Another first: I screamed in terror!

[Blaiz]

I love plans, they're like fine china just waiting to be broken. After we all tossed around some ideas, I ended up at Mukilteo. Having the choice of driving south to hop a ferry, or driving north, east, and south along the ground, I decided to take the long way around. I'm glad I did, since the Muk to Whidbey part of the ferry was a 2+ hour wait, and I have strong suspicions it was similar from Whidbey to Muk. I pulled in and was pleased to find the prime space closest to the water open and waiting to receive my car. Everyone else expressed amazement, but hey! The Blaiz Has Arrived. :queenliz: I settled in with my book to wait for my buddy Mateo1147 (Matt) to arrive. Once he did, we expressed greeting sentiments, then I made a pit stop before we geared up. When I got back, I discovered that coulterboy (Tom) had blown off the family visit and chosen to join us. Yay! Gearing up, we surface swam (I despise surface swims) out to the buoy. That was kind of fun, hadn't done it before. We dropped down the line and I got my first decent shot of a mama octopus!

That was pretty much the extent of the excitement of the first dive, and I was reminded again of why I dive Mukilteo. I do it for the company, not the critters. Arriving back at the surface, I was taking off the BC when I heard my phone beep that a message arrived. Renoun (ross) had just called, figuring we'd be just about out of the water. The guy's a psychic! Ross said he'd be right down, so we three held off the second dive for Ross' arrival. The water had come in at a pretty swift rate, but the wind picked up too, scaring up some pretty solid chop. We ploughed through the waves and headed downslope. Arriving at the geodome, I was excited to see a couple of painted greenlings who had their mating colors on. There were two on one of the anchor buckets, but the blasted things wouldn't sit still for a portrait. Ross and I chased them around (great teamwork sir!) but this is about the best I could do. I love his(her?) white speckles.

Done terrorizing the greenlings, I paused to check the pipes to see whether there were any wolf eels around. I've had pretty poor luck at Muk with them; haven't seen one for the last six or seven dives there. Not finding any, I started scanning guy wires to check for nudibranchs. My attention was caught by this spore thingy. I have no idea what this is. It's pretty, though.

Focused closely on the unknown fungus spore thingy, the corner of my eye caught movement coming toward me. Quickly, I ducked my head, but whatever it was followed the movement and kept coming at me. I let out an involuntary scream just before collision occurred. Right after that my mind caught up and realized I had just gotten rammed by a baby wolf eel. The same baby wolf eel which was now wrapped around my head. Considering the tangle of cords and hoses on my shoulder, and not being able to see where the little guy had put his body (I could feel him against me still) I was nervous about moving, since I really didn't want to hurt or scare him. This is where I have to confess to buddy abuse. Holding my head, right arm, and body still, I waved my left arm in Ross' general direction. "Ross.", I murlpmhed. He was looking somewhere else. I waved more enthusiastically. "Ross!" I got his attention, but he was left and below me, and the creature on my head was on the right side, away from him. Swimming closer to me, he was rewarded with me smacking him. "Ross!!" Smack, smack. "ROOOOOOSSSSS!!!" Smack. I think he figured out why I was hitting him at the same time the eel crawled out of my hood and went to investigate my camera. Knowing now that the little guy wasn't going to get squished, I enjoyed some interaction with him. He let me pet and stroke him quite a bit before wandering off. I was playing with the eel and thinking, Why the heck don't you people have a damn camera?

Moving a little bit up slope, I saw a large cluster of these tubeworms. Pretty tubeworms! They have colonized one of the inside corners of one of the cinder blocks near the dome.

As we crossed in front of the geodome again, who should appear but the hungry beggar!

Here he is giving Ross the same kisses he gave me. I took a couple of shots of him going from diver to diver, but the silted-out water really messed with the final product.

Moving on from the baby, I paused to watch a jelly coming by. I think Ross thought I'd lost buoyancy control as I chased it up the water column, but check out the veining on this guy. Neato!

We came across a starfish which had been viciously mangled. There were forcibly-removed legs laying everywhere, and an opportunistic red rock crab feasting on the main body of the remains. No idea what killed it, but the crime scene was brutal! Arriving at some pipes, we peered in the edges, nooks, and crannies. One of the bazillion flounders came over to have a peek. Not very often one gets an upward angle on these guys.

