Saltar's Point - 11-08-2007

[Tom Nic]

Bnboly and I had two great dives at Saltar's Point last week. This was my first time at the site, and I would dive it again. Bill's site description is here. Some of my pics from the dive are here.

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This site is for the most part very shallow, (very "Titlowesque" in that regard, I think you could do a 2 hour dive here if your bladder could stand it) and this was especially evident as we dove it on a lower tide. Dive one was 79 minutes and dive two was almost 70, and we surfaced with over 1000 psi on both dives. It gave us strong reason to think about pee valves!

The walk down steps (and back up at the end) carrying gear keeps this site from being used more than it is. Current can be an issue here, but we didn't time slack and it was no problem. My advice would be to carefully judge surface conditions as you enter and abort the dive if the current is ripping.

There are several older wrecks scattered up and down this site, mostly pleasure boats. We entered the water just to the South of the covered picnic area and immediately found a boat resting in about 20fsw. After hitting a couple of the deeper pilings and a couple more wrecks the scenery is pretty barren and silty. As you move shallower you run into the pilings of the old boat house, and as we continued South we kept running into more sunken boats. We turned and headed back to the entry point more because of cold and bladder issues than anything else. It would be interesting to see what is farther South.

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We did not encounter a ton of life, though we ran into enough things to make it interesting. Viz was 20' and variable, with a fair amount of schmutz in the water that didn't lend itself to great pics. This Giant Nudibranch was a treat. I haven't seen very many of them, and their sheer size and flamboyance make them a welcome find on any dive.
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A Dendronotus Rufus is always a welcome find as well!
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I was surprised to encounter the "Sea Whips" that I usually see only starting at around 80 fsw. They were not very long. This isn't the greatest pic, but I'm posting it just in case I've misidentified it.
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This little Sharpnose Crab (at least I think it's a Sharpnose... either that or a decorator) was a fun find with it's three accompanying little plumose anemones. I wonder what it will do as the plumose keep growing? This might be a fun photo to enter a contest if I could think of a creative caption...
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As I mentioned, not lots of life, but between Pole Vaulting Clams and a White Spotted Greenling on eggs, certainly enough to keep us entertained!
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All in all a fun couple of dives, thanks Bill for being a great dive buddy!

[bnboly]

Not a problem Tom! We did have two great dives. Next time we need to get some dive sherpas!

[Seth T.]

Wow, looks way cool! Dang, another site for my list! ](*,)

[spatman]

sounds like a great dive!

i'm certainly no expert, but would this be a White Sea Pen (Stylatula elongata)?

I was surprised to encounter the "Sea Whips" that I usually see only starting at around 80 fsw. They were not very long. This isn't the greatest pic, but I'm posting it just in case I've misidentified it.
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[Tom Nic]

I don't have my ID books at my fingertips. We'll give it a look!

[Tom Nic]

I embedded the short videos of a pole vaulting clam and a Whitespotted Greenling in the original post. They aren't the greatest quality, but get the point across! It's fun being "greeted" by an agressive greenling, (normally shy to the point of seldom being able to get a good pic except at night when they're sleeping) swimming right up to you when you come into the vicinity of their eggs.

[gcbryan]

Nice pics. That's not a Sea Whip so I think Spatman is right regarding it being a White Sea Pen (I don't recall ever seeing one of those).

I've never seen anemones attached to a Sharpnose Crab either however I believe those are Short Plumose Anemones and will not get much bigger.

[Tom Nic]

Nice pics. That's not a Sea Whip so I think Spatman is right regarding it being a White Sea Pen (I don't recall ever seeing one of those).

I've never seen anemones attached to a Sharpnose Crab either however I believe those are Short Plumose Anemones and will not get much bigger.

Thanks!

You are correct on the Plumose being the Short Plumose... I still think they might get a hair heavy... :-) They do get a bit bigger. It was cool to see them fully extended then begin to withdraw as the crab decided he did not like his picture being taken and began to move around more than they were obviously used to!

I took a bunch of pics of what you guys are calling a White Sea Pen. There were lots of them around. I too had never seen anything remotely like that shallow, so I assumed they were the Sea Whips. Thanks for the catch you guys, and I'll drag out Mr. Lamb tonight for some help. Janna? Do you ever look at these report threads? Help!

[gcbryan]

Just curious, where do you usually see Sea Whips? The only place I can recall seeing them is Sund Rock. I'm wondering if there are more places that they frequent down in the South Sound.

For that matter, the only place where I commonly see Sand Dollars is Fox Island.

I'm guessing that both like silty waters with not so much circulation. Anyone know for sure?

[Tom Nic]

Actualy I've only seen them in Hood Canal as well, Sund Rock, Rosie's Ravine, as well as a few other sites. I haven't seen any locally either. Doesn't mean they're not there, just that I haven't seen them! :-)

[Tom Nic]

sounds like a great dive!

i'm certainly no expert, but would this be a White Sea Pen (Stylatula elongata)?

I was surprised to encounter the "Sea Whips" that I usually see only starting at around 80 fsw. They were not very long. This isn't the greatest pic, but I'm posting it just in case I've misidentified it.
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My apologies in advance, as this really belongs in the Critterwatchers section. Perhaps I'll post it over there as well.

OK, here's what I've found in the "saga of the White Sea Pen". Gotshall's "Guide To Marine Invertebrates" on pg 35 has a pic of one that looks like what I took a picture of, Stylatula elongata, as Spat so helpfully pointed out. Whelks To Whales on pg 36 also lists a White Sea Pen, but has as it's latin name Virgularia sp. and as an alternate name Virgularia ? tuberculata. Andy Lamb's book has it this way as well.

Two different species perhaps? Or the ongoing taxonomical process of figuring out what species something actually is? Just guesses, that's beyond my pay grade!