Whidbey Island Critters

[Jan K]

Deception Pass, September 14th.
Not the ideal tides to dive here this cycle, but it sure was nice surprise to see more that the usual ten to fifteen feet ! Twenty and dare I say, almost 30 feet in places. Too bad heavy overcast above did not enhance the scene even more. The slack was very short, but I had fun in the shallows when school of Sand-lance fish gathered around me... First batch of snapshots from the dive, more to follow

[Jan K]

Tour of Deception Pass on September 14th continued ...
It might be called Ugly clam, but it looks beautiful to me.

[Jan K]

Deception Pass September 14th, Part 3 -
objects which don't move much, stuck in place, moving in the current only.

[Jan K]

Deception Pass, September 14th - the rest of the pics.
Crab hugging a sculpin, slugs enjoying sponge meal and school of Pacific Sand-lance at the end of the dive..

[Jan K]

Skyline September 13th dive.
Common fishes and one mystery thing.

[Jan K]

Keystone Jetty, September 21.
Last Day of Summer dive.

[JasonEverettJones]

Very much enjoy these shots.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Jan K]

Very much enjoy these shots. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk.

Thank you, glad you enjoy them.



Keystone Jetty, September 23rd.
Taking advantage of nice weather and good underwater visibility.

[Jan K]

Start your day with a smile. Even if your name is Grunt.

[Jan K]

Skyline, September 25th. This was a wet dive.
During the one hour, plenty of ocean water found its way into my now not so drysuit via hole in the wrist seal.

[Jan K]

Deception Pass, September 28th. Great visibility, worth the rather short slack period.
Grunt sculpins seem to be more common these days everywhere I dive

[Jan K]

Deception Pass, September 29th. Since the visibility was so good, another dive at the Pass was in order in spite of rather dicy weather forecast. Before leaving home I checked the radar and pretty heavy rain was dousing the area. But lot of changes can happen in one hour as I drive north. And it did, By the time I pulled into the Little North Beach parking lot, the re rain was gone and fellow dive buddies Tabb and Eric pulled in. The wind sis not affect the Pass neither and we had a nice dive.

[Jan K]

NOT a WHIDBEY ISLAND CRITTER !
October 2nd, Saturday. We left the island on the first ferry to Port Townsend and under overcast skies turned West. 200 miles drive for one shallow dive at Sekiu. But there was a plan for this madness. Eric and ScubaJess invited me and promised to show me the illusive Rock greenling. And in spite of bad visibility and surge in the very shallow water where this fish likes to hang out, they delivered. Eric was pointing Rocky to me and I did not see it for long time. The Eel grass and kelp was moving over the fish and finally I got a glimpse of it! Not good pictures, but I added this illusive,(not rare) critter to my list. The Sekiu Rocks are full of marine life and I would definitely like to come back when the visibility improves, Thank you Jess and Eric for your patience and effort !

[Jan K]

Sekiu Rocks, October 2nd. Great place to find big Fish-eating anemones. None of these beauties were eating fish as I swam around admiring them. One had a piece of Kelp for snack.
Also Surf and Brooding anemones to add more color to the scene...

[Jan K]

Sekiu Rocks. October 2nd. Four critters we do find in the Puget Sound waters, here in somewhat different environment.

[Jan K]

Sekiu Rocks October 2 dive encounters -continued.
New crab added to my list of critters. The rest - just in new setting.

[YellowEye]

Boy Jan, you got a lot of nice stuff from that dive! Very impressive, I only got 1-2 shots worthy of the bits they're stored on!
Hope we can go back soon!

[Jan K]

Thanks Eric, but quantity doesn't beat quality, and you have proved it many times.

Sekiu Rocks, October 2nd. And last of the critters and scenes from the dive there. Starting with kelp which we don't have in Puget Sound. At least not in Whidbey waters. The other we do, but maybe in such numbers or colors.

[Jan K]

Langley Harbor Sea star survey, October 4th. Bad visibility in the first 15 feet of depth, then it opens up. Sea star wasting still an issue. It is the Leather stars which seem to handle the decease best. Only one juvenile Sunflower star sighted, maybe the others moved into deeper water. The rockfish, mostly Coppers, are doing fine.

[Jan K]

October 7th. Possession Point Fingers. Another nice Autumn dive at the most southern point of Whidbey Island..
Even the path to the beach is nice.

[Jan K]

Possession Pt. Fingers. October 7th dive.
The rest of the pixels.

[Jan K]

October 8, Keystone Jetty.
There is calm and then there is this calm.

[Jan K]

Skyline, September 25th. Catching up slowly with backlog of pixels.
Blaming shortage of workers on my end and the global supply chain problem

[Jan K]

Deception Pass, October 13th.
Unlike in the summer, there is now plenty of parking at the Little North Beach. Just the two of us, my friend Tabb even became a point of interest for a lonely tourist from Montana.
Recent rain is probably to blame for the silt in the water, visibility was down and the current was strong, the slack short. But, is true Pass aficionados, we enjoyed one hour of underwater wandering...

[Jan K]

More from Deception Pass October 13th dive.
Critters and their surroundings...