Alki Pipeline

[H20doctor]

So your invited to go Diving , and thats great, its always Nice to be invited out on a dive...right ? it was going to be a Great Dive , i mean who doesn't want to experience salt creek ... well that was the case for today , But there was 1 slight big problem with this great dive trip ... A 5 am Ferry .. that would mean Id Have to get up at 4 am ... Um , Not going to happen ... I love my sleep , and Im Not a morning person , I dont do mornings , I will get up early for a dive , If the dive Is worth it , I will sacrifice my sleep for a great dive .. But this trip was 5 am, and a 3 Hour drive and a 9 am splash ... Nope.. so what do I do ? I steal someone who was going , and talk them outta going to dive with me ... HA HA HA HA , i plotted my victim carefully and stole ScubaJess ...Mwaaa Haaa Haaa
so Now That we could Both sleep In and dive at Noon I opted for alki Pipeline.. this was a first for me as ive never been here, i picked it for 2 reasons, I get to sleep In ( big Bonus) and its not a ferry ride , and its only a Hr away, easy Parking , no crowds and there should be tons of Macro to see... we both arrived at 11am parked our cars and talked to 3 other divers who had just gotten out and ended the dive .. great !! talk to them and they are just going mad crazy about what they saw , lots of Nudis , blah..blah.. blah.. AND the one girl has a Dive map of the site ..cool study it , look at it , get the compass Heading .. really excited to get in this place and see it ..
Get in the water and drop ... 7 feet ..swim..swim.. 8 feet.. where are the rocks? hmmmmm..swim.. swim... No rocks.. Now today we got more than our share of the eel Grass world Tour ..LOL , I mean i saw more eel grass Here than ive ever seen ... there were patches of little islands of eel grass then sand then more eel grass.. it was grassy Here... 2nd , there are Massive Lewis Moon snails here, and they are everywhere and i love the way they Plow through sand.. its like a snow Plow in the mountains moving snow , except the snails do it with sand ... Just a Nice slow pace underwater plowing away... Ok so we are still swimming and looking , for rocks , so we Pop up to the surface and re take a game plan... same thing again ..swim for another 22 Mins no pipe , no rocks , just sand and eel grass... 3 rd Plan swim south on the surface until I see rocks .... WINNER WINNER chicken dinner , rocks Finally we have arrived , but Now we have both been in the water for a good Hour , and I still have 2200 pounds of air..but thats because we both never broke 13 feet ..HA HA HA .... So we hit the rocks , and see a couple of Nudis , finally .. Geesh , we found a sunflower starfish, a purple starfish...we got Buzzed By a seal .. I found a super tiny white Nudi.. and then I got cold .. we never reached the 30 feet part of the alki Pipe line , and I didnt get my shot of a alabaster Nudi .. But we did have a fun dive , and we did do the eel grass world tour !! and we did eat good food after wards... And we Both got to sleep in on a saturday ....

[Jeremy]

Cool pics! I love that dive

[Scubak]

Love it...and the dive briefing....
Kirsten

[Echo]

So that pipeline is like 20ft off the rock pile into the sand. Your dive profile sounds exactly like mine when I dived it in the fall. We got to the end of the rock piles, looked at each other like, 'OK, now what?' So decided to see if we couldn't get deeper and low and behold, there's the pipe! Took us about an hour in 12' of water to find it. Sheesh. I haven't been back since.

[Magoi]

I have always liked the Tubular Reef. The way I dive it is to enter the water and walk to where the pump station is located. Then I take a compass reading on the buoy way out there, which marks the end of the pipe. Have only missed the rocks once on first try. I follow the rocks to where they end and continue on with the compass heading to the pipe, which is a plumose anemone monument. There were a few small statues between the rocks and the pipe which helped mark the trail. This is a nice night dive too. After one low tide experience, I prefer to dive it at high tide so you can get to almost 35 ft.

Nice moon snail pics.

[Echo]

Is the buoy back? It was sitting on the sidewalk last time I was there

[Gdog]

Wow. Chris. Buddy. Listen. You shoulda went to Salt Creek and Seiku Jetty with us. It was EPIC!!!!

[H20doctor]

Is the buoy back? It was sitting on the sidewalk last time I was there

nope ... did not see such a floating device there ..LOL
... it gone .. He gone , ( uncle Si duck dynasty )

[H20doctor]

Wow. Chris. Buddy. Listen. You shoulda went to Salt Creek and Seiku Jetty with us. It was EPIC!!!!

you mean it was EPIC !!!!! ... did you say it was really a EPIC TIME ??

[Jeremy]

!

[Gdog]

Chris, you are getting pretty handy with that camera.....some nice shots!

[Scubie Doo]

Chris, you are getting pretty handy with that camera.....some nice shots!

True dat, he is a natural.

[H20doctor]

Chris, you are getting pretty handy with that camera.....some nice shots!

True dat, he is a natural.

Thank you that's a huge compliment coming from you ... but I'm still learning the Dang. F -stop settings !!

[ScubaJess]

Great shots H2ODr! I had so much fun exploring the eel grass with you!!!
I can't wait till our next dive!
Hope to have my pics up soon!
I got a nice one of you with the Moon Snail!

[ScubaJess]

Here's my one shot from our eel grass tour!

[Norris]

So what are those things in the 12th photo?

[H20doctor]

So what are those things in the 12th photo?

Moon snail eggs

[mpenders]

So what are those things in the 12th photo?

Moon snail extreme zoom

I had to take off one of my shoes to be able to count to 12 to make sure, but that gray coil-looking thing is a moon snail egg ribbon. Think nudi eggs on steroids.

Great pics! Doc, you're really starting to get that rig dialed in.

[Norris]

DAMN those are huge

[Echo]

So, curious. How does a moon snail create this egg ribbon. I see them on more dives than not, and very aware that they're snail eggs, but I've never seen them produced. Is it like snail slime, eggs and sand? They're not a solid egg mass like nudis make

[H20doctor]

Good question.. I've never seen a moon snail laying an egg mass either.. and when you see them like they are just laying there in the sand kind of makes you think what the heck is that..? They remind me of a horse's hoof.. or those Hoof protectors that go over their feet..

[stphnmartin]

I always thought the moonsnail eggs look like pottery from an ancient shipwreck. Filled with gold! Their human like skin is also weird. I like the close nudi shot that's horizontal right next to it. Cool angle!

[Norris]

Known as a sand collar. This is made by the female just pre-egg laying time. Consists of sand and mucous from what I read the eggs are embedded in the color itself.