Coming out of the water, the chop had increased, and the waves were crashing over the parking lot sidewall. The three guys made it out of the water (thank you for carrying my fins, sir), but within the last three feet, I lost my footing and fell to my knees. Quickly everyone turned back and rushed to me, saying we will help you up! And I'm all like, forget me! Save the camera!

I had a blast today, and even got to ride the ferry home since all the travelers went away; no more wait time. I really enjoyed meeting and chatting with Matt and Tom, and it's always good seeing Ross. Anytime you like, I'd love to show you around Whidbey!

[renoun]

I waved my left arm in Ross' general direction. "Ross.", I murlpmhed. He was looking somewhere else. I waved more enthusiastically. "Ross!" I got his attention, but he was left and below me, and the creature on my head was on the right side, away from him. Swimming closer to me, he was rewarded with me smacking him. "Ross!!" Smack, smack. "ROOOOOOSSSSS!!!" Smack. I think he figured out why I was hitting him at the same time the eel crawled out of my hood and went to investigate my camera. Knowing now that the little guy wasn't going to get squished, I enjoyed some interaction with him. He let me pet and stroke him quite a bit before wandering off. I was playing with the eel and thinking, Why the heck don't you people have a damn camera?

If only you had given the official United Post Dive Beer Drinking Association (UPDBDA) hand sign for

HELP, I'm being molested by a cute but slightly creepy sea creature

I would have known what to do and sprung into action in stead of swimming under you to try and figure out how you were tangled in the geodome's guy lines. .

[ljjames]

awesome dive description! our baby out at the junkyard will do that from time to time as well!!! I have let out similar yelps <grin>

[Sounder]

Sorry to have missed you - Jake and I were out there today too taking limits of crab. What a beautiful day to be underwater!!

[LCF]

Blaiz, I just LOVE your dive reports: ""Ross.", I murlpmhed." -- PRICELESS!

The fungus things are pink-mouth hydroids --I love them, in their pink delicacy, but they are hard to photograph well. And congratulations on the tubeworm shots! I'm always trying to get pictures of them, because they are so pretty, but they're so sensitive to the pressure waves in the water that they always end up retracting just as I hit the shutter button.

[Grateful Diver]

Great report!

... and I really like that tubeworm pic ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[coulterboy]

It was great to meet you and dive with you Blaiz. Finally! I'll try to slow down and just shift on first gear next time we dive. Didn't realize I was like a speed racer on the first dive.

Good pics and always a very good recap from you.

[airsix]

Fantastic fun report!

[dwashbur]

So this guy actually wound up inside your hood???????????

I can understand why you screamed, but really, that sounds just too cool for words.

Delightful report. The only thing missing was.....me!

[Blaiz]

I doubt he made it inside the hood, although I could feel him against my cheek and head and shoulder, but really, I have no idea what the configuration was. Maybe one of the guys saw him after they heard me scream?

That scream was... interesting. I don't think I've ever done that before. Sure had my heart going a million miles an hour. I tried to express that to Ross after the eel was gone, then realized that's the same signal for 'low on air'. Oops.

Thanks all for your comments, LOL, and Ross, we're going to go over signals more carefully next time....

[LCF]

If you come up with an effective signal for "I've got a wolf eel in my hood", I want to know what it is . . .

[Dashrynn]

Nice write up. Thinking about what the hand signal would be also got me to thinking about something else. I want to dive with a deaf person, I know they have to have all kinds of hand signals.

Oh and i found this.

[Blaiz]

Nice write up. Thinking about what the hand signal would be also got me to thinking about something else. I want to dive with a deaf person, I know they have to have all kinds of hand signals.

Oh and i found this.

hmmm i don't think that would work. I couldn't spell out oh shit here. see, here in the pacific northwest we have cold water and we have to wear big black thick gloves... not a whole lot of manual dexterity....NOT LIKE FLORIDA

[Mateo1147]

It was so great to dive with you and coulterboy on Saturday. I had a great time. I can't wait to come out and dive driftwood with you some time soon. I have another dive boat trip on August 15 so pencil me in on that weekend. Thank you so much for your comment about breathing like a girl! I have been trying hard to rack up the bottom time to get my sac rate down.
Really great dive report. I can't wait to be along on another one and see how you write it up.