been residing and Dave and I were slightly ahead, Deepdog and Underwater Lyle having chased something around for a glamour shot. Dave is slightly above and cruises RIGHT OVER the GPO who is sitting outside the den on the side of the block! I start waving my light to show Dave what he missed and my spasms attracted the other two. Played with the octo for a few :1poke: looked under the block and there was another octo! About this time I look over and notice Dave is playing with a bottle, and seems to be way more interested in that than the two octos so I swam over to check it out and let him know that the number of octos had doubled when I looked and saw a grunt sculpin sitting on eggs inside the bottle! got some shots of that, then as we were coming in we scared a baby gpo up out of the bottom. it was swimming one way then the other, inking like mad trying to escape the glow of three torches, so I stuck my face in front of it and it bonked me on the mask. Deepdog and Underwater Lyle chased it for some action glamour shots and were separated from dave and myself so we turned and started heading in. Stood in the shallows and watched the glow ascend the slope, interspersed by periodic flashes of Deepdog's camera. Turns out they saw a skate on the way in. So, what do you think? Is that a good dive or what?!

 

[puckvirus]

/me curses at DeepDog, okay guys I need to dive more at night and get my fix. We need to hook uP and let me join in on this okay, there is no more excuses. Lets set uP a sechedual or something. I get off work usually at 4pm in Kirkland, well next week I'll be working till 6pm.

heres my cell number, call me and stuff!

253-332-7393
~Don

no honnestly call me, let me join in on these night dives, work is starting to get super mundain and I need something to do at night instead of playing video games, that gets old

 

[pennypue]

Tell DeepDog, if I don't keep getting the dive reports WITH photos I'm going to have to come up there!!!

 

[DeepDog]

And was it a low tide last night? Well, for those of you who know the Junkyard, you know that when you see these things from top to bottom above the waterline like this, then it is definitely a very low tide.

The buffalos were out last night along with the painted greenlings, the grunt and a few other little guys.

The eight legged freaks were everywhere. With three light cannons trained on this big guy, he went home with a tan. I made sure to keep my light away from him. No more octo light donations. And with him pissed off about us interrupting his one-liners with giant octo babe, I wasn’t taking any chances.

Got to see the flying octo but he finally took off like a bullet.

And the skate chase was a pretty fun way to do a stop.

Tonight was another good night. Pretty much all the same characters with the addition of a few others, including Mr. Stubby. The buffalos were bigger tonight.

You know, crabs may not live long, but they sure live right. THIS guy is getting just a bit too much at one time.

Tonight might have been my last wet dive for a while since I put my new wrist seals on. The drysuit test dive is Saturday morning before the Orca bait dive. Can't wait to meet everyone tomorrow.

Hasta manana

DeepDog

 

[pennypue]

Oh those nitrogen cravings!!!! You're making my blue eyes green :blinking:

 

[DeepDog]

Okay, so I’ve been a bit busy but now for a short tale about the ultimate OrcaBait group therapy.

The pre-Orca Bait Dive was even good. But alas, even the junkyard was not without a crowd. All smiles from ScubaAndrea. The post-mating male octo was not so smiley. Non-responsive, he’s lived a good life. Poor old fella wouldn’t even take my dive light. His misses was still intact though, for now. That is until she performs her final act and lays eggs.

Oh yeah, and ah yup, crabs were at it again . . .

The cove 2 parking lot was alive with various dive-mobiles ranging from compact to plush. And then, of course, there was the Ultimate Diving Machine. Some were so excited to park, they just . . .

Then the Dawg, Puckvirus, Underwaterlyle and ScubaAndrea hit it. Surprise, surprise, the eel stayed put. Oh man what is with those crabs! Caught shots of a couple of nudibranchs including this little Shaggy Mouse. Seafrog lost one of these but some honest Abe found it and turned it in to the shop. Thanks!

Altogether a great get together. Thanks to all especially Uncle Pug.

DeepDog

 

[scubandrea]

I am in absolute hysterics right now! Great story! Is that really me on the surface??? As for the other picture, in my defence, I'm always that excited to dive, and there ain't NO WAY I'm getting left behind - particularly due to a lack of available parking! Great octopus shots too. Any tips on convincing an octopus to let you keep your light for UnderwaterLyle? Thanks for a fun day
Scubandrea

Okay, so I’ve been a bit busy but now for a short tale about the ultimate OrcaBait group therapy.

The pre-Orca Bait Dive was even good. But alas, even the junkyard was not without a crowd. All smiles from ScubaAndrea. The post-mating male octo was not so smiley. Non-responsive, he’s lived a good life. Poor old fella wouldn’t even take my dive light. His misses was still intact though, for now. That is until she performs her final act and lays eggs.

Oh yeah, and ah yup, crabs were at it again . . .

The cove 2 parking lot was alive with various dive-mobiles ranging from compact to plush. And then, of course, there was the Ultimate Diving Machine. Some were so excited to park, they just . . .

Then the Dawg, Puckvirus, Underwaterlyle and ScubaAndrea hit it. Surprise, surprise, the eel stayed put. Oh man what is with those crabs! Caught shots of a couple of nudibranchs including this little Shaggy Mouse. Seafrog lost one of these but some honest Abe found it and turned it in to the shop. Thanks!

Altogether a great get together. Thanks to all especially Uncle Pug.

DeepDog

 

[DeepDog]

Greetings once again to all of the very best divers on the planet (IMHO, of course ).

It’s great to be back in the great Northwest after enduring the wind chills of Mexico’s Bay of Banderas. The first couple days didn’t feel too tropical.

Our first two days felt (and looked) a bit like home. Above the water, that is. The high wind, rain and swells really helped me feel like home sweet home. They will never cancel a dive in Mexico. Let's just say most of the town of Puerto Vallarta lost power due to wind gusts on Saturday. I resisted taking photos of those poor seasick souls who used their breakfast to chum for mantas. Maybe that’s why he wouldn’t come near us. I guess you could say that little boat was a rockin’ pretty good. BTW: the photo is taken from the anchor line while the boat is tied up out from Chimo, it WAS the main boat. One of our other three days involved a larger Cat barge with one of these tied behind it but two of the three days were entirely from these little sciffs.

Down below, things took on a different look. 78 degrees F was also a nice improvement. One lead said it was unusually warm even for them. It’s nice to have to get into the water to warm up. The currents were challenging, however, as on one dive an entire OW class from one of the larger boats drifted several hundred meters away and we had to motor over and get them after our second dive. One more very good reason to certify here – IMHO.

We had a bit of play with one of the octos.

They call them spineless urchins, I’m not sure why, looks pretty spiny to me. These ones were definitely NOT spineless. This guy looked like an underwater tarantula.

There was absolutely no shortage of eels.

Nice cave dive too.

And my favorites are still the puffer fish. They’re pretty cool cats until you try to shake hands with them. Then they get all big and excited and stuff. Hanna thought this one was so cool that she filled her mask with water, as is a German custom. Sometimes they even smile real big.

The balloon fish look real good before you meet them but then when you come up and say hello, they get all big and start singing, whatever! This one was a tenor. Too bad we never got to see this one sing. He was too fast for The Dawg.

Then there’s the illusive Northwest Puffer Fish. If they become startled, it’s not a pretty sight.

Well, it’s back to Banderas Bay in March. Too bad I won’t be bringing a dive buddy this time.

DeepDog