Sunrise this morning, 12/14/2009

[cardiver]

After waking up this morning and finding that the roads were clear, I called the guys and the dive was back on! DiverBob, Blackwater and I met at Sunrise at 0830 for our 0930 splash.
The water was like glass and the viz looked promising for Brics first real dive on the wall. Predicted slack at the narrows (north end) was 1023 and we dropped in to a stiff flood at 0925. I was nervous for about ten minutes and hoped that I hadn't timed the dive wrong. By the time we had reached the east end of the wall the current had turned west, with no slack in between.
We rode the westerly current back down the entire wall and played around on the sandstone walls for a while, making for an incredible 75 minute dive. I counted six gpo's, seven clown dorids and a partridge in a pear tree...... And two (I only saw one) wolfeel.
Thanks for the great dives guys and I look forward to seeing the PSL pics, Bob!
I'll let one of the other guys post a report on Fox Island......

[DiverBob]

Thanks to Bric and Ron for a great couple of dives this morning. Sunrise is my favorite dive in the South Sound and it was great again this morning! The current was a bit strange, but we still managed a 74 min. dive. I spotted a fat little Lumpy on the way in at about 10ft and took a few pics.

At Fox Island we dropped and turned left staying about 55 ft. Ended up seeing nothing but sand, so we turned around, drifted with the current, and bumped into the wall. Viz wasn't nearly as good here, maybe 10-15 ft. I saw 3 GPO's on the wall and 2 different kinds of Nudi's that were very large. Help me out guy's, I forgot the names! The Eel Grass in the shallows we found a bunch of Hooded Nudi's. My strobe decided to stop working so I have no pics. I'm hoping that it is just a battery change. Ron borrowed my LP 95 tank for this dive. He really enjoyed it because he was able to exercise his wrist's by carry around a a couple of rocks for 50 minutes just to stay down! Conditions were great today for diving!

[Bric Martin]

I got up very early today and got on the road from Portland. I really didn't know what to expect with the weather. Yesterday Portland had some ice on the road in the morning. I saw the reports for the Tacoma area and there was a forecast for about a 1/2 inch of snow. The drive was uneventful and I arrived early. I walked down to the water and it was clear and dead calm, it really looked good. Ron and Bob arrrived about 20 minutes later, we geared up and headed down the hill. Initially I wondered if we had missed the slack, there was a stiff current going to the south. About 10 minutes into the dive the current started to calm and the dive became really enjoyable. This was my first dive at Sunrise and it was really beautiful. The colors at Sunrise are really nice. I dive Hoodscanal so much, it was nice to get away from the silt. We had a nice long dive. The walk up the hill was tiring, but not as bad as I had heard. We did our second dive at Fox Island (West). Fox Island is a nice second dive. We saw a number of octos, and many rockfish. As we exited we stayed in the eel grass for a while. I was looking for "Bob's" lumpies, I didn't find any. The lumpies aside Sunrise was great. I can't wait to go back!

Ron and Bob thanks! Let do it again.

[Grateful Diver]

Cool pix all ... my very first lumpie sighting was in the shallows drifting back toward the beach at Sunrise. That was years ago ... long before I ever got a camera.

I heard from someone at the aquarium today that PSL's are being sighted all over Puget Sound recently ... must be a lumpie bloom or somethin' ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[cardiver]

Great shots, Bob and Bric! The lumpy pics turned out great!

[BASSMAN]

Wow! Looks like I missed a great dive!
Thanks for the reports and pictures!

[Cold_H2O]

I will say it again... There is no place like home.

Wish I was there.. Love diving Sunrise even if the climb back up is a tough one
(Need to dive my little HP Steels when I do Sunrise)

Great shots.. Thanks... brightened my Texas morning to see my home critters.

[airsix]

It's nice to read these reports and see that people are out diving despite the winter weather. :smt038

[Tom Nic]

It's nice to read these reports and see that people are out diving despite the winter weather. :smt038

Agreed!

Although I'm guessing the collective bottom time of the PNW Dive Crazies has taken a nose dive in the last month or so...

[Grateful Diver]

It's nice to read these reports and see that people are out diving despite the winter weather. :smt038

Agreed!

Although I'm guessing the collective bottom time of the PNW Dive Crazies has taken a nose dive in the last month or so...

Not necessarily ... Cheng and I did 68 minutes the night before last ... Casey and I did 84 minutes last Wednesday evening.

When the water temp's in the upper 40's and the air temp's in the lower 20's, there really ain't a whole lot of incentive to end the dive ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[Tom Nic]

It's nice to read these reports and see that people are out diving despite the winter weather. :smt038

Agreed!

Although I'm guessing the collective bottom time of the PNW Dive Crazies has taken a nose dive in the last month or so...

Not necessarily ... Cheng and I did 68 minutes the night before last ... Casey and I did 84 minutes last Wednesday evening.

When the water temp's in the upper 40's and the air temp's in the lower 20's, there really ain't a whole lot of incentive to end the dive ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Somehow I figured you'd be the exception, Bob!

But I stand by my statement about the collective bottom time of PNW Divers taking a nose dive this last month...