This morning I headed to Keystone on the premise of going boat diving with Karl and Pete. The boat proved unwilling to accommodate these plans, so we scrapped that plan and headed up the beach to Driftwood. The tide charts suggested that the current would be rip-roaring, and sure enough, just putting my fins on involved bracing against being swept downstream. Set up, I headed downslope. The current pushed me past the first set of tires before I got to the floor, so I spent some time looking at nothing whatsoever, and vaguely thinking 'where the heck am I?' The water was fifty degrees. I had to check that because it occurred to me, gee this isn't so bad, wonder what the temp is. From 55 last summer, to 44 over the winter, and right in the middle put me at not freezing immediately. Bonus!
After some time of mud, clamshells, starfish, and nothing else, I came upon a tire laying on the ground. Dutifully, I shone my light upon it, and wow! there's a little head sticking out! I swung around in the current and frantically kicked to the tire to get some serious gaze time in. My little baby kept looking at me, without pulling in to hide. I was very pleased. Then he started to come out, and I felt both excited and guilty. Excited because I got to see all of him, and guilty because I'd scared him away from his tire. Imagine my surprise when he left the tire, went to the mud, and began posing for me. He was just adorable! I have several pictures but here's one of my favorites.
Not wanting to terrorize him, we left, and drifted boatward. I saw a cute helmet crab and cruised in for a closer look (they are having a mating season, by the way), but as I came in, a moonsnail shell started moving away. It contained the most biggest hermit crab I've ever seen! This guy made me laugh and laugh, and I ended up taking lots more pictures than I intended to, simply because he would stick his head out and let me take a picture, then the flash would make him vanish, only to reappear a moment later and pose again. Before we left, I extended a finger to see if he wanted to shake on it, but he only hid from me.
Slamming up against the sunken boat (literally), we paused to investigate it. I didn't see any monster octopus underneath, but while peering at the interior, another small orange head poked out! I was glad that Pete got to see one, since he hadn't seen the first eel. There was a very handsome (yellow) Irish Lord crammed up in the prow. He had his body all fluffed out to fill that little hollow where the deck comes together with the sides and begins to be the prow. I found it amusing. Karl got my attention that there was one wee octopus sitting on the ground below me. He was doing such a fine job of rock imitation that I had passed right over him. Karl said up top that he wouldn't have seen it except that the current jostled the octo at just the right time. Looking at gauges, we began heading up slope. This is where my :angry: fins, plus camera catching the current, plus, well, I'm plus size, worked against me; by the time I got done with my safety stop, I was a good fifty yards downcurrent of Pete and Karl. Oh well. I enjoyed the trudge back upstream, just looking at the gorgeous day, and peering to see if there were any fishies to look at in three feet of water. Amusingly, I saw a wee bitty flounder, maybe an inch long, swimming away from the monster walking toward him.
Pete headed home after one dive, but Karl and I stuck around to do another. By this time, near noon, the currents were done ebbing and we actually had a wonderful current-free dive. Karl brought a broken mason jar, with an outraged octopus attached. After being set back down, the octo was very pleasant, and brave. I love some of the octopus eye shots that I've seen on this board, and wanted one for myself. This isn't perfect, but it will do
Swimming to one of the tire bundles, what to my wondering eyes should appear?? A fourth eel! (there was a previous snout not mentioned) and what does he do?? He comes out! and poses! This is my lucky day, and I spent the rest of my dive following this guy around. Apparently he was hungry, because I saw him pick up a hermit crab, before waving kelp obscured my view. When I moved the kelp, he dropped the crab. Oops. He didn't seen to mind me following him around for probably twenty minutes. I was enchanted, since I haven't seen an eel on the hunt before. After a while though, he began to put more effort into avoiding me, and I decided it was time to go. This guy's mottled coloration was also very new to me. He was just coming into his grey, although he still had a lot of eye spots and some orange visible.
Way cool diving today. Thanks for going with me, Pete and Karl!
The student was ready.
it's nice to have low expectations, sometimes - lcf
I said keep going, not start whining -airsix
