- Messages
- 95,091
- Reaction score
- 94,777
- Location
- On the Fun Side of Trump's Wall
- # of dives
- 2500 - 4999
Had a really good week
nine dives in six days at seven different dive sites.
July 1 was opening day for Dungeness crab so Cheng and I met Bob Lew at Kayak Point for a crab dive. The park opens at 7 AM, so we figured to meet at the gate at 6:30 for an early start. Cheng and I arrived at 6:15 only to find a line about ¼ mile long already there. We got in line, and Bob showed up a few minutes (and several cars) behind us.
We managed to get into the park, geared up, and into the water by 8 AM. By then there were a couple hundred boats and well over a thousand crab pots already in the water. The place was a zoo. Normally we manage to find our limit in the eel grass, relatively shallow but the Tulalips have been hitting this site hard for the past month, and there were no crabs of any size or gender at all in the eel grass. It was depressing. We slowly made our way down to about 70 fsw, and managed to catch a couple each of legal size and gender. Bob signaled to go deeper, but I was wearing my AL80 and didnt want to take it below 70 fsw. So we slowly made our way back shallow and contented ourselves with two each.
Sunday found Cheng and I headed up to Anacortes for a 3-tanker with Deep Sea Charters. We had originally planned to do some pinnacle dives but the fog had settled in and Capt. Dave decided to keep us away from shipping channels and so we picked alternate sites for the day. The first, Cone Island, is always a nice dive and it proved to be once again. The second and third sites I had not done before and dont recall the names of them. Anyway, the second site proved something of a bust for us we dropped in at a place where the current hit the island and split, and two teams (including us) got swept along at about a half-knot in the wrong direction. We spent the next hour looking at a silt bottom with not much at all for life. Found a couple of dead crabs and I swear they died of boredom. Meanwhile, those who got swept in the other direction had a great dive some even reported finding candy-stripe shrimp, which is one of the things I dive the SJI looking for. Oh well theres always next time. The third dive was on a wall it reminded me a lot of Pulali Point in Hood Canal. The structure was awesome and if I had thought to bring a goodie bag, I couldve bagged my limit of Dungeness crabs in about three minutes ... this place had some of the biggest crabs Ive ever seen. But there just wasnt much to interest a photographer. That said diving with DSC is always a great time, and I cant wait to do it again.
Monday was a deco day.
Tuesday we were out early once again this time headed for Keystone Jetty. It was one of those rare days when the tides were good for diving the Jetty continuously from about 7:30 in the morning till about 3:30 in the afternoon and we used all of it. Bob Lew joined us early, and Jimmie showed up in time for dives 2 and 3. The first and third dives were pretty much standard jetty profiles both dives we made it all the way around the jetty and back. On the second dive we did the pilings of the old government pier (incredibly beautiful and covered with life), did a drift at between 25-30 fsw back to the jetty, and spent some time exploring the Jetty as well. Oddly, we were the only divers at the dive site all day long given that it was a holiday, beautiful weather and perfect tides, I found that very surprising. We came home the scenic route over Deception Pass and there was very little traffic on the roads.
Wednesday, Jimmie and I did a dive on Day Island Wall once again we were the only people at the dive site on a perfect tides day. In fact, we nailed it drifting southward along the wall for 38 minutes, then drifting north as the current turned and brought us back to our entry. It was one of the most effortless dives Ive ever done on DIW.
And I capped the week yesterday with a dive at The Office. Nothing special just an evening helping a friend figure out his new drysuit.
Heres a photo show of the San Juan, Keystone, and DIW dives
http://photoshow.comcast.net/watch/XB6Zu9yP
Bob (Grateful Diver)
July 1 was opening day for Dungeness crab so Cheng and I met Bob Lew at Kayak Point for a crab dive. The park opens at 7 AM, so we figured to meet at the gate at 6:30 for an early start. Cheng and I arrived at 6:15 only to find a line about ¼ mile long already there. We got in line, and Bob showed up a few minutes (and several cars) behind us.
We managed to get into the park, geared up, and into the water by 8 AM. By then there were a couple hundred boats and well over a thousand crab pots already in the water. The place was a zoo. Normally we manage to find our limit in the eel grass, relatively shallow but the Tulalips have been hitting this site hard for the past month, and there were no crabs of any size or gender at all in the eel grass. It was depressing. We slowly made our way down to about 70 fsw, and managed to catch a couple each of legal size and gender. Bob signaled to go deeper, but I was wearing my AL80 and didnt want to take it below 70 fsw. So we slowly made our way back shallow and contented ourselves with two each.
Sunday found Cheng and I headed up to Anacortes for a 3-tanker with Deep Sea Charters. We had originally planned to do some pinnacle dives but the fog had settled in and Capt. Dave decided to keep us away from shipping channels and so we picked alternate sites for the day. The first, Cone Island, is always a nice dive and it proved to be once again. The second and third sites I had not done before and dont recall the names of them. Anyway, the second site proved something of a bust for us we dropped in at a place where the current hit the island and split, and two teams (including us) got swept along at about a half-knot in the wrong direction. We spent the next hour looking at a silt bottom with not much at all for life. Found a couple of dead crabs and I swear they died of boredom. Meanwhile, those who got swept in the other direction had a great dive some even reported finding candy-stripe shrimp, which is one of the things I dive the SJI looking for. Oh well theres always next time. The third dive was on a wall it reminded me a lot of Pulali Point in Hood Canal. The structure was awesome and if I had thought to bring a goodie bag, I couldve bagged my limit of Dungeness crabs in about three minutes ... this place had some of the biggest crabs Ive ever seen. But there just wasnt much to interest a photographer. That said diving with DSC is always a great time, and I cant wait to do it again.
Monday was a deco day.
Tuesday we were out early once again this time headed for Keystone Jetty. It was one of those rare days when the tides were good for diving the Jetty continuously from about 7:30 in the morning till about 3:30 in the afternoon and we used all of it. Bob Lew joined us early, and Jimmie showed up in time for dives 2 and 3. The first and third dives were pretty much standard jetty profiles both dives we made it all the way around the jetty and back. On the second dive we did the pilings of the old government pier (incredibly beautiful and covered with life), did a drift at between 25-30 fsw back to the jetty, and spent some time exploring the Jetty as well. Oddly, we were the only divers at the dive site all day long given that it was a holiday, beautiful weather and perfect tides, I found that very surprising. We came home the scenic route over Deception Pass and there was very little traffic on the roads.
Wednesday, Jimmie and I did a dive on Day Island Wall once again we were the only people at the dive site on a perfect tides day. In fact, we nailed it drifting southward along the wall for 38 minutes, then drifting north as the current turned and brought us back to our entry. It was one of the most effortless dives Ive ever done on DIW.
And I capped the week yesterday with a dive at The Office. Nothing special just an evening helping a friend figure out his new drysuit.
Heres a photo show of the San Juan, Keystone, and DIW dives
http://photoshow.comcast.net/watch/XB6Zu9yP
Bob (Grateful Diver)
