Where did you dive today?

[Soakedlontra]

A strange dive indeed. Our plan was to go diving at Skyline on Fidalgo Island but when we got there a diving accident had just taken place and paramedics were giving CPR to an injured diver on rocks along the distant shore and I was pretty upset (still I don't know how is the diver and what happened), then my buddy's inflator hose valve broke so he could not use his BP/W. We decided to change our plan and drove back to Whidbey Island where we stopped at the local dive shop to rent a BCD for my buddy and then we ended up at Keystone.

We started off the dive at the jetty by practicing some skills with the current that gently was pushing us away from the jetty toward the pilings. We were able to remove our masks, do air share and then we tried a controlled ascend by being horizontal and without kicking...well we were all over the place and it did not work out well, still it was a good idea to practice it, though. My buddy kept struggling with the rented BCD and he also had too much weight. After the second controlled ascend attempt we decided to stop practicing and use the rest of the gas to do a fun dive.

We had to swim a bit against the current to reach the rocks of the jetty. We kept bumping into each other, we could not find a way to hover side by side and being in each other field of vision. When we turned back and headed toward the shore I gave myself to the current to get a free ride back to the beach but my buddy for some reasons did not follow me as I assumed he would do (if the current pushed me why did it not pushed him?). At that point we were in less than 20 feet of water and we already did our safety stop. I got more separated from him, but the weird thing was that I did not think it was a big deal...the water was so shallow! Eventually I did stop and we got closer and went to the surface. My buddy was pretty mad at both his rented BCD and me...

Despite the funky dive we saw plenty of greenlings and ling cods. One in particular was guarding his eggs with such a paternal love to put any human fathers to shame. We also noticed that the bull kelp was growing back again. The baby bulbs and blades were cute to look at. Spring has already started underwater.

 

[Teamcasa]

Catalina Island, Avalon Harbor Cleanup with a few of my closest friends.

Over 300 divers showed up, here is the award ceremony.

 

[Pitchblack]

No, we just want to dive.

Heh yeah, while on the surface on our second dive (saturday 21/2) a couple of kayakers went by and my buddy said 'what they are doing is even more stupid than what we are up to, imagine if they fall into the water, atleast i'm in a drysuit'

Well, that day it was 0 degrees in the water...Diving is fun, diving is fun, diving is fun.

 

[Katamuki]

Heh yeah, while on the surface on our second dive (saturday 21/2) a couple of kayakers went by and my buddy said 'what they are doing is even more stupid than what we are up to, imagine if they fall into the water, atleast i'm in a drysuit'

Well, that day it was 0 degrees in the water...Diving is fun, diving is fun, diving is fun.

Keeping telling yourself that! LOL!!! Just for the record, all you northern cold water types have an invitation to come dive with me in the warm waters of Okinawa if you ever make it out here!

 

[Pitchblack]

Keeping telling yourself that! LOL!!! Just for the record, all you northern cold water types have an invitation to come dive with me in the warm waters of Okinawa if you ever make it out here!

Aslong as you pay the flight

 

[Jan Kruger]

It's 2:00 am in the morning and i am happy to be packing my dive gear for our upcoming trip to Mozambique which starts in 2 days time ! Maybe its because i can't sleep-can't wait for this trip to start.Why is it that one looks forward to such a trip so much , and then it flies by like it never happened ? I also updated my dive log and it once again reminded me of some excellent dives on wrecks and reefs....Well i'll leave you all to do what you must do...

 

[El Orans]

It's getting warmer!

[table 0 0 3]#|Location|Duration|Depth|Temp
365|Oostvoornse meer|29 Minutes|11M/36Ft|3C/37F[/table]
So, where did you dive today?

 

[Steve50]

Catalina Island, Avalon Harbor Cleanup with a few of my closest friends.

Over 300 divers showed up, here is the award ceremony.

Anything unusual found out there ?

 

[Blackwood]

Today? Just the internet.

Last night I dove for about 5 minutes in the break zone at Vet's Park here in Redondo before flipping the surf the bird and getting out.

Nothing is better than getting in just enough to necessitate rinsing my gear without the annoyance of actually having dived.

 

[drdaddy]

Hoodsport, Washington - Hood Canal - Yellow House, Octopus Hole, and Sund Rock, North and South Wall!!!

Got there late in the day, Friday February 20th, so went across from the Yellow House (Hood Sport 'N Dive Shop). Gigantic (50 year old?) copper rock fish - my friend was so mesmerized by it that he missed the small octopus hanging upside down above it . But that's OK, because we got aired up again and went right back in (with some others) for our night dive. Two big octopuses took the place of the small one under the boat - no missing these beautiful orange monsters!!!

The next day/Saturday. This was the first time for both of us to find the walls ourselves, rather than with a group. Octopus Hole was first. We climbed over the railing, walked South on the beach and then off the stag and there we were "flying" over the beautiful forests of Giant Plumose Anemone. Thousands of fish swarming around us and the visibility was 30 plus feet. Next was Sund Rock, North wall. I found a hole with a big (just smaller than a volleyball) bunch of eggs, so I was looking for an octopus guarding it when a gigantic 5 foot lingcod started circling me and actually coming up against me. I pushed her back a bit with my fin and it was then that I realized that these were not octopus eggs!!! She got directly in front of her cave, with me just 3 feet from her nose (and teeth) and stared at me! Oh, I heard that the lings were laying and being a bit aggressive. I backed off!!! At all three walls the lings were telling us to back off.

And the big headed wolf eel at Sund Rock North did not invite us to get closer than 10 feet. It was at the South end of Sund Rock North that we came upon hundreds of big/old rockfish at 70 feet deep. There were blacks and coppers over 2 feet long as far as one could see (30 feet clear, but up to 50), and the big ling cods were circling there dens.

I won't go through the list of the different species, but we saw so many. Then we went back to the Yellow House, hung up our gear, and after a while off gassing, we climbed into the hot-tub and warmed up. That was our 5th and last dive. Great steak dinner prepared by Salem Scuba (we were with South Beach Scuba - Oregon) - $10 was a bargain. We went back to our rental house at Mike's Dive Shop and traded our days dive stories. We were done, but some went back out for one more night dive. Good night sleep. My friend and I talked on the way home about our dives and how different they are from our 2 to 6 foot (best is infrequent 15 foot vis) at our South Beach/Newport, Oregon Jetties. We still love our jetty dives, but the Hood Canal's visibility was awesome.

drdaddy