March 1. Cove 2 Dive Report

Tangfish · Post by **Tangfish** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 11:10 pm

Nailer, Jason and I did a great dive at Cove 2 tonight. We hit max depth of 116fsw. Dive time approx 55min. We were cold by the end of the dive but got to see almost all of the usual suspects in PNW diving. The seals, a red octo, some <del>buffalo sculpin</del> <del>Cabezon</del> Great Sculpin, a stubby squid and a bunch of other stuff I'm forgetting (feel free to add, Nailer). Here are some shots I captured tonight, using the Casio camera a few of you have recently picked up.

<a href="" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/125/4075 ... 155d_o.jpg" width="600" height="800" alt="Buffalo Sculpin Protecting Eggs"></a>

<a href="" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/164/4075 ... 4d3860.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Red Octopus"></a>

<a href="" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/157/4075 ... b86504.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Fleeing Red Octo"></a>

<a href="" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/129/4075 ... 435f4f.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Sculpin Profile"></a>

<a href="" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/153/4075 ... 038ebc.jpg" width="500" height="409" alt="Stubby Squid"></a>

Joshua Smith · Post by **Joshua Smith** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 6:22 am

Very nice pics, Calvin! Thanks for a fun dive.

John Rawlings · Post by **John Rawlings** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 6:31 am

Calvin - the fish is a Cabezon.

FANTASTIC photos!!!!

Maverick · Post by **Maverick** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 7:24 am

man I always miss the good ones ](*,)

Curt McNamee · Post by **Curt McNamee** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 9:45 am

Great pictures!!!! the squid are really neat.

jeff98208 · Post by **jeff98208** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 9:54 am

very nice pics. i like the stubby little squid.

Diver_C · Post by **Diver_C** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 11:42 am

Those are nice pics. What a fun sounding dive. Hope/expect to make next week's. So until then...

Rich

dsteding · Post by **dsteding** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 12:26 pm

Nice pics Calvin, it was good to catch up with you guys.

Boy, I sure am going to be glad when Junior moves away for the summer-looks like the vis would have been pretty spectacular if it wasn't for the silt he was kicking up all over the place.

Tangfish · Post by **Tangfish** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 2:22 pm

John Rawlings wrote:Calvin - the fish is a Cabezon.

FANTASTIC photos!!!!

Thank you, correction made!

I couldn't see the bushy eyebrows very well, and the body didn't taper too much on these.

LCF · Post by **LCF** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 9:36 pm

Lovely photographs -- I wish you had gotten one of the little octopus crawling around on my dive buddy's head

It was a very select fraternity that was willing to brave the weather and enjoy Cove 2 last night. There weren't many of us!

Sergeant Pepper · Post by **Sergeant Pepper** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 12:32 am

Ditto on what Maverick said. I always miss the good ones.. great pictures!

Jan K · Post by **Jan K** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 6:11 am

Great photos! Looking at the fish photo, it looks to me like Great Sculpin, we might ask Janna. The eggs on the first photo look exactly like the ones I took at Langley, and that was Buffalo Sculpin. So they could be sculpin eggs..Just my 2 cents worth...

John Rawlings · Post by **John Rawlings** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 8:16 am

Jan K wrote:Great photos! Looking at the fish photo, it looks to me like Great Sculpin, we might ask Janna. The eggs on the first photo look exactly like the ones I took at Langley, and that was Buffalo Sculpin. So they could be sculpin eggs..Just my 2 cents worth...

You know, Jan, I think that your "2 cents worth" is worth far MORE than that! I think that you're correct that it's a Great Sculpin. I made a snap "Cabezon" judgement based on the color of the egg mass.

The second photo of the fish clearly shows the mouth extending beyond the eye, which is one of the key identifying features of the Great Sculpin.

Looks like Calvin will need to make yet ANOTHER correction!

- John (blushing)

Ken G · Post by **Ken G** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 1:33 pm

Great Shots! I really like the eggs and the octo. Looks like you had a great dive....

Tangfish · Post by **Tangfish** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 10:08 pm

John Rawlings wrote:The second photo of the fish clearly shows the mouth extending beyond the eye, which is one of the key identifying features of the Great Sculpin.

Looks like Calvin will need to make yet ANOTHER correction!

- John (blushing)

John, I'm seriously doubting your ID skills lately

(I'm kidding, JR is one of the most knowledgeable people I know when it comes to marine life, it's always healthy to poke some fun though)

John Rawlings · Post by **John Rawlings** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 5:22 am

Sob....I'm crushed!

nwscubamom · Post by **nwscubamom** » Sat Mar 24, 2007 12:17 pm

Just saw this!! Been so busy lately it's hard to keep up with the posts!

Yes indeedy, it's a Great Sculpin, not a Cabezon. No busy cirri above the eyes, shape of the mouth is a Great Sculpin too. But yes, the eggs did look like a Cabby's eggs!

Nice shots and good call, Jan!

- Janna