Search found 1055 matches

by oldsalt
Thu Jun 25, 2020 7:18 pm
Forum: Critter Watchers - PNW Marine Life
Topic: Whidbey Island Critters
Replies: 5393
Views: 925115

Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Jan: I've come across the odd sand dollar in Puget Sound, but you seem to find them in abundance in Holmes Harbor. I know a spot off Bainbridge Island where they were found in abundance. Have you encountered them anywhere else?
-Curt :questionmarks:
by oldsalt
Tue Jun 23, 2020 7:59 pm
Forum: Critter Watchers - PNW Marine Life
Topic: Whidbey Island Critters
Replies: 5393
Views: 925115

Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Fish, ascidians, anemones, amphipods, medusae - a wonderful diversity of animals. Seeing your picture of the instructor with the "follow me" caption reminds me of a divemaster I followed years ago. She had one brightly colored blue fin, and an equally bright yellow fin. No problem picking ...
by oldsalt
Tue Jun 16, 2020 10:28 am
Forum: Critter Watchers - PNW Marine Life
Topic: Whidbey Island Critters
Replies: 5393
Views: 925115

Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Wow Jan, you're rewriting the books again. Porlier Pass, Fearnie Bluff, Agamemnon Channel, and Deception Pass . I've dived each of those places, but don't remember seeing Aldisa . Not surprising, each one provides a bounty of novel sights - shipwrecks, cloud sponges, amazing walls - I would probably...
by oldsalt
Sun Jun 07, 2020 9:44 am
Forum: General SCUBA Discussion
Topic: Happy Birthday Scuba Jess!
Replies: 9
Views: 3083

Re: Happy Birthday Scuba Jess!

Jess: I hope it was a great day. I have been watching you from afar.
spyhopping
spyhopping
-Curt :rawlings:
by oldsalt
Tue May 26, 2020 9:08 am
Forum: Dive Recaps & Trip Reports
Topic: 25-may-2020: seattle tennis club wrecks
Replies: 3
Views: 1966

Re: 25-may-2020: seattle tennis club wrecks

These wrecks may be just algae covered chunks of wood now, but they bear a history and many stories relate to them. I'm a fan. Thanks for the post.
-Curt :rawlings:
by oldsalt
Tue May 12, 2020 7:31 pm
Forum: Dive Recaps & Trip Reports
Topic: San Juan
Replies: 7
Views: 3279

Re: San Juan

Love it. For many years, the San Juans were my go to dive, but you notice things I overlooked. Good stuff.
-Curt
by oldsalt
Tue May 12, 2020 7:23 pm
Forum: Everything Else
Topic: Whales and Boats
Replies: 1
Views: 1182

Whales and Boats

Even though the law tells boaters to give a wide berth to whales, the whales don't always make it possible. Here are several instances I have seen this week while watching whales from home. DSC_4108 (2).JPG DSC_4110.JPG These kayakers decided to watch the whale when it came close by. DSC_4144.JPG Th...
by oldsalt
Fri May 01, 2020 10:27 am
Forum: Critter Watchers - PNW Marine Life
Topic: Whidbey Island Critters
Replies: 5393
Views: 925115

Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Jan: I really admire your ability to find interesting things in what many of us would consider ho-hum dive sites, such as Holmes Harbor or the Driftwood ponds. I've heard that an intelligent man is never bored. -Curt
by oldsalt
Thu Apr 16, 2020 7:43 am
Forum: Critter Watchers - PNW Marine Life
Topic: Whidbey Island Critters
Replies: 5393
Views: 925115

Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Jan: I often see bufflehead, mergansers, and other fish-eating diving birds swimming on that pond. Now I know what they are looking for, and I realize why the fish hide under the logs. I wonder how those spines feel on the throat as the birds swallow the fish.
-Curt :rawlings:
by oldsalt
Sat Apr 11, 2020 5:54 pm
Forum: Dive Recaps & Trip Reports
Topic: Photos to view during lockdown
Replies: 6
Views: 3003

Re: Photos to view during lockdown

Thank you.
-Curt :rawlings:
by oldsalt
Sat Apr 11, 2020 5:52 pm
Forum: Everything Else
Topic: Name that whale
Replies: 2
Views: 1420

Re: Name that whale

Jan: Coming into Puget Sound to feed on ghost shrimp was referred to as a "high risk strategy". I don't know the scientific consensus, but with the abnormally high mortality of gray whales last year, none of the Sounders were lost. CRC uses drones to assess the overall health of the gray w...
by oldsalt
Sat Apr 11, 2020 10:45 am
Forum: Everything Else
Topic: Name that whale
Replies: 2
Views: 1420

Name that whale

My fascination with whales goes back a long time. In 1960, a pod of Orca surrounded the boat I was rowing. I was frightened. They were bigger than our boat and the dorsal fin of the bull rose above the head of this seated teenage rower. This was before we gave them cute names; there was no Shamu or ...
by oldsalt
Thu Apr 02, 2020 7:17 pm
Forum: Critter Watchers - PNW Marine Life
Topic: Whidbey Island Critters
Replies: 5393
Views: 925115

Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Congratulations on a new species. In birding circles, it would be referred to as a "lifer", that is a new one to add to your life list.
-Curt :salute:
by oldsalt
Wed Apr 01, 2020 3:51 pm
Forum: Critter Watchers - PNW Marine Life
Topic: Whidbey Island Critters
Replies: 5393
Views: 925115

Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Wow. A monograph describing Salish Sea life dating back to 1845-55.The timing is amazing when you consider the Denny's started building a log cabin at the site that became Seattle in 1851 and Isaac Ebey arrived at Whidbey Island in 1850. Published studies of marine life existed prior to any signific...
by oldsalt
Mon Mar 30, 2020 3:35 pm
Forum: Critter Watchers - PNW Marine Life
Topic: Whidbey Island Critters
Replies: 5393
Views: 925115

Re: Whidbey Island Critters

I thought i knew something about clamworms. It seems that what I knew is now wrong. Thanks, Jan :rawlings:
by oldsalt
Sat Mar 28, 2020 11:38 am
Forum: Critter Watchers - PNW Marine Life
Topic: Whidbey Island Critters
Replies: 5393
Views: 925115

Re: Whidbey Island Critters

Jan: You saw no wasting, but were any pycnopodia present?
-Curt
by oldsalt
Wed Mar 25, 2020 2:01 pm
Forum: Everything Else
Topic: The Bottle Thread
Replies: 275
Views: 165814

Re: The Bottle Thread

60south: I only give advice if asked, but I support your intention of disposing of the ammo. While I was not EOD, I spent much of my navy career in mine warfare. What most people think of as a mine, the moored contact mine dates back well over a 100 years. Salt water is supposed to make the explosiv...
by oldsalt
Tue Mar 24, 2020 4:32 pm
Forum: Everything Else
Topic: whales and isolation
Replies: 8
Views: 3459

Re: whales and isolation

The birds are a mix of diving ducks: surf scoters, mergansers, bufflehead, and goldeneyes. They often signal the location of the whales. My guess is that as the whales feed by scooping up the bottom they also stir up organisms the ducks feed upon. That's my story and I'm sticking to it, until somebo...
by oldsalt
Sun Mar 22, 2020 5:56 pm
Forum: Everything Else
Topic: The Bottle Thread
Replies: 275
Views: 165814

Re: The Bottle Thread

Thank you 60south, Roxndox, and JimboAk for the history lessons.
-Curt
by oldsalt
Sat Mar 21, 2020 8:02 pm
Forum: Everything Else
Topic: whales and isolation
Replies: 8
Views: 3459

whales and isolation

We are taking the virus threat seriously. Older people with "underlying conditions" are particularly at risk. That's us. We are both 76. My wife is undergoing cancer treatment and I am under care for a heart condition. Fortunately, we live on the Sound and it provides stimulation. In the t...
by oldsalt
Thu Feb 27, 2020 9:45 am
Forum: Dive Recaps & Trip Reports
Topic: Galapagos on the Deep Blue
Replies: 13
Views: 4639

Re: Galapagos on the Deep Blue

Each one of these pictures deserves a poster. I still hope to see a whale shark one day. Congratulations. Being a whale geek, I am guessing those are bottlenose dolphins. Do you know?
Thanks, Curt :rawlings:
by oldsalt
Mon Feb 17, 2020 7:13 pm
Forum: General SCUBA Discussion
Topic: "Advanced" and "perfected" diving
Replies: 1
Views: 1651

"Advanced" and "perfected" diving

I just ran across this excerpt from an 1870 edition of Scientific American. "No operation in submarine engineering is more important or attended with greater personal risk than diving. The art has, however, been so far advanced, and the apparatus for diving has been so far perfected, that diver...
by oldsalt
Sat Feb 15, 2020 10:37 am
Forum: General SCUBA Discussion
Topic: Down the memory line
Replies: 377
Views: 204703

Re: Down the memory line

Wow. What did I do with my life? :rawlings:
by oldsalt
Tue Feb 11, 2020 5:22 pm
Forum: Everything Else
Topic: Snorkeling in Panama, and more
Replies: 9
Views: 3728

Snorkeling in Panama, and more

I used to celebrate my birthdays with a dive. As a former diver, I celebrated my 76th by snorkeling in Panama. This first shot is an attempt at over/under with my little camera. You can see the jungle in the background. DSCF1127.JPG The reef offered many of my old tropical friends: Moorish idols, se...
by oldsalt
Thu Jan 30, 2020 9:45 am
Forum: Dive Recaps & Trip Reports
Topic: Bubbles and Suds 1/29
Replies: 4
Views: 2344

Re: Bubbles and Suds 1/29

Years ago, I ran into lobsters while diving Edmonds. I reported it to the game warden. He told me some Buddhists practice releasing live animals into the wild, and this was the result of that. He also said it was considered invasive, so the next time I saw it to take it home and eat it. -Curt :rawli...