Northwest Dive Club

2012 was a big year for photography for me...I can't play with the big kids in the wide angle category but here's a few of my favorites (even though they're all watermarked 2011 because I forgot to change it): https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-SJ-HytuwWeM/UDREmRnT3zI/AAAAAAAAGEg/S3MrlKtZalU/s615/DS...

Octopus Gardens is doing a dive the 29th. They're meeting at the shop at 11:30.

They can store them for at least five months - PTMSC has had two red octopus come in early in the spring, and lay viable eggs in the late summer. If octopus are mating now, then it's certainly possible they store them even longer!

I gotta (gasp!)...agree with Jeff here...to a point. My regular dive buddies...you better bet that either both or neither of us are getting to the surface. You can train me all you want on emergency procedures and the like, but I know that faced in a situation with someone I care about, all the &quo...

Yikes!! I with you - I don't mess around with those guys...

Nice shots, I always love seeing photos from HC. It seems awful early for mating season to begin, maybe they're establishing territory?

Though hard, I'm glad you have the chance to be there. Sending you good thoughts and strength in the coming months.

Adorable! What will happen next with them? Back in August I momentarily had this crazy plan to stay and be the first person to ever raise a red octopus in captivity. Then after about .08 seconds I realized how ridiculous that was. So they're next to impossible to raise in captivity, as is the case ...

The red octopus at the Port Townsend Marine Science Center was added to the exhibit last March, just a few weeks before opening weekend. My boss was somewhat disappointed that it was a red octopus and not a GPO, but I had high hopes, having photographed many wandering red octos in the greater Puget ...

YellowEye wrote:

Jeff Pack wrote:1 tank 3.5 hours of diving...

When do you want to go? I can rarely find a buddy who wants to stay down for over 100 minutes.

We did darn close! I think we covered about 20 yards of bottom also...

BASSMAN wrote:4 tanks should = 4 dives

Hell, 2 tanks = 4 dives for some of us!!

spatman wrote:Surprised no one's made a comment about how the statue also looks like he's talking.

That was the first thing I thought...

Good thing you didn't throw it out!! Those red buggers can bite pretty good, and seem to do so more readily than GPOs. Good thing you got it back to the water!

Any shop should be able to train your son. My advice would be to visit the ones closest to you and start talking to staff. Ask them about their classes, and see if you like them. If you'd like to have him pop in the pool ask about Discover Scuba, where he can try out scuba gear with an instructor fo...

Prepare to have several hundred house guests...

The GBR is also the reason I got certified, and that was supposed to be the end of it...I'd be a lot richer if I had just followed that plan...

I'm just going to throw this out there -- maybe you don't need any more training right now. Get out there, do some dives, have some fun...and the "next step" might just flow naturally from that. Rescue is of course a logical step along the path, but there's also lots of specialty courses o...

Oooo you captured some of my favorite things!! I'm looking at maybe heading back there this spring for a week of diving...I will have to look into that dive op a bit more closely...

You watch your buddy unpeel his wetsuit and he disappears in a cloud of steam.

I imagine the rules were written to prevent octopus from being injured and escaping their hunter, only to die soon after. They are very "fluid" creatures, and can squeeze into something as small as their beak (roughly the size of their eye) so it is not unthinkable that one could lose an a...

Hood Canal has lots of restrictions on harvest. The zone is mainly open to those species less impacted by low oxygen, or species in highly productive, popular, managed fisheries (basically crab, shellfish, and salmon). See pages 120-121 of this document http://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/01384/wdfw0138...

I was under the impression that the gestational period of GPO eggs ranged from 6-10 months depending on the temperature of the water. Depends on how an individual person defines "gestation" - an individual octopus may store sperm for at least as long as four months before even laying eggs...

Do the GPO spawn throughout the year or only during a certain time? It would be impossible to enforce a law stating an octo cant be taken while on eggs. However, if they spawn during a certain time, then closure might be a "reasonable" option. "Giant Pacific octopuses breed throughou...

There's nothing I miss more than Pt Hudson...sigh. Yes, barnacle-eating nudi in that last picture! I hope you said hi to the wolf eels in the pilings, and let the lumpsuckers know I didn't *mean* to abandon them...

Air fills - nothing on the islands. Your closest air is in Anacortes, a few miles from the water. Rent a few tanks before you head up there, that's your best bet. Things to look out for - areas of "confused water" that seem to be traveling in multiple directions. Water that doesn't seem to...

Oh, I miss you guys!! Nice photos! I played around with a stubby squid once focusing, then holding focus while I shined my light away for about 10 seconds - it's amazing the difference in their eyes!

http://www.nwdiveclub.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=19360

I've done it a few times...it's harder than it looks! I prefer the underwater Easter Egg hunt myself