All of you know that Valerie is one of my favorite dive buddies, so no matter what the conditions of the water were I knew that it would be a fun dive! I had not met Maren before, but she proved to be both a delightful person as well as a good diver.
I was the first to arrive and there were two divers just getting out of the water, (Jim and John from Anacortes). They told me that visibility was extraordinarily poor - only a couple of feet at best - but they had had a good dive anyway. Jim was shooting a Nikon D-200 in an Ikelite housing, so we compared photography notes for a while before I walked back over to my truck. When I pulled my KISS rebreather out of the cab they practically flew over to chat CCR talk! I just love talking to fellow divers on cold windswept beaches.....it's what makes life interesting!
After Val and Maren arrived we suited up and entered the water just preceding slack. Visibility had improved and was better than Jim and John had experienced on their dive.....but NOT by much....I'd say around 8 - 10 feet at best. Still, the three of us had a blast poking our noses into all the myriad nooks and crannies that abound on the Keystone breakwater, spotting all manner of tiny critters scurrying here and there.
Near the end of the breakwater the current picked up quite a bit. I was testing some new fins that a manufacturer had sent me and when I entered the current I quickly found that the new fins were NOT adequate for swimming against a current....I missed my good ol' Jet Fins something fierce at that point!
While at our safety stop, both Valerie and I spotted a tiny creature protruding out of the bottom that neither of us had seen before. It was pure white and the part that was above the sand was about the size of a "pinky" or small fingernail. To me it resembled a starburst - round with 5 or six points originating in the center. Some of the points were definitely longer than others. It may even be the skeletal remains of a living creature. Valerie took at least one photo of it, so maybe she'll post it and someone will let us know what it was that we saw, (Janna?
)Anyway.....the sky was blue.....the wind was crisp.....the snow-capped Olympic Mountains were our vista in the distance....critters were everywhere underwater.....it was a perfect day! I had to head back toward the ferry after one dive because I had another commitment, but the one dive that I had was really enjoyable.
Thanks, Valerie and Maren for a great dive and great friendship!
- John
of Andy Lamb's Big Book and see if you think that's what we saw. It looks similar but not quite exactly right. I have to download photos tonight and I'll post when they're available. The books describes them as white crowned burrowing anemones from a species of Edwardsia. 
