Whidbey Island Critters

[John Rawlings]

"This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me."

Hee Hee Hee....we probably left half the membership behind on this one......

[Jan K]

So, Jan.....should we now "call you Ismael"????
- John

...having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen, and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly OCTOBER in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off -- then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can..... :) [/quote]

[John Rawlings]

I don't know if this is the Moby Dick of Great sculpins, but it sure doesn't fit their usual camo appearance

So, Jan.....should we now "call you Ishmael"????

- John

[Jan K]

When I took picture of the "deflated" tunicate, I did not know what I was looking at. Only when I looked at it at home on the computer screen I realized what it was.

[Tom Nic]

What a beaut! ...well, for a Great Sculpin anyway!

[Jan K]

I don't know if this is the Moby Dick of Great sculpins, but it sure doesn't fit their usual camo appearance

[Jan K]

Lately, the jellies at Keystone appear little tattered, but still favored transportation for lot of tiny critters..

[Pez7378]

Hahaha. So here is the diver marvelling at the size of the smaller Nudi. And suddenly he gets run over by this GINORMOUS tailgater!! Funny cartoon JanK.

[Jan K]

GW, I am glad you like the book !
And now back to our regular schedule
It is still not clearly understood why some of the nudibranch engage in what is called tailing, queuing or tailgating. It starts with one slug following the mucus trail of another and then contact the tail end and follow the leader to whatever destination it has in its mind. This example is not the correct one, since we are dealing with completely different species, the Noble Dorid is not about to eat the small Hudson's. Surely just an coincidental meeting..

[GillyWeed]

Jan! I received my book (s) the other day! Beneath Widby Waters I LOVE IT!!! Everyone should get one. It is truely beautiful and now I want more!! Bravo!

[LCF]

More learning! Jan, you're a treasure.

[Jan K]

Vegetarian? HA! True colors exposed. Carnivore!

[Jan K]

From the underside of a floating dock.

[Jan K]

When you finish the "real" book, can you airmail one to Thailand for me? Lowell

Hi Lowell, good to hear from you ! I hope Thailand is good to you. Of course I will send the book to you if and when it is finished. Not for this Christmas, but in Thailand - Christmas is probably not a holiday anyway...Hope you get some good warm water diving in, here we got a wet and cold spell right now... Take care, stay in touch .. Jan

[Huskychemist]

Thank you LCF -
OK, just so you don’t think that I am lazy and ignore the book issue. Here is a little update. I am working on it and it will not simply be just a reprint of the pages you see on this thread. So it is more work for me, but since it is work of love I I am not a professional writer/ photographer/publisher etc.) so I would like to be it something I am not ashamed of. I already send out some pages to on-line printers to see how it comes out on printed page. Some are OK, some are lousy and although cheaper, I would not use them - as I said - after all the effort, some WOW has to be involved here. I did not realize how much hassle is involved. One company prints only horizontal and hardcover. Another only vertical and softcover. At this point, I tend to lean towards soft cover (Cheaper mailing, and vertical works well with the material I am using). The hard cover sample I made pleased my ws so much, that they ordered them for gifts, mostly for their kids, since it has only 20 pages and it gives just a glimpse of what is underwater here. Of course, ordering photo books in such small numbers from on-line company is expensive and would not be practical for the many-page book I have in mind. So I am still searching. If you are interested in the “Beneath the Whidbey Waters” I made for my wife’s coworkers, flier is on my Smugmug since I don’t want to use this site to promote it. Please I welcome any feedback on the issue. Thank you.

Jan,

Since I live "afar" in Thailand now, I love being able to follow the goings-on of Puget Sound with your pictures (and others) here and on NorthwestDiver.com. I often check your thread on both websites, even knowing almost all of your work is double posted. That way, I get to see it twice!

When you finish the "real" book, can you airmail one to Thailand for me?

If it will fit in an 8 1/2 x 11 envelope and is under four pounds, it's only $11 shipping...which I'd gladly pay to get your book.

Regardless, happy diving, and thanks of sharing your work.

Lowell

[Jan K]

Thank you LCF -
OK, just so you don’t think that I am lazy and ignore the book issue. Here is a little update. I am working on it and it will not simply be just a reprint of the pages you see on this thread. So it is more work for me, but since it is work of love I I am not a professional writer/ photographer/publisher etc.) so I would like to be it something I am not ashamed of. I already send out some pages to on-line printers to see how it comes out on printed page. Some are OK, some are lousy and although cheaper, I would not use them - as I said - after all the effort, some WOW has to be involved here. I did not realize how much hassle is involved. One company prints only horizontal and hardcover. Another only vertical and softcover. At this point, I tend to lean towards soft cover (Cheaper mailing, and vertical works well with the material I am using). The hard cover sample I made pleased my ws so much, that they ordered them for gifts, mostly for their kids, since it has only 20 pages and it gives just a glimpse of what is underwater here. Of course, ordering photo books in such small numbers from on-line company is expensive and would not be practical for the many-page book I have in mind. So I am still searching. If you are interested in the “Beneath the Whidbey Waters” I made for my wife’s coworkers, flier is on my Smugmug since I don’t want to use this site to promote it. Please I welcome any feedback on the issue. Thank you.

[LCF]

Oh, those are cool pictures -- I'll have to keep my eyes open for those egg coils.

I learn so much from your pages, Jan!

[Jan K]

[Jan K]

Slug snack

[Zen Diver]

I've seen this before too, also on Comencement Bay (and others) and often wondered what it was. Finally, an answer. Thanks Jan!

-Valerie

[Tom Nic]

I think I've seen this in Commencement Bay...

Not sure if this is the same stuff... I think it showed up in the pics below, but was also in patches on the bottom, which of course I didn't take pictures of because it wasn't "worth shooting".
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/82311222@N00/443961080/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/191/443961080_3bb4c561f9.jpg" width="500" height="374" alt="P4010071"></a>

[Jan K]

Not your usual critter. In case you come across this, Google says - pollution is lurking nearby

[Jan K]

Slow day on Whidbey -

[Tom Nic]

Gorgeous!

Seems like such a shame to call nudi's "slugs"...

[Jan K]

I hope the doll will not be made in China. Hate to be recalled in the very beginning of my new life as a doll

Meanwhile, I just keep on diving
Common, but beautiful slug on recent Safari ...