Where did I go with my force fins?

[Soakedlontra]

Dancing with Fishes in Arkansas

I left Kentucky on Tuesday, September 10 at noon. I drove through the hellish interstate 65 (a 'race track' for truck drivers) and reached Nashville,Tennessee, where I spent one evening listening to live music played by my friend musician Tom Mason and his music buddies Sheila Lawrence and Randy Leago. It was a great opportunity to socialize with other human beings after a week of solitary traveling. The following day I stopped in southern Arkansas to visit a family member; a couple of days later I drove to northern Arkansas to spend few days with some friends. One of them is a ranger at Blanchard Springs Caverns. She took me to North Sylamore Creek where we had a swim in its relaxing beautiful clear water and I saw for the first time in my entire life a snake hunting a fish! :shocked2:
As we were getting ready to leave I noticed a plastic water bottle on the ground. I picked it up and saw that several crayfish were trapped inside.




I opened the bottle to free those miserable-looking creatures. There were seven of them; unfortunately only one was still alive.




The following day, I went back to Sylamore Creek with my snorkeling gear. I picked a different swimming hole that was smaller than a 25 meter swimming pool, but very pretty. A photographer was on the bank of the creek. She was throwing pebbles into the water. At first I couldn't understand why. Then, after walking closer to her, I realized that she wanted to make gentle waves so she could photograph their reflections on a boulder. I went for a swim trying to avoid being hit by one of those pebbles and then I decided to snorkel in the opposite corner of the swimming hole away from the photographer.

The small size of the swimming hole made me believe that I could snorkel without wearing fins. So I left my Force Fins in the trunk of the car. As soon as I tried to follow a fish with my camera I regretted not having the fins on my feet. I moved in the water clumsily and my balance was, at times, all over the place. Stubbornly I kept snorkeling in that way refusing to get out of the water, walk to the parking lot and pick up those bloody fins!
I guess it was one of those days...


The swimming hole turned out to be a fascinating fresh water aquarium. I had never seen so many different species of fresh water fishes before. It must have something to do with the low level of the water in the creek, which may have forced the fishes to share such a cramped space. In any case, after being immersed in the densely clouded water of the Green River, Kentucky, snorkeling in Sylamore Creek was an unexpected magical treat:

[video=youtube_share;BZAio38XtkY]http://youtu.be/BZAio38XtkY[/video]






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[Soakedlontra]

Back in the cold water of Puget Sound

I left my friends’ house on September 16, crossed the border with Oklahoma and stopped at Foss Lake State Park campground to spend the night. It was sunny and warm so I was tempted to jump into the water but a thunderstorm was approaching. It was moving pretty fast toward me so I quickly changed my mind. The following day I reached New Mexico, then drove northwest and visited popular national parks which I had never seen before, such as Grand Canyon and Arches. Unfortunately there were no bodies of water that were safe or deep enough to go snorkeling nearby, and I had to put a limit on my budget for gas, so Arkansas was the last state where I was able to pretend to be an aquatic creature.

After spending some time at Arches National Park, I was lucky to find a campsite thanks to the kindness of a couple from British Columbia. The campground was in the middle of a desert that I never heard of in Utah. At the crack of dawn I decided to drive all the way to Washington State. I don’t know what got into me…Was I missing home? Did I want to challenge my driving endurance? I reached the Rock House the following morning at 2:30 feeling rather spacey.

Back in Puget Sound, I began to read about the sea star wasting syndrome. A disease that is killing a large number of sea stars in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Since my return, I've gone diving at Keystone Jetty, Octopus Hole in Hood Canal, and Edmonds. Fortunately the sea stars that I saw looked healthy. (you can submit electronic sea star survey at:
Vancouver Aquarium :: Sea Stars)



Ochre Star (Pisaster ochraceus) at Edmonds Underwater Park.

******



There is not much parking space at Octopus Hole, Hood Canal. We got lucky that the turnout was not full.



A Copper Rockfish (Sebastes caurinus) poses next to the Leather Star (Dermasterias imbricata)
at the last minute. Octopus Hole, Hood Canal.



Rock at Octopus Hole with a "contracted" Giant Plumose Anemone (Metridium giganteum), Swimming Anemone (Stomphia didemon)
and one (or two?) Blackeye Gobi (Coryphopterus nicholsi)

******



A butterfly crab (Cryptolithodes typicus) and a heart crab (Phyllolithodes papillosus) share the same rock at Keystone Jetty.
They have both three pair of walking legs instead of four. They are lithodid crabs rather than "true crabs". ​

 

[Bob Evans]

Betty, you kicked the bucket....63,000 views. We all love your stories and Happy Thanksgiving to all.

 

[Soakedlontra]

Betty, you kicked the bucket....63,000 views. We all love your stories and Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Thank you very much Bob! I have never heard of that idiomatic phrase before...

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family too!

 

[Soakedlontra]

“Watching 'The Odd Couple'”

One of the benefits of diving slowly is that it reduces air consumption. Another benefit may be less obvious. Slow diving opens a window for unexpected underwater possibilities to take place, which otherwise I may not have the chance to experience if I cruise a dive site at the speed of a torpedo. It requires a patient eye and an open mind. Often, when I observe marine life it seems to me that chaos and chance rule the interactions between species with the underlying theme of eat-or-be-eaten. So it seems that the only way to experience something “special” is to be at the right place at the right time; and I never know when and where these two variables may sync together during a dive.

Humor is not something that I usually associate with marine creatures. However, when I stop staring at the far distant open water hoping that an exciting large animal like a seal or sea lion would show up from the deep to play with me and I focus my attention to the bottom or reef close by I discover a world embedded with subtle “watery humor”.

Kelp greenling (Hexagrammos decagrammus) is one of the most colorful fishes in the Pacific Northwest. This species is characterized for sexual dimorphism and a weary personality. It usually rests on the bottom watching carefully what’s going on within its periphery of vision so it can be a hard subject to approach for close-ups portraits. I find the kelp greenly to be “friendlier” during night dives. However, lately, I have slowed my diving speed considerably and have learned something from this fish: staying motionless for a longer period of time pays off.

One day, I spotted a large Lewis’s Moonsnail (Euspira lewisii) and stopped swimming to watch the mollusk burying itself under the sandy bottom (at a rather fast pace for a snail), when a male kelp greenling swam by and rested next to the snail. I had no idea whether the fish ended up in that particular spot by chance or because the snail or my dive light attracted him.




I have always wondered about the power of fish’s eyesight. Judging by his stillness the fish did not give any signs of noticing that the snail was plowing the sand right in front of its mouth. I tried to be as motionless as possible while I was taking pictures in order not to scare the kelp greenling off. I guess I did a good job because by the time I felt I had enough photographs and was getting tired to watch the snail’s laboring, the fish was still in the same position. I moved on leaving those creatures behind me wishing them a long lasting “friendship”.

Not long ago, a female kelp greenling surprised me with her “friendly” behavior. I was taking pictures of her beautiful orange-yellow body when she decided to swim close to my left hand, which was holding the lamp of my canister light. I have never been so close to a kelp greenling before. I almost felt that this sudden intimacy was odd. She looked straight into the light and the bit the glass. Did she “think” that the light was edible or spotted some minuscule crustaceans that I could not see swarming around it? As soon I moved my right arm to deal with the camera she swam off. I swam off too and looked around in search for a new subject and with the corner of my eyes I noticed that she was following me. “Wow, today I have made a new ‘friend!’” I thought. Soon after, I had to leave the fish because my diving time was over. Who knows if I will ever meet her again during my next dive at this location!




Recently, a “special” underwater encounter reminded of the old comedy movie “The Odd Couple”, starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. Once again, I pretended to be a stationary fish. I was practicing two-strobe-wide-angle photography and framed a shot that included a star fish, a semi- sleepy largish lingcod (Ophiodon elongatus) and a more sedated-looking black rockfish, all of them were leisurely resting on a rocky reef. After snapping away for a while, I began to notice that a light-colored “dot” was boldly and resolutely “walking” on the same rock that the lingcod called its resting place. The lingcod must have been at least three feet while the “dot” just merely a couple of inches long.




Such a disproportional size between these two creatures and the fact that they were totally oblivious of each other’s presence was quite comical; not to mention that the ling cod with an abrupt jolt of its powerful body could have easily knocked the “dot” over the rock. The tiny animal did not look like a crab; its way of “walking” was too peculiar. I slowly swam closer to find out what it was while trying to control the noise I was making with my bubbles because the last thing I want to do was to frighten the lingcod.

And there it was! The funniest and weirdest looking fish of the Pacific Northwest: a grunt sculpin!




