Dove my ass off!

[lundysd]

As some of you know, my diving regimen is in for a minor adjustment soon with the imminent arrival of our first child. With that in mind, my wife gave me the okay to "dive my ass off" now so that I wouldn't be underwater when she went into labor in a few weeks. I took her suggestion to heart and did somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 dives this week in and around Seattle (Cove 2, Redondo, Junkyard, and Possession Point). Luckily the conditions were stellar, but unluckily one of my strobe batteries decided to bail on me, so about half these shots are single strobe efforts. Nevertheless I was pretty pleased with how many of them turned out, and I thought yall might like to see. Sorry for the ridiculous number of photos -- I just couldn't bring myself to cut any from the list this time. Hope yall like em!

PS -- don't worry about the dreaded "had a kid and never dived again" dealio -- I have already preemptively booked a God's Pocket trip for next spring and won't be quitting anytime soon -- my wife agrees and said that "he becomes intolerable if I don't let him dive frequently"



Redondo



























Possession Point



















Alki Junkyard















Cove 2

[Joshua Smith]

Scott, those are some amazing pics!

[LCF]

Fabulous, as always; there are some really unique shots there, like the rockfish with the octopus. But I think my favorite may be the first one of all -- I love finding the little reds in the sea lettuce, and that photo is SO beautifully lit!

Looks like you saw one of our cocoachroma nudis at Cove 2. I wonder how long they will be there?

[Jan K]

Yes, you managed well to get the most out of the dive marathon
Great photography. As always .

[Bric Martin]

Great stuff! I really like the the diver in front of the pier. As far as subjects, the juvenile yelloweyes are my favorite.

[Tom Nic]

Love the ' combination' shots. The wide angle with the diver and what appear to be the Redondo pilings is gorgeous.

[Grateful Diver]

I see some photo contest entries in that batch, Scott ... and like Lynne I think I like the first one best.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[Scubie Doo]

Very nice Scott! They are all fantastic, but the horned shrimp from Cove 2 is excellent. Those are very difficult to get in clarity. Secondly, they love to swim off at the worst time. I know you had to "see" that in your mind before ever hitting the shutter. What a great shot!

[spatman]

Great pics, Scott! Did you identify the mystery nudi at the junkyard? We saw a few on the eelgrass chomping on the small anemones that we had never seen before either.

[ljjames]

Brilliant images as always, Scott! Thanks for sharing

[lundysd]

Thanks everyone -- The fact that everyone likes different images is very cool to me

Lynne -- believe it or not, that was a melon-sized GPO, and I was within a few inches of him when I took that photo. The wide angle lens really plays tricks on perspective.

Spatty -- after some research I believe they are an odd color variant of the shaggy nudibranch, Aeolidia papillosa. I've only seen them in a mottled gray color before, but slugheads assure me they can be this color as well.

[Novice]

Really spectacular photos. I have some recent experience as Diver Dad. I have two little ones now that I have to balance my dive schedule around. Though I always wish I dove more I think if you work at it and don't mind diving sleep deprived you can make it work. I negotiated a trade of one day for diving per week (I give my wife the same for her stuff).

What I really wish is that REI could make a one atmosphere diving "jogger" for the baby...... I think OC breathing would really sooth babies to sleep.

[ktb]

Absolutely beautiful as always, Scott. I may have to order a print of that first one.