FrFrFr 12-29-2017

Tell us your tale of coming nose-to-nose with a 6 gill [--this big--], or about your vacation to turquoise warm waters. Share your adventures here!
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Tom Nic
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FrFrFr 12-29-2017

Post by Tom Nic »

What an amazing day! :partydance: :norris: :partydance:

A bunch of the Thursday crew showed up at Sund Rock for a fabulous day of diving in the rain! I'll let some of the regulars get everyone's screen names, etc right as they fill in the day's report.

The rain was steady and strong, and didn't let up all day. Yeah, it was a day to get wet, no doubt.

3 of us showed up at Hoodsportndive at 10 AM as the shop opened, Gregp, DiverDave68, and yours truly. DiverDave68 has been up all night so he had been doing a little snoozing and was waiting until the noon dive. GregP and myself headed for the rock and geared up for dive #1, a 57 minute excursion to the Trawler with a return by the North Wall. Lingzilla's, Wolfies, and Octos, oh my! By the time we surfaced most of the rest of the crew began arriving and pairing off. GregP had to head back, so I did a 75 minute solo dive to Fish Pen Wall, tons of life, and a lot of fun snapping pics without my head on a swivel for a buddy. Dive #3 was with Val to the South Wall, and it was amazing! So much cool stuff!

Three dives was plenty for me, so as the rest of folks headed in for the night dive I was heading home while I was still awake. A perfect day! Thanks to everyone who came and dove and hung out

I'll post more with pictures later on, and hopefully the rest of the crew will weigh in as well!
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"Anyone who thinks this place is over moderated is bat-crazy anarchist." -Ben, Airsix
"Warning: No dive masters are going to be there, Just a bunch of old fat guys taking pictures of fish." -Bassman
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Gregp
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Re: FrFrFr 12-29-2017

Post by Gregp »

What agreat and rainy day! Tom and I took a cruise to the trawler and saw two massive lingcods there (I didn't want to get too close) while circling it twice slowly and admiring the schools of fishes in the good viz. We meandered southerly to the base of the north wall and saw 2 large wolfies in their dens. One was a really big whitish purple colored one, lying almost completely on it's side backed in his/her den. Just 15ft away was a medium sized gpo hiding under a platform rock. From the one viewpoint you could see the arms and suckers, and from the opposite side you could see the profile view with her eye looking right at me. It was nice to see the gpo as I haven't seen one in a while. 57 minutes total dive time. Thanks Tom for being a buddy and wish I could have done another dive with you! :partydance:
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Tom Nic
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Re: FrFrFr 12-29-2017

Post by Tom Nic »

Well, looks like the rest of the crew is still recovering from the dive day... :smt064

In the meantime, here's a few shots from dive#1!

Greg
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A couple shots from the Trawler
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A fabulous first dive!
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"Anyone who thinks this place is over moderated is bat-crazy anarchist." -Ben, Airsix
"Warning: No dive masters are going to be there, Just a bunch of old fat guys taking pictures of fish." -Bassman
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Gdog
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Re: FrFrFr 12-29-2017

Post by Gdog »

Hey great report. I really dig the octo pic!
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Hoodsport_Diver
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Re: FrFrFr 12-29-2017

Post by Hoodsport_Diver »

Great pix and good reporting, Tom!

It was, indeed, an epic (and very wet) day. I counted a total of 8 divers: Tom Nic, Gregp, DiverDave68, StrangeDoc, KneeDeep, EddieA, Vjw and myself. We missed PenelopePants and ScubaJess :(

Four dives were made in all. We covered several of the most popular sites at Sund Rock: North Wall, Trawler, South Wall and the Flats. EddieA and I saw a huge baitball comprised of tens of thousands of herring. Also lots of cool nudibranchs - mating! Visibility was up to 20ft, worse in some areas due to a few divers (not from NWDC).

KneeDeep arrived at 11:30 and held out until 17:45 for the night dive. He was not disappointed. We had a 54min dive along the North Wall. It was alive with Wolf Eels! DiverDave68 beat that, he arrived at 8:00AM and stuck around for the night dive.

A big thanks for EddiA for suppling Mr Heater (stereo edition). It kept the chill off during the surface intervals. Thanks also to KneeDeep for supplying the canopy. StrangeDoc had a camp stove to boil water, but we missed the French Press...

I'll let the others provide their commentary, but the general consensus was that we should do this a little more often. I plan arrange another day like this in the Spring.

Happpy New Year to all. I look forward to diving with you in 2018.
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Tom Nic
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Re: FrFrFr 12-29-2017

Post by Tom Nic »

Thanks guys! Appreciate the list of screen names for folks, something I am NOT good at!

By the way, EddieA is awesome, doing 2 dives in a WETSUIT! And on a very cold and dreary day topside!! Made props... an addict / fanatic in the making! Hope to dive with you in the future!

Here's a few shots from dive #3 with Val / VJW.

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I'll probably do a separate post in the Critter Watcher's Forum, but we stumbled upon a pair of mating Kelp Greenlings, the first time I've ever been privileged to witness. They were "dancing" and "shaking" and carrying on like crazy! :luv: :luv: :luv: The coloring on the male and female Kelp Greenlings is amazing anyway, but their mating coloration is spectacular, particularly on the male. You can see the eggs in this shot just in front of the female's nose. I think Val got some video - hopefully she can post!