I leave it up to you to decide who Felix Unger is and who is Oscar Madison…




Closer encounter with a grunt sculpin (Rhamphocottus richardsoni) at a different dive site.
​

 

[Soakedlontra]

Diving in California for the first time ! - ("experimental" post)

In Winter the meandering topography of Puget Sound offers a good number of shore dive sites sheltered from inclement weather. However, its relentless overcast sky can significantly increase a craving for sunlight. Last December my buddy had a whole week off work for Christmas and we decided to escape the gloomy Pacific Northwest by driving to sunny Monterey and diving in California waters for the first time. ​

We did five dives at the easily accessible “breakwater” or Coast Guard Pier in Monterey where we were surrounded by the unfamiliar colors of bat stars, strawberry anemones and other invertebrates. We also had a real close encounter with a curious harbor seal; it was so close that the only thing that I could see through my mask was the spotted skin of its belly; my nose almost touched it. I must say that the temptation to pet the animal was very strong.

​

Luckily, we were able to do a couple of dives at Point Lobos State Reserve near Carmel. We parked at Whaler's Cove and after checking the site we chose to explore the middle reef which required the least amount of surface swimming.The swells did not seem particularly powerful but soon I discovered how deceptive my first impression was. We entered the water at a boat ramp crammed between rocks. As the day progressed, we realized that entering was easier than exiting. The visibility was pretty bad in shallow water but cleared up at 30 ft. Ten feet deeper we still felt the action of the surge.
After exploring the reef and the giant kelp we spent the remaining time away from the churning bottom and in the water column. We hovered with a bunch of blue rockfish (a species that so far we have never seen in the Pacific Northwest) for a while and have a good peaceful time observing their inquisitive behavior.




On the second dive we surface swam further out the middle reef. At the end of the dive we misjudged the distance to the boat ramp, surfaced and realized how far it was still. So we figured that submerging again and swimming under a few feet of water would have been easier than kicking on the surface. It turned out to be a mistake. The combination of zero visibility and what seemed to be stronger wave action made me feel seasick. We re-surfaced, surface-swam and reached the point of entry without any other problems. However, the low tide had exposed the entire boat ramp and the breakers were crashing against our clumsy bodies more forcefully than before, so we felt that it was safer to crawl out rather stand up on our feet and walk on slippery rocks and concrete.


We spent the last day in Monterrey diving the breakwater. While sea lions were lazily taking a nap on rocks, diving birds kept showing up underwater frantically searching for fish. We scrutinized the artificial reef with sharper eyes and finally in narrow cracks we began to see abalone. Then, unexpectedly, my buddy spotted a brave one crawling in the sandy bottom revealing its beautiful shell in its full glory.

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The following morning, we packed our car to its loading limit and instead of following the slow, yet breathtakingly scenic coastal road as we did on the way down, we drove east to reach I5 and then north. On the road, as we watched the weather progressively deteriorating, our spirits remained invigorated by the Californian sun. Our minds were filled with terrific lasting memories of animal encounters and underwater southern dazzling beauty. There was no doubt that we would be back.


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[Drin]

I wish I'd known you guys were here. I moved here from the Puget Sound last September and I'm working in Monterey. I would have been happy to show you guys the sights.

Glad you had such a good time!

-Adrian

 

[Soakedlontra]

I wish I'd known you guys were here. I moved here from the Puget Sound last September and I'm working in Monterey. I would have been happy to show you guys the sights.

Glad you had such a good time!

-Adrian

Hi Adrian,

We decided to drive to Monterey at the last minute (we almost headed north to the Sunshine Coast). We definitely want to come back and when that day comes I will give you a shout some time in advance!

 

[Drin]

Hi Adrian,

We decided to drive to Monterey at the last minute (we almost headed north to the Sunshine Coast). We definitely want to come back and when that day comes I will give you a shout some time in advance!

My parents have a vacation home on the Sechelt Inlet 4 miles from the Chaudiere. Good diving there too.

Feel free to look me up if and when you head back this way!

Safe diving,
Adrian

 

[Soakedlontra]

My parents have a vacation home on the Sechelt Inlet 4 miles from the Chaudiere. Good diving there too.

Feel free to look me up if and when you head back this way!

Safe diving,
Adrian

Sechelt Inlet? What a great place to have a cabin! I still want to dive there one of these days.

Thanks! I will look you up!