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And PNW Octopus and lots of other strange things I've never seen before
It was going to be my #300 dive, and doing it naked as tradition demands in warm tropical waters hadn't worked out, so I wanted to make it a gooood one...!! I'd long wanted to dive the renown Puget Sound waters around Seattle, and after finding a relatively cheap air fare for Labor Day Weekend, then several generous offers of help from fellow Scuba Board members - I was hoping for something really cool. ScubaK managed to get off work early and bring DoubleDip and Tim to escort me on my first dive of day one, as well as load me some equipment I couldn't fly in - but she kept talking about my check-out dive?? "Check-out dive," I thought was for newbies, and this wasn't my first time diving the colder waters of the Pacific Coast, but I went along with the idea. Good that I did, as this was my first time in water below 60F in over 2 years, and I really wasn't as prepared as my dangerous pride had led me to believe.
ScubaK gave me great directions to Salty's pier parking lot in Redondo I think it was, and after we found each other - we got ourselves geared up, me of course needing help with this and that, i.e. a yoke reg that wouldn't fit a Din valve tank :11: and such. We got it all done, me all dressed and headed across the street. These other divers were much better prepared for local waters, with dry suits, high powered lights, etc, but I did not look totally out of place walking across the hiway with them I don't think. Down the stairs and into the water for my first real shore dive - oops! My body was just not currently accustomed to the chill of 54F water, and ScubaK could obviously see something in my face, as she kept asking if I was okay, apprehensive, what? Hell, I was just ignoring the chill while my chest was tensing up against hard breathing as I learned to walk with heavy gear in the waves, and I tried to get my fins on with old cowboy knees that really, really did not like the water. Finally got 'em on tho, to water deep enough for swim, and we finally got to the part I knew - diving.
It was a bit murky with some debris in the water, so the locals all turned on their Big Dawg Lights for better diver to diver contact as well as to see what was along the bottom, and I pulled out my 4C Tropical Dive light. Or half of it anyway, as I'd failed to secure the end when I loaded the batteries and there I was - in a dark, strange underwater environment with three good divers watching me to see if I was okay - holding half of a dive light. :blush: It was 5 years old, beat up, and I never did like it anyway, but damn, how embarrassing. I just stuck it back in its slot and pulled out the other one like this happens all the time, as they were all choking as they laughed in their regs, I'm sure. :lol2:
From their we poked around the bottom looking at living things I'd never seen before, some found nowhere else in the wold and it was neat, to say the least. I've seen Pacific anemones in aquariums before, but swimming with wild Orange ones was wild. Regular starfish were abundant, but even more common were the 20 point Sunstars - some over two feet across. My friends spotted a few Octopi, a couple of neat sculpins, and lots of other neat little fishes, invertebrates and such. I'm not used to diving with such competent divers so I guess I did get a little sloppy in my buddy work, but damn - taking in all these new sights, it's hard to keep all of the shoulds in proper play. They helped we well with my shortcomings, forgave me graciously for my fumbling, and it was great.
We're off to Hood Canal tomorrow (gawd, but I'm glad they still want to dive with me) in search of Wolf Eels. I do hope that they're friendlier than they look. gotta get a new light, as well as batteries for the one that did work for most of the dive. :blush:
It was going to be my #300 dive, and doing it naked as tradition demands in warm tropical waters hadn't worked out, so I wanted to make it a gooood one...!! I'd long wanted to dive the renown Puget Sound waters around Seattle, and after finding a relatively cheap air fare for Labor Day Weekend, then several generous offers of help from fellow Scuba Board members - I was hoping for something really cool. ScubaK managed to get off work early and bring DoubleDip and Tim to escort me on my first dive of day one, as well as load me some equipment I couldn't fly in - but she kept talking about my check-out dive?? "Check-out dive," I thought was for newbies, and this wasn't my first time diving the colder waters of the Pacific Coast, but I went along with the idea. Good that I did, as this was my first time in water below 60F in over 2 years, and I really wasn't as prepared as my dangerous pride had led me to believe.
ScubaK gave me great directions to Salty's pier parking lot in Redondo I think it was, and after we found each other - we got ourselves geared up, me of course needing help with this and that, i.e. a yoke reg that wouldn't fit a Din valve tank :11: and such. We got it all done, me all dressed and headed across the street. These other divers were much better prepared for local waters, with dry suits, high powered lights, etc, but I did not look totally out of place walking across the hiway with them I don't think. Down the stairs and into the water for my first real shore dive - oops! My body was just not currently accustomed to the chill of 54F water, and ScubaK could obviously see something in my face, as she kept asking if I was okay, apprehensive, what? Hell, I was just ignoring the chill while my chest was tensing up against hard breathing as I learned to walk with heavy gear in the waves, and I tried to get my fins on with old cowboy knees that really, really did not like the water. Finally got 'em on tho, to water deep enough for swim, and we finally got to the part I knew - diving.
It was a bit murky with some debris in the water, so the locals all turned on their Big Dawg Lights for better diver to diver contact as well as to see what was along the bottom, and I pulled out my 4C Tropical Dive light. Or half of it anyway, as I'd failed to secure the end when I loaded the batteries and there I was - in a dark, strange underwater environment with three good divers watching me to see if I was okay - holding half of a dive light. :blush: It was 5 years old, beat up, and I never did like it anyway, but damn, how embarrassing. I just stuck it back in its slot and pulled out the other one like this happens all the time, as they were all choking as they laughed in their regs, I'm sure. :lol2:
From their we poked around the bottom looking at living things I'd never seen before, some found nowhere else in the wold and it was neat, to say the least. I've seen Pacific anemones in aquariums before, but swimming with wild Orange ones was wild. Regular starfish were abundant, but even more common were the 20 point Sunstars - some over two feet across. My friends spotted a few Octopi, a couple of neat sculpins, and lots of other neat little fishes, invertebrates and such. I'm not used to diving with such competent divers so I guess I did get a little sloppy in my buddy work, but damn - taking in all these new sights, it's hard to keep all of the shoulds in proper play. They helped we well with my shortcomings, forgave me graciously for my fumbling, and it was great.
We're off to Hood Canal tomorrow (gawd, but I'm glad they still want to dive with me) in search of Wolf Eels. I do hope that they're friendlier than they look. gotta get a new light, as well as batteries for the one that did work for most of the dive. :blush: