CLUB DIVE REPORT, Hood Canal

[Tom Nic]

Fabulous weekend everyone! Thanks to all who organized (Mav!), brought food, shared equipment, had delightful attitudes, and just had a great time. Weather cooperated, lots of people showed up, and it was just a great weekend. Hoodsportndive was fantastic as usual, and they managed a ton of folks with a smile and their usual great customer service.

I don't have time for a detailed report or too many pics right now, just thought I'd get the thread started. Come on people, let's hear your reports of the weekend, your dives, etc. etc.!

[Tom Nic]

Some pics from Thursday's diving are here .

And a few pics From Friday and Saturday are here .

[Diver_C]

Saturday Morning

[dwashbur]

We had two terrific dives, one on the north wall and one on the south wall. For the first dive we had been told that if we went out and dropped on the northern buoy, a couple of wolf eels were living under its anchor block. Sho' 'nuff, they were. Not 10 feet away under a rock ledge was a huge octo. There was a second one about 20 feet from that one. It just got better from there. Viz was pretty bad; below 30 feet it opened to about 20, but below 60 it got bad again. We had intended to go down to about 80 feet and look for sea whips, but the viz down there was so bad we turned back. On our safety stop we almost lost each other a couple of times, and my daughter looked up at one point and found her face less than a foot from a big lion's mane jellyfish. She's had a sting from one of those before so she high-tailed it backwards like you never saw before. Just before we surfaced we came across another one about the same size. I shot some video of the second one that can be seen here: http://s322.photobucket.com/albums/nn40 ... nsmane.flv.

After the barbecue at the yellow house, where we got to meet and schmooze with lots of other dive club folks, we headed back to do the south wall. We found a cute little grunt sculpin right away, as well as a nice big wolf eel giving us the evil eye from his den. We took some pictures and moved on; a lot of the sea cucumbers seem to be a little under the weather. We found a couple of Californias and several reds that looked kind of shriveled. I suspect the dissolved oxygen thing is the culprit. We drifted down to about 50 feet and explored the wall until one of us hit turnaround, then we went up to 25-30 feet and started back. I spotted a big vermillion rockfish and pointed it out to my daughter. She started after it, trying to get a picture (she got a picture of backscatter) when, to our surprise, the vermillion went right over the top of another wolf eel. This guy was sticking out of his den by more than a foot. My daughter had been complaining that she had never seen a wolf eel out in the open, and this guy must have heard her because all at once he came out and started swimming. She followed him and shot some exquisite video. He had to be at least 5 feet long. We followed him until he circled around and went into some of the muck we had kicked up and vanished. What a sight!

Two wonderful dives and some great new friends, including scottsax, maverick, tom nic, and several others. Here are a few pictures. Since I've never had an original thought in my life, I call it the good, the bad and the ugly.

The good:

Our first Flabellina triophinas, and there were a gazillion of them

This guy, of course:

And I know its "real" name is grunt sculpin, but I just like the name "pigfish." It seems so appropriate somehow...

The bad:

This cucumber looks like something grabbed it in the middle and squeezed too hard:

And we found this cluster of Ciona savignyi about 20-30 feet north of the second octopus, at 51 feet and completely filling this fissure in the rock face:

Last but not least, the ugly:

And the wolf eel video is here:
http://s322.photobucket.com/albums/nn40 ... olfeel.flv

[BASSMAN]

Great Report and Great Videos!

That is Sund Rock in all of its glory!


Sorry I missed this one(Club Trip).

But I had to work ](*,)

[scottsax]

It was a great weekend, the yellow house was the perfect place to stay! I only took a few topside pics and haven't even looked at them yet, but will post if they turn out (the camera was acting up a bit). BTW, did anyone find my phone charger in the tv area of the bunk room? I forgot it

The guy (sorry, I can't remember his name) from Hoodsportndive came by and picked it up to mail it to you.

[dwashbur]

We did have one casualty when my wife's camera flooded on the first dive. Still trying to find out if it's going to survive...

[oregondiver]

I had an awesome time this past weekend. THanks to Mav for reminding me that you lose 1500 calories per dive on average. I weighed in this morning (sans dive gear of course) and I am down 3 lbs...even with the Hostess chocolate donuts I brought to share!

To the nice co-sleepers at the yellow house (bunk area)...my apologies for going to sleep so early!!
To the nice co-sleepers at the yellow house (bunk area)...my apologies for getting up at the butt crack of dawn each morning!

I had a great dive on Friday after we rolled into town. Good times with good people making dinner/drinks that evening.
I had three great dives on Saturday before a fantastic bbq at the yellow house (thanks again Dieseldude for cooking my chicken dogs, just like the last club dive!).

I had one aborted dive when trying to use my NEW DSS bp/w Saturday afternoon. Darn thing was leaking air faster than a used car salesman gasbag. But I did have a great 4th dive with some random strangers. It was late enough that it was fun playing with the biolum! Saw about 12 octos all weekend (2 of them were just hanging out outside on rocks). About 10 wolfies.

I didn't get to dive on Sunday before we left because I couldn't find anyone to dive with, even with parking at Octopus Hole for almost 30 minutes. sheesh, those gosh darn late sleepers!

[Diver_C]

Saturday noon-ish before BBQ





Smile pretty for the camera...

[oregondiver]

scubagirl...I think it was because we left while it was still pitch black inside the yellow house.

[dieseldude]

Well i left the house later than I should have, missed the ferry I wanted to catch,drove 14 miles from home & wham it hit me, my drysuit is hanging up on the barstool at home,turned around & went back home, missed the next ferry-counted to 10,took a deep breath-had a beautiful ferry ride, awesome drive through the hills, little confusion finding the site but got there & had an awesome dive even with visibility not being the greatest, saw lots of stuff i don't normally see at my regular haunts including an orange sea squirt(I didn't get a pic, had to keep up with my group)& a BUNCH of wolfie's-it made the mornings mishaps all worth while-had a good lunch too-Thank you everyone for being so friendly to my son who is normally real shy-he felt very welcome. heres my pics-see if you see yourself & hope to see you all next time for more than 1 dive
Dieseldude

[dwashbur]

I didn't see myself, but I saw my wife (5th one down). She's more fun to look at than I am, anyway...

[ORDiver]

Had great time on Saturday. Had a couple of good dives. Saw my first Wolf Eel. Nice to meet all of you. I don't know why I look like a angry, green hatted bastard in the pictures above. I look like I'm about to attack something and eat it in the third one from the bottom. AAaargh! I was actually in a good mood.

Cheers all, Dave

[spatman]

I don't know why I look like a angry, green hatted bastard in the pictures above. I look like I'm about to attack something and eat it in the third one from the bottom. AAaargh!

you always look like that, dave. haven't had your pic taken in a while, eh?

[Biodiversity_Guy]

Nice meeting all/many of you Saturday morning. Nice to dive with you Diver_C and Oregondiver.

When we did the middle wall I finally got a photo of a longspine combfish. I have seen him there several times before, but without getting an identifiable shot.

[Sheri]

What a great weekend! The fact that I had to go to work this morning and wasn't just hanging out watching another sunrise over Hood Canal, really sucked. It was just too short. Despite pretty crappy viz, there was some amazing diving to be had. As you can imagine, the company was great, and if you've never stayed at the Yellow House before, it freakin' ROCKS! The gear-drying room alone is worth the bucks for the weekend! =)

Kate, Chris, Shell, Loretta, Scott and I seemed to converge on Hoodsport & Dive at about the same time Friday, so we all ended up going for our first dive at Octopus hole and it was actually full of octos! We saw about 4 the whole dive, and a couple of wolfies to boot. Vis was about 10 feet or so - 15 down past about 45 feet, and we had a pretty good time of it - about a 45 minute dive. Not to mention that Tom Nic, Mav & Cuppie were waiting there when we got out of the water! It was a good way to start the weekend. Pesto pasta, Chris's AMAZING grilled garlic shrimp and yummy salads preceded a sit in the hot tub and beers. Yum.

