Where did I go with my force fins?

[Blair Mott]

Soakedlontra,
Thanks for sharing another great adventure. Those Sunflower stars can be really fast and they are amazing to watch maneuver through the terrain at up to 40" a minute. Great photos highlighting some of the unique and interesting inhabitants. Undersea butterflies I love it. I have been on "wet" drysuit dives and I applaud you getting to a laundromat to dry your undergarments for the next dive! Once again we have enjoyed traveling with you and exploring the water to our North.

 

[uncleavi]

I grabbed my mask, computer, and pros and Force Fin Tester # 1 is going to attempt diving in the Cenotes by Cancun tomorrow with his not 100% right knee.
Wish me luck

 

[Soakedlontra]

Soakedlontra,
Thanks for sharing another great adventure. Those Sunflower stars can be really fast and they are amazing to watch maneuver through the terrain at up to 40" a minute. Great photos highlighting some of the unique and interesting inhabitants. Undersea butterflies I love it. I have been on "wet" drysuit dives and I applaud you getting to a laundromat to dry your undergarments for the next dive! Once again we have enjoyed traveling with you and exploring the water to our North.

Thanks Blair! Apparently on Saturday a columnist from a scuba magazine went diving with a diver, whom I know, in the morning, by the time I showed up at the dive site they were all gone. The journalist is writing an article about diving in Port Townsend. I wonder who she is and which magazine she writes for...

What a small world!

 

[Soakedlontra]

I grabbed my mask, computer, and pros and Force Fin Tester # 1 is going to attempt diving in the Cenotes by Cancun tomorrow with his not 100% right knee.
Wish me luck

Cenotes? Warm and clear water? That's what I need right now!

Have fun and be kind to your knee!

 

[Soakedlontra]

[vimeo]16520823[/vimeo]


According to the tables for Admiralty Head the speed of the current at 6:30pm on Tuesday November 2nd was of 4kt. I don't know exactly how it was at our point of entry several miles south east from Admiralty Head on Admiralty Beach. What matters is that that evening we did our longest drift ever. While we were gearing up a couple of harbor porpoises emerged briefly in the distant deceptive calm water before disappearing from view.

At the beginning of this drift dive I had the camera but when I plunged into that current in the darkness at 50 ft (15 mt.) underwater I felt I did not want to mess with it. After zooming by a red octopus, several flounders, a sailfin sculpin, sea urchins and sea stars, a bunch of rock fish began to appear out of that restless watery unknown stunned by our lights.

Then without any notice a large white shape emerged: it was a small wreck that local divers had told us about. At the bow of the fiberglass boat we noticed that the water wasn't ripping so we planted ourselves to the bottom to have a better look at the wreck. My buddy with one hand holding onto the gunwale took a video clip of the vessel whose hull was populated by sculpins and rock fish and reminded me of a fish bowl.
​

 

[Blair Mott]

Uncleavi,
Looking forward to hearing about your successful dive with one knee. Hope the warm clear water does you wonders on your recovery.

Soakedlontra,
Drifting in a Fish Bowl was a great adveture. Love the Sound and the text.

 

[Soakedlontra]

Billy is one of my new buddies. He moved from Georgia to WA State six months ago. A while back he completed his Open Water course somewhere in Asia and recently took a refresher course with my instructor Bob Bailey .

This video shows one of Billy's first dives on Whidbey Island and more precisely in the Tire Reef of Langley Marina. We were welcomed by a pretty good visibility and a lot of fish!

Thanks Billy for the wonderful dives!



[vimeo]16854791[/vimeo]​

 

[Soakedlontra]

[vimeo]16949014[/vimeo]​

 

[Soakedlontra]

[vimeo]17156019[/vimeo]




This video is a celebration of a school of Rockfish that has taken residence at Port Townsend barge. Of all the dive sites of Puget Sound that I have dived so far few have a good number of this fish like here.

The Rock Fish is a remarkable animal that can live live to up to 100 years or older. Unfortunately it has a slow reproductive cycle. Some species don't breed until they are 7-20 years old. It's hard to catch and release it because its swim bladder is unable to cope with the changing of pressure if hauled from deep depths and once on the surface the fish dies.

The species featured in the video is the Black Rockfish. It is considered to be still abundant while three others have been listed in the Endangered Species List: Boccaccio, Yelloweye and Canary.

The title of this work is a tribute to the King Crimson, a British band that I used to listen to when I was younger. The music that I picked for the video has got nothing to do with King Crimson, though.

On November 11 the S/SE wind was blowing. Luckily the waves were still manageable and we were able to enter the water without any problems. However at the end of the dive the wind had strengthen and the waves were a bit higher. I decided to haul out on my knees like a seal as I did at Rosario Beach once, while Sam walked out standing up. I guess if I had been taller I would have felt more comfortable standing. I was happy to have small fins on my feet, though!


Happy Thanksgiving!​

 

[Soakedlontra]

[vimeo]18086583[/vimeo]​

Tanti Auguri di Buon Natale e Felice Anno Nuovo!

Happy Christmas and Awesome New Year!​

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