Where did I go with my force fins?

[sambolino44]

We're lucky in that Keystone is the most convenient place for us to dive, and it's one of the best dive spots around. I hope my video-taking skills will improve with more practice. I have to say, I don't know how those guys who use split fins can take pictures at all. I really rely on the maneuverability I get from my Force Fins.

 

[Soakedlontra]

After editing this video I keep wondering how many Lingcod can you fit at Keystone Underwater Park?

[video=vimeo;29647824]http://www.vimeo.com/29647824[/video]​

 

[Soakedlontra]

After editing this video I keep wondering how many Lingcod can you fit at Keystone Underwater Park?


[video=vimeo;29793100]http://www.vimeo.com/29793100[/video]

Sorry I decided to edit a minor mistake (it's all my proofreader's fault!) so I had to upload the video again and now it has a new link. A moderator may consider to get rid of the previous post. Thanks!​

 

[sambolino44]

We went to Skyline Wall in Anacortes. Lots of stuff in the water.

[video=vimeo;30058015]http://vimeo.com/30058015[/video]

 

[Soakedlontra]

The visibility was almost hopeless and pretty discouraging. Usually it gets better below 20/30 ft but not this time! At 68 ft it was still awful. We gave up the idea to swim further down the wall. As soon as we glued our eyes to the rocky surface a world of critters small and medium-small began to appear including the beautifully colored sculpin Red Irish Lord:

​

 

[Soakedlontra]

Great News!

[vimeo]26103776[/vimeo]

I have received great news today and I want to celebrate with a second picture (the first one if on Force Fin FB page) that, once again, reminds me of the great time I had at Isola del Giglio last June:




and the great news is that the Livorno-Pisa edition of the magazine Grapevine, printed in English and published in Italy, has published my article about diving at Isola del Giglio and one of my pictures has ended up in the front cover!​

 

[sambolino44]

Possession Beach Waterfront Park

Today we went deep - 100 ft - to see the orange sea pens and what have you. Actually, the sea pens start at 30 ft, we just wanted to see what was down there.

And on the surface interval I discovered another reason why Force Fins rule - you can't use regular fins to shade your head from the sun!

 

[Soakedlontra]

Today we went deep - 100 ft - to see the orange sea pens and what have you. Actually, the sea pens start at 30 ft, we just wanted to see what was down there.

And on the surface interval I discovered another reason why Force Fins rule - you can't use regular fins to shade your head from the sun!
View attachment 105297

I swear we did not set it up! He must have picked up the fin and put it on his head while he was waiting for me to tight up the laces of my boots. When I saw him with his new sun hat I could not resist...

During the first dive a 91ft deep red octopus quickly retreated inside his den made of a clam shell as soon as I was ready to press the release button, I did it anyway but the camera and I were not fast enough. I did not have enough NDL time to wait for the animal to poke its head out of the shell again so we moved on. However later on I took OK pictures of a nudibranch that I had never seen before. (I am still debating whether it was a juvenile of a species that I already know or a new animal altogether).


During the second dive the inside of the housing was coated with condensation so I could not take any pictures of the cute sailfin sculping which was hiding inside an orange sea pen pretending to be a clown fish, a beefy pink tritonia (not joking it looked like a big and thick chunk of ham) and the snakelock anemone, which I never seen before in this site.​

Pacific Northwest Critter Quiz:

Are these two nudibranchs the same species (the one on eelgrass younger than the one on sand)?

Are they two different animals?

Are they both juveniles of a different species?

*********​

PS This time attaching images got a bit confusing. How can I keep just one thumbnail and get rid of the other one?​

 

[Soakedlontra]

Yesterday we went back diving at Possession Beach Waterfront Park hoping to find the orange sea pen that the baby sailfin sculpin have called home. We knew the depth where that particular sea pen was (that area is completely covered with sea pens so it was a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack) and remembered the rough location of few man made objects and a couple of natural sand 'trenches' that we had seen during the first two dives the day before, which were not far from the sculpin's home. Even if we would have located the right sea pen I was very skeptical that we would have found the juvenile sailfin sculpin still hiding there. Luck comes and goes in a funny and inexplicable way. Whenever we have tried to find a specific animal underwater for a second time in a row in the past it has never worked out. This time we hit our target right away and the fish was still there!

IN BOCCA AL LUPO little cutie!

At last the visibility in shallow water was good enough to take a wider angle picture of my buddy with natural light:

(PS: I guess once you start to mess with thumbnails you cannot get rid of them anymore)​

 

[sambolino44]

The tire reef at the marina in Langley is our "old reliable" dive, where we can go when the conditions (current, wind) are not good at other local shore dives. This night the visibility was better than usual.


[VIMEO]30359948[/VIMEO]