Titlow With Tom Nic

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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H20doctor
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Titlow With Tom Nic

Post by H20doctor »

Over the last few months Tom has been throwing messages to me about diving during the week , when everyone else is at work ..LoL and so he and i threw back and forth where to go and where to dive ...? one of the planned sites was for him to come up north and see some of the north stuff , but with a Strong south wind brewing up for thursday , my N end stuff was a no go ... So I volunteered to suffer in traffic and drive down to Titlow ...
Thursdays predicted slack was at 1:15 ... the mission , to make it out without being slammed by current.... I made it to the lot shortly after 11 am . to see a Guy with a beard wearing a N W dive club shirt , and driving a 4 door blue car ... :eric: Yeah , it was Sir tom Nic.. Master of the 80 min dive and King of critter spotting ... With a nice beard growing and a firm Handshake , we caught up on life and How we have been ..
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there was a Pumpkin massacre a few days a go and the Natives had displayed them to ward Off scuba Divers from their waters
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i was a Bit Leary about being here after seeing these poor pumpkins, But i knew Tom nic would protect me from the tacoma savages by simply using his Black belt martial arts skills .... :eek: if that failed he would use his Dan Dive mat as a weapon and beat them to submission...
ANYWAY ... geared up at 1245 and we get into the water ... there is current and its pushing north .. Now its not too strong of current that we cant stay in ... But its enough current to make ya think ... Hmmmmmmmm are we gonna get out to the Pilings ? well I was gonna kick with my feet and give it my all to dam well make it out to those suckers because I sat in traffic for 1.5 hours , and kicking in current was waaaaaayyyyyyy Better than being stuck in traffic .... over the sand and rock ... kicking head into the current ... we made IT :taco: :taco: !!! and once behind the Pilings we were able to relax and get our gear situated , cameras On , and settings ready for the dive ....
The Viz .... not bad id say 25 to 30 feet ... the white Plumose anems were open and out , the barnacles Have fallen off of the Plings and towards the east end they are all over the bottom of the sand ....Sad stuff ... I was shooting Macro so i was Looking for small stuff to shoot ... first up ... this dude
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I then thought I saw a Dotto Nudi ... but it was soooooooo freeking small that i didnt have the Ability to focus on it ... Here it is ..
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Some Pink mouth Hydroids ... with an Alien flea .... where is MY 105MM Lens ? Ohhhh thats right still at the store cause its Too darn expensive !!! :supz:
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We did Achieve slack and Have flat dead calm water .... But it didnt Show up till 215 230 pm ... once that Happnd Tom and I explored the whole place top to bottom ....
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After The dive we went to Steamers and Got lunch.. And talked About the next Adventures for scuba ..
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NWDC Rule #2 Pictures Or it didn't Happen
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Tom Nic
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Re: Titlow With Tom Nic

Post by Tom Nic »

Great report Chris! And thanks for making the trek all the way to the Southland... that freeway through Seattle scares me... :eek:

I don't have a good handle on how to predict slack here at Titlow, and my internet searches have been somewhat fruitless. So, let's just wing it! Tacoma Narrows South end was due to be slack around 1:15 or so, so we went in a bit before that and the current was still pushing as the previous flood was 5.2 knots. About 40 minutes or so into the dive the current finally died down enough for us to move around the dolphins and do a bit of exploring, and it ended up being a relaxing, full, fun 90 minutes underwater.

Even though I'm not set up the best for wide angle, when the viz is in the 30' range like it was this day the "Cathedrals" (i.e. the old ferry pilings) are simply stunning.

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Chris had his nose stuck in his camera shooting super duper duper macro, so I floated around above him documenting the craziness.

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I absolutely LOVE the Kelp Perch at this site. I see them in abundant quantity, and larger here than any other site I dive in Washington - although they must be elsewhere?! It's not uncommon to see all four of our species of Perch on dives here, but it is the abundance of the golden Kelp Perch that is a real treat for me! A few months ago there were just clouds of them, and while this dive didn't have quite as many, they were still all over the place.

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And finally... not sure what happened to this guy but he lost his tail somehow. I wonder how long he will survive?

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Great day, great dive, great buddy - just another day in paradise!

Thanks for reading....
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mz53480
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Re: Titlow With Tom Nic

Post by mz53480 »

:supz:
...I like going to the chamber.. They have great food there, and awsome live music "H20doctor"
Check out the VIDEOS!
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Gdog
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Re: Titlow With Tom Nic

Post by Gdog »

Awesome awesomeness! Titlow rocks. Great report guys!
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stphnmartin
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Re: Titlow With Tom Nic

Post by stphnmartin »

Looks like a fun dive. Like the kelp perch with the plumose background. And, the PMHs!
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YellowEye
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Re: Titlow With Tom Nic

Post by YellowEye »

Nice job guys!

Tom -- great WA, and i'm lovin' those kelp perch as well!

Doc -- nice shots!! Pat G would be proud of your doto!
Visit pnwdiving.com for viz reports, slack planning, galleries and more!
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ScubaJess
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Re: Titlow With Tom Nic

Post by ScubaJess »

Great report guys!!! Looks like you had the best time! I love all those perch & the small alien flee is really cool :)
Live Long And Prosper!!!

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Penopolypants
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Re: Titlow With Tom Nic

Post by Penopolypants »

Very cool! Titlow is one of my favorite sites!

It can be hard to predict slack there. I believe that the predictions in the Northwest Shore Dives book is off by a half an hour, but I can't ever remember in which direction.
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Sharkb8
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Re: Titlow With Tom Nic

Post by Sharkb8 »

That looks like a lot of fun! I'll have to make the drive down one of these days to check it out. Nice photos.
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