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A poor shot of the GINORMOUS school of Pacific Herring that was hanging out on the South Wall.
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And a few more random shots...

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More Pics Than You Have Time To Look AT
"Anyone who thinks this place is over moderated is bat-crazy anarchist." -Ben, Airsix
"Warning: No dive masters are going to be there, Just a bunch of old fat guys taking pictures of fish." -Bassman
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ScubaJess
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Re: FrFrFr 12-29-2017

Post by ScubaJess »

Great recap!! So sorry I missed it. I decided to late to come and couldn't find a carpool buddy my car had been acting strange. Glad I stayed close to home since it broke down at Edmonds. Had to get it towed. Now I have a nice new rental car I really want to keep :)

Will try to make it next time. Did you see squat lobsters? Did you go to Hoodsport coffee co?
Live Long And Prosper!!!

Stay Warm underwater with the Weezle Extreme Plus undergarment! Please let me know if you would like to order one or have any questions. :luv: :partydance: :eric: :taco:
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Hoodsport_Diver
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Re: FrFrFr 12-29-2017

Post by Hoodsport_Diver »

We were all bummed out after reading your post about wanting to meet & carpool, ScubaJess. Sorry to hear about your car. I'm glad you like the rental replacement. Hopefully there will be a satisfactory end to the story.

To answer your questions:
1) YES, we saw tons of Squat Lobsters. They were everywhere at Sund Rock. It really was a great day of diving...

2) I don't believe that anyone stopped by the Hoodsport Coffee Company, but the last four divers were headed to Puerto de los Angeles in Hoodsport as I left to wash my gear and eat dinner with my family.

I hope that you can join us when we do this again in the Spring.
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Eddie A.
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Re: FrFrFr 12-29-2017

Post by Eddie A. »

Hoodsport_Diver wrote: A big thanks for EddiA for suppling Mr Heater (stereo edition). It kept the chill off during the surface intervals. Thanks also to KneeDeep for supplying the canopy. StrangeDoc had a camp stove to boil water, but we missed the French Press...
No thanks needed, I was just happy to be able to contribute something of value to the group. Besides, without Mr. Heater and KneeDeep’s canopy, I don’t know that I could’ve made that second dive Image.
Tom Nic wrote: By the way, EddieA is awesome, doing 2 dives in a WETSUIT! And on a very cold and dreary day topside!! Made props... an addict / fanatic in the making! Hope to dive with you in the future!
Thanks for the props, I really had a blast and glad to have such a great crew to share my initiation into PNW diving with! I look forward to ALOT more diving with you guys in the coming year. Hopefully I can make it out to ThThTh a few times if I can make the logistics work.

Happy New Year!!!ImageImageImage


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Re: FrFrFr 12-29-2017

Post by Diverdave68 »

Cat naps, cat naps and more cat naps. By time the noon dive rolled around I was rested and ready. I had 350 c.f. of gas to burn, and had no plans of bringing full cylinders home. Mr. Heater, Mr. Coco, and Mr. tent were intregal in helping me make all 3 dives. That wolf eel with the bite out of his back was crazy. Dive 150 in the book. It's always a pleasure to dive with the men and women of NWDC.
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Re: FrFrFr 12-29-2017

Post by Vjw »

Seeing how excited Tom was after we saw the colorful greenling couple and their eggs (said he’d never seen that in over 1200 dives), I considered myself very lucky to get to see it too! Thanks for being a great dive buddy!

Please note this is my first video edit, first time using YouTube, and first time attempting to put a video on this website (actually link to a website).

https://youtu.be/SRrgPOvtCas
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Tom Nic
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Re: FrFrFr 12-29-2017

Post by Tom Nic »

THAT IS SO COOL!!! Great job Val, and great shots!

Now all we need is a little background music "Shake it up baby now..." :norris:

I am going to link to that video (with your permission) on the Reef PNW Critterwatchers FB page. It will be perfect!
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"Anyone who thinks this place is over moderated is bat-crazy anarchist." -Ben, Airsix
"Warning: No dive masters are going to be there, Just a bunch of old fat guys taking pictures of fish." -Bassman
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Re: FrFrFr 12-29-2017

Post by Vjw »

What, you don’t like my breathing??
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Re: FrFrFr 12-29-2017

Post by Vjw »

Yes, you have my permission - tried to get a slow-mo shot at the end and yeah music would have been nice -
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Tom Nic
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Re: FrFrFr 12-29-2017

Post by Tom Nic »

Vjw wrote:Yes, you have my permission - tried to get a slow-mo shot at the end and yeah music would have been nice -
Thank you! It was a wonderful capture, and pretty darn awesome for your first time messing with YouTube!
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"Anyone who thinks this place is over moderated is bat-crazy anarchist." -Ben, Airsix
"Warning: No dive masters are going to be there, Just a bunch of old fat guys taking pictures of fish." -Bassman
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Re: FrFrFr 12-29-2017

Post by stphnmartin »

Awesome first video post vjw! Glad that you had cooperative, active and attractive subjects!
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Re: FrFrFr 12-29-2017

Post by Gdog »

Val, that was great! Nice work!
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Hoodsport_Diver
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Re: FrFrFr 12-29-2017

Post by Hoodsport_Diver »

Awesome video, Vjw! I can hardly wait for your next post...
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Re: FrFrFr 12-29-2017

Post by YellowEye »

Very cool!
Visit pnwdiving.com for viz reports, slack planning, galleries and more!
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