Page 11 of 216

Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 3:16 pm
by spatman
why isn't this thread a sticky anymore?

i didn't see it and thought maybe it had gotten deleted! :pale:

Shore crabs

Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 6:33 pm
by Jan K
While finishing dive in the shallow water, look out for small crabs, very numerous at times, some color variations too.
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Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2008 8:58 am
by Zen Diver
Love the shots Jan, they are darn cute critters!

-Valerie

Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2008 9:06 am
by WylerBear
Jan,
Great photos, as always. I am absolutely captivated by the head on shot of the Purple crab. It's fantastic!

Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2008 9:06 am
by nwscubamom
I like how their eyes are widely spaced - giving them a bit of personality!

- Janna :)

Callused tunicate

Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2008 4:55 pm
by Jan K
Thank you all, here is something from the tunicate world, solitary critter, unlike all the other colorful tunicates around it... Until recently, it went by the name Ascidia callosa.
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Buffalo sculpin

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 9:41 pm
by Jan K
This Buffalo sculpin was well camouflaged, but the freshly laid eggs gave him away.


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Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 9:21 am
by Zen Diver
I don't think I've ever seen Buffalo Sculpin eggs, thanks for sharing Jan! Awesome shots, as always. =D>

-Valerie

Moon snails

Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 2:32 pm
by Jan K
Moonsnails are not rarity in our water, and most of the time they are just cruising the sea floor, looking for food. After taking few pictures, usually I move on, for how many photos of them you want ? But time to time I come upon situation which get my extended attention. Their Cockle hunting shenanigans are always fun to watch, but this time I found something new, to which I have no answer. Mating ritual ? On two occasions on the same dive I found two Lewis's moonsnails together, the first encounter (upper shot), they were already disengaging) and on second encounter, one was riding on top of the other. Any ideas ? :dontknow:

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Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 6:11 pm
by Tom Nic
Hmmm.... sex or cannibalism... eh? :rr: ...would they "joust" for hunting or mating territory? OK, perhaps I'm overthinking this and giving Mr. Lewis too much credit, but... :book:

Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 2:04 am
by Zen Diver
Hitchhiking? Piggyback ride?

\:D/

-Valerie

Winged Sea Slug

Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 8:04 am
by Jan K
Until now, my encounters with the Pacific Wing Stomach, aka Winged Sea Slug, aka Pacific Wingfoot snail..... were one on one basis, so I considered them rare. Well, when I found clusters of them next to what I believe are their eggs, I realized how limited my horizons are - there were hundreds of them! None of them "flying" so at first I did not know what they were, but here they are, another Whidbey Island Critter surprise. The eggs are the giveaway, so keep a lookout ! :)

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Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 5:34 pm
by Diver_Dave
Love your pics. on here...

Re: Winged Sea Slug

Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 9:45 am
by enchantmentdivi
Jan K wrote:Well, when I found clusters of them next to what I believe are their eggs, I realized how limited my horizons are - there were hundreds of them! The eggs are the giveaway, so keep a lookout ! :)
OH MY OH MY OH MY! Jan, you just answered a question from a dive I did about 5 years ago at KVI. A few of us were diving off of a buddy's boat, and we didn't quite drop down on the reef itself. We ended up doing a sand dive. Every 2-3 yards, we come across a pile of hundreds of those eggs. None of us knew what they were. After a while, it became kinda creepy because there were literally dozens, if not hundreds, of those piles of eggs--each pile containing hundreds of eggs. After the dive, I looked in books, I described them to others, etc, and I could never find out what they were. I finally just gave up. I think I had almost forgotten about that dive and those mystery eggs because I have never seen them since.....until now, looking at your photos!!!! YAY--you've solved the mystery for me!!! Thanks Jan!

Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 7:23 pm
by LCF
Prior to this year, I had only ever seen one of these critters, but this year, it seems we're encountering them on almost every dive, although they're quite small. Anybody else feel as though there are more of them than usual?

Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 7:28 pm
by Sounder
LCF wrote:Prior to this year, I had only ever seen one of these critters, but this year, it seems we're encountering them on almost every dive, although they're quite small. Anybody else feel as though there are more of them than usual?
I always seem to see them during my descent... then I hit the brakes, get my buddy's attention and point to it... then they eventually get close enough to see that I'm not crazily pointing at the water... until then, they're thinking "yeah Doug, I'm swimming in the water too." #-o

Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 8:03 pm
by Scubak
Great Photos Jan,
Your work is fantastic...
And educational.
Love it and keep em coming.
Kirsten

Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 9:11 pm
by Tom Nic
Love your stuff Jan! So enjoyable... :prayer:

Did you resize the pics? Or did you use Spatman's suggestion?

And for the record, I'd scroll upsidedownsideways to see your stuff! \:D/

Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 10:16 pm
by Jan K
Tom Nic wrote:Love your stuff Jan! So enjoyable... :prayer:

Did you resize the pics? Or did you use Spatman's suggestion?

And for the record, I'd scroll upsidedownsideways to see your stuff! \:D/
Tom, I have to confess my total ignorance on the sizing for different search engines and computer screens and resolutions, I am not computer savvy and I assumed, until that other thread, that people see what I see on my screen. I explained my dilemma about vertical scroll, I have to do that too, but so far nobody complained, so I keep plogging along. I still use Photoshop 5.5, so that tells you how far behind the curve I am.. There is a point when if it is not fun, it is not worth doing. I enjoy sharing my underwater observations with others and it is fun. So if you guys like it the way I was doing it till now, I am in. Old dog - new tricks, my brain is taxed enough. Cheers my friends :partyman:

Proliferating anemone

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 12:37 am
by Jan K
Everything was great, Saturday morning at the North Beach on Deception Pass, the tidal currents were so favorable and even the sun tried to shine on us, not a frequent matter at this location. As we start our descent, I stop to take first shot and to my horror, the strobe does not fire. Deception Pass is not a spot one casually returns to the vehicle and fiddles with the cable, controls or whatever might be wrong, ( I did check it before the dive and strobe was firing OK). So I ended up switching to Shutter Priority mode, rised ISO setting and used the focusing and modeling lights to salvage the dive. Pictures are grainy and depth of field is very shallow, but at least I managed to get some pictures to record our dive. Thanks WHATEVAH !
BTW, the place is amazing, looking forward to come back..

Image

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 1:12 am
by Zen Diver
You've outdone yourself this time Jan, simply BEAUTIFUL!!!! :prayer:

-Valerie

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 7:28 am
by LCF
I guess this truly proves that it's the photographer, not the camera!

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 7:40 am
by John Rawlings
GREAT salvage job, Jan! I think that most of us in that situation would have simply spent the entire dive cursing into our regulators!

Did you discover what the problem was after you surfaced and examined your system?

- John

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 7:49 am
by Jan K
John Rawlings wrote: Did you discover what the problem was after you surfaced and examined your system? - John
That is the maddening part. I know it was not the battery, for I used the DS-125 modeling light the entire dive, I checked the connection before I got wet, and then back home, it worked again. And I made two dives since then and the strobe worked fine. Must be the ghost of Deception Pass messing with my mind... :pale:


Oh, and thanks for kind words, glad you enjoyed the pink beauties as much as I did :bounce:

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 8:00 am
by John Rawlings
Jan K wrote:.....glad you enjoyed the pink beauties as much as I did :bounce:
I certainly did enjoy them....I think that they are some of the most beautiful creatures to be found here in the PNW - in an underwater world KNOWN for its beauty!

As always, thanks for sharing your art with us! =D>

- John