I buddied up with Scott the first dive of Saturday and intended to follow everyone out to the trawler. We were the last to descend, and for some reason, crossing over the sandy expanse between the wall and the trawler, the deep, dark nothingness disoriented the heck out of me at about 65 feet, I started the "sucking air-panic," and the whole 9 yards.. no earthly reason for it. I hit the bottom, and luckily, Scott was right there. He guided us to the wall, at which point things just clicked back into place for me, and we headed back to shore. I felt like a schmuck when we surfaced after only 20 minutes, so I asked if he'd be willing to swim back out to the buoy, just to follow the line down and try to see the 2 wolfies that live at the bottom right there. Neither one of us had come close to them on the descent. So we did - saw them both, and a few other cool things back on the shallower parts of the wall, so it kind of made up for my tweak-out.

Our second dive of Saturday was to the south wall, and it was good. We saw more octos, avoided a huge Lion's mane jelly, and saw lots of little life on the wall. Even saw my first female wolfie! Tom Nic had told me earlier in the day that "The females are the pretty ones and the males are the ugly ones." After giggling profusely, I discovered that now I really know what to look for! Thanks, Tom! Pretty little purple thing, she was!

We came back to the house to get warm and have the BBQ. Mav played T-shirt vendor, and we all ate copious amounts of good food. Around 5, most of us staying that night at the house left again for another dive. The main group went to Octopus hole, and Scott, Barb (Babs13) and I decided to get every last dime out of what we'd paid Mr. Sund. The 3 of us headed back out toward the north wall again. We'd decided that if viz was ok, we'd head to the trawler, but ended up just exploring the wall. Scott spotted a couple of beautiful nudis that really made the dive. Despite continued 5-7 foot viz, there was still tons of life to see.

Saturday night, back at the house, all I remember after Mav & Cuppie left were that Rachel and Greg braved it out for a night dive across the street from the house, and said that the biolum was great and that they saw a giant red octo out in the open. And... most of the rest of us just crashing out in the middle of watching the "LIfe Aquatic With Steve Zissou," in the front room. Those with long drives took off throughout Sunday morning, and everyone had done their part in cleaning things up, so there wasn't much left to do at the end.

Around 1030am, we decided to get in one more dive at Octopus hole before taking off, but it was so crowded that we elected to pay Mr Sund one last time. Greg and Rachel headed out on their own back toward home, which left Kate, Scott and me at Sund. Not many people were there! (A clue?) The chop on the surface should have been a warning sign for what was to come down below. Our first dive attempt was literally the worst viz I've ever been in. We descended with every intention of going out to the trawler, but couldn't even see the buoy line! No more than 1-2 feet max - even with Penelope's 21 watt Salvo!! 7 minutes total, and we called it. Woo Hoo!! As Spatman would say, "Suck factor 9, Mister Sulu!" We decided that it might be a little easier to try the south wall one last time, but would call it if the schmutz was still that bad.

We actually had a great last dive. Saw a HUGE octo out of its den on the wall, and a last wolfie. Closer to the wall and down around 40 feet, the vis was good, and what we all expected to suck, turned out to be a good dive to close out the trip. Then Scott and Kate and I made ourselves lunch out of the leftover flotsam and jetsam, cleaned up, closed up the house, and headed for home.

Thanks to everyone who came out, brought stuff, cooked, cleaned, buddied up, shared knowledge, and made us laugh our heads off, all weekend long. Looking forward to the next one.. :smt038

[Tom Nic]

Great Reports everyone! I appreciate hearing about each of your dive experiences.

Bassman and I "kicked off" the weekend on Thursday doing 3 dives on our own, representing NWDC rather well I thought! There really was so much life. With fewer divers it wasn't stirred up quite as much, and ended up being great dives. I ended up taking over 250 pictures, then culling them down to these . A few of my favs are below...

There were some cukes and anemones that looked O2 stressed - but also very many that did not. The word from HoodsportnDive was that there has been a low oxygen event deep and that this pushed quite a few octos shallower. There were certainly more octos than I have seen before, and it is the first I've heard of their being actual octopus at Octopus Hole in the last few years.

Here's an anemic looking cuke. Many were laying on their sides, skinny, and with their mouth parts extended. Perhaps they are a more sensitive early indicator species?



This pic isn't the greatest, but there was a MONSTER Ling on the trawler that let us get close. All I can say is I'm sure glad she wasn't on eggs! Keith in the pic gives a little perspective.



Saw my first ever Rhinoceros Crab, Rhinolithodes wosnessenskii on the South Wall.



We also found a huge male Scaleyhead Sculpin. I'm used to seeing these guys in the 2" range - he was at least 6 inches!



And what's not to love about these Flabellina triophinas?



OK, enough of Thursday. Friday I showed up very early, buddyless, and ended up enjoying the silence and solitude of Sund Rock for about 2-3 hours before a prospective NWDC buddy showed up. Mav (where's your report Mav?) was late because of perpetual "forget-stuff-itis". When we finally got together, geared up in the water, ready to go I did my normal "dip your face in the water before putting mask on" and felt that unmistakeable surge of icy cold on my chest. Cuppie couldn't see anything obviously wrong, but on sinking to the level of my neck seal I felt it again and thumbed the dive. I discovered that my newly installed neck seal had delaminated... sigh. Ron fixed me up just fine at HoodsportnDive - THANKS RON! (BTW, have I mentioned the great service we received all weekend?!) but my diving for the day was done. So the rest of the day was spent hanging out and shooting the breeze with newly met dive buddies and enjoying a great dinner at the Yellow House before heading back to my domicile in Lakewood.

Saturday I arrived early with tanks that needed draining badly! I got in two dives before lunch, took another bunch of pics - the ones I culled & uploaded are here . I had a great first dive with Babs to the North Wall and to the Trawler. I had the pleasure of showing Babs her first wolfies and we had a great dive. I wish I had been as proficient as her on my 22nd dive! For my second dive Diver C & I finally went to the deep wall directly off the entrance - I beleive that some call it Fish Pen Wall. I was looking for the Red Brotulas, which alas I did not find... a good excuse to go back! We ended up on the South Wall and found the octo who is denned with eggs. It was a real treat to find her in a den that allowed us a good look at her and her eggs. She certainly seems like an attentive Mama! A few pics from that dive are below.





Here's Kalatin and several other NWDiveClubbers emerging from Octopus Hole, stoked after a great dive!



These are a few shots of lunch on Saturday. Great dives, Great weekend, Great company. Let's do it again soon!

[cardiver]

You know, Tom. There is a Red Brotula at Les Davis, too....

[Tom Nic]

You know, Tom. There is a Red Brotula at Les Davis, too....

Really!? I think I'll let you help me find him! :-)

Had two GREAT dives at Les yesterday... Report coming, I'll be diving there alot more often. It's a GREAT site!

(There - I said it!)

[cardiver]

Wish I would have known.... I hear the the viz at Redondo has been excellent lately.

[airsix]

Wish I could have been there, and appreciate all the nice reports.

But what's with all the frowning?! Most (not all, but most) of you look like you're attending a funeral!

It's a dive trip for heaven's sake. SMILE!!!!!

-Ben

[Tom Nic]

Everyone was missing you Ben!

[scottsax]

Wish I could have been there, and appreciate all the nice reports.

But what's with all the frowning?! Most (not all, but most) of you look like you're attending a funeral!

It's a dive trip for heaven's sake. SMILE!!!!!

-Ben

I can't speak for anyone else, but I was cold and hungry...

[Kalatin]

Wish I could have been there, and appreciate all the nice reports.

But what's with all the frowning?! Most (not all, but most) of you look like you're attending a funeral!

It's a dive trip for heaven's sake. SMILE!!!!!

-Ben

I can't speak for anyone else, but I was cold and hungry...

Scott, you were doing it wrong. While you were cold and hungry, I was hanging out in the hot tub with a root beer and a granola bar. That is how SIs should be spent.

[scottsax]

Scott, you were doing it wrong. While you were cold and hungry, I was hanging out in the hot tub with a root beer and a granola bar. That is how SIs should be spent.

Silly me. I thought I was supposed to run around like an idiot and fall on my ass...