Keystone (The Report)

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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Pez7378
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Keystone (The Report)

Post by Pez7378 »

On December 15th, I decided that I would be going to Keystone Jetty today. Little did I know that there would be an impromptu Club dive at Redondo that would cost me my dive buddy. No worries as H20Doctor (Chris) was also planning on joining me at Keystone. As luck would have it, Rachel and Greg also decided on diving Keystone and they met me on the 1000am ferry, while Chris was stuck in Lynnwood getting air fills. It looked like he would miss the first dive.
Jetty
Jetty
We arrived at the dive site right at 1100am and there were two guys from the Northend just finishing up their dive. The visibility report was mediocre at best. The plan was to enter at the old wharf, and follow the line to the Jetty. We only planned on spending about 15 minutes or so tooling around the pilings, but we kept seeing cool critters so we ended up extending our visit to about 19 minutes or so. No worries.
Clown Nudibranch
Clown Nudibranch
Octo
Octo
Urchin
Urchin

We gradually decended down to about 33 fsw where we found the line running west toward the jetty. It would be a long swim, but the current was gentle and we made pretty good time. As I recall, there wasn't much to see along the line from the wharf to the Jetty.

At the jetty there was the usual glow of the white plumose anemones that cover the rocks above. As reported the visibility was 15 ft at best so we all went into Macro mode, nosing up to the rocks and sticking our entire heads into various nooks and crannies. I took some still shots, but with my new found ability to do something more with video, I took lots of video too. The first dive with Rachel and Greg was a nice long 60 minutes, with a max depth of around 42 fsw. It was a good dive, and although we didn't see it all, and didn't have great vis, I hope they found Keystone as interesting as I do.
leopard dorid
leopard dorid
Hermit
Hermit
IMG_0076.JPG
Rachel and Greg had other plans so it was just one dive for them. Chris had already arrived and was in the water when we got out, so I waited for him to surface. As it turns out, Dusty and his friend were there too so Chris had someone to dive with while Rachel, Greg and I were finishing up our dive. Well, at least he had someone to descend with.........(But that's another story). After about an hours dive, Dusty, his friend and eventually Chris, all surfaced, and began preparing for dive #2.

The second dive was as good as the first. Dusty and his buddy, entered the water, then two others and Chris and I. It wasn't long before Chris found the den of a very large GPO. I'm not sure how this guy gets in and out of that little hole, but he was huge and the hole was small and I could'nt even get my camera in for a decent picture. Oh well, we all know what they look like right? When we were on the surface, before the dive, I asked Dusty how he manages to see all those microscopic nudibranchs. He gave me a lesson I'll never forget. At around 45fsw or so, Chris and I encounter Dusty and his buddy. Dusty motions to me and points. I'm looking and looking, thinking "wow, he must have spotted another tiny nudibranch". Finally I see it. I was looking and looking for this little tiny critter, and it turns out that Dusty had spotted a big, full size Red dendronotid. This thing was enormous! So I scooted in and took a really crappy picture. But I'll never forget how Dusty showed me the biggest Nudi I have ever seen, after I asked him how he manages to spot the tiny ones. On the way in, I found my first ever Cockerells nudibranch. I even manged to take a picture that I think is in focus. I had to delete several pics due to the large amount of video I took, but it paid off. Anyway, here are a few pics from the day, and thanks to Rachel, Greg and Chris. And Thanks to Dusty for the lesson on spotting nudibranchs, I'll flood my mask every time I think of it.

Some random shots from the second dive:
Not sure
Not sure
cockerells
cockerells
IMG_0105.JPG
So one last thing before I finish. The restaurant, next to the park is open again. I think it's called "The Keystone Cafe" or something simple. Anyway, Chris and I went there for a quick bite to eat before running to the ferry, and low and behold I found a Pacific Spiny Lumpsucker in the Christmas tree! Take a look:
PSL
PSL
PSL2
PSL2
It wasn't scooterin' Redondo with the NWDC, but it was a damn fine day!
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rjarnold
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Re: Keystone (The Report)

Post by rjarnold »

Thanks for the dive Pez, I really enjoyed it! Keystone is certainly a place I'll return to! And now for some pics, since I actually DID have my camera on me this time :)

Look, I have eyes in the back of my head!
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Preeettty
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This was my first leopard dori!
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Clown
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Now I saw this same species (it's pretty large!) at DIW on Friday, but I don't know which it is, and haven't had the motivation to look it up -
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The beautiful feather dusters of Keystone!
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Big, fluffy pillows
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Lophiiformes rock.

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H20doctor
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Re: Keystone (The Report)

Post by H20doctor »

well after being snowed in still at my house there was no way i was going to miss this dive..... saturday i spent an hour shoveling the driveway just to get my van turned around... i then watched my dad late saturday try to get out of our place and after 2 hours and getting stuck 4 times he gave up.... but he did make it to the end of our 200 foot drive way ... i then call fishtiq and told him i couldnt make our saturday dive unless i had a helicopter!!!! So that same night at 9 pm there was no way i was going to be stuck and miss another Keystone dive. I drove my van like a bat out of hell and got out of our drive way and down the road to hwy 92 .....
sunday morning dive day....and i have 3 empty tanks down to the dive shop 10 am get my fills , talk with chris on the phone and let him know i am prob going to make the 2nd dive with him.... on the ferry and then i am there... 1145 i have arrived 3 tanks and i am stoked... been stuck in a snow Hell for 3 days and i had cabin fever bad.. got geared up and met Dusty and his dive friend... they loaded up and got in the water we are diving the old dock/ pilings... then i hear a shout from the water " Hey can you grab my Fins ?" i looked on the table and there they were !!! so they go and i dropped closer to the pilings.... i got into the pilings and started shooting pics... vis was a little blurry but not what i had seen from earlier dives... I swam through and looked at the massive barnicles growing on the pilings, along with the crabs, and sponges... there was a piling completly filled with snails from top to bottom... kelp greenlings swimming to and fro... snap snap snap pic after pic... I then realized that dusty had disapeared and I was now solo in 24 feet of water... not a big deal cause i enjoy the quiet and stillness of solo diving and enjoying the dive in a clam relaxed state.... taking as much time as it needs to explore and get a shot till i think its been shot... 61 mins and the first dive is a rap!!!!!
back to the Van and switch out tanks... give chris my LP 95 and i am now on a AL 80... we hit in and now were on the Jetty... down we go and NO current..... very nice ... we explore the rocks and all the white plumose anemonies... lings swimming in and out of the rocks... lots of irish lords, and spider crabs... I find a rock with broken shells and crab claws stuff down into it... OCTO den... i move away the debris and chris goes around the other side to explore, way down under this rock is a GPO but its to small to get a shot or a pic.... all i see is suckers and tenticles... back out and we come across dusty again on the dive with us... i hit 52 feet and chris give me the bump to turn and we head back looking and discovering this jetty full of life and amazement.... snap snap snap... and we are done another long dive i think we got over 45 mins... but it was really really COLD on these dives and i was glad to get out.... i wish vis was better but any time i can do this site it always amazes me the amount of macro life on the rocks and pilings..... :smt038 \:D/

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i did shoot video and it will be up in a couple of days also for you to see !!!!! :occasion5:
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rjarnold
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Re: Keystone (The Report)

Post by rjarnold »

We ended up going to the cafe across the street as well. Our 'other plans' were to do a hike around Whidbey Island called the Bluff Loop Trail.

Beautiful Trail -
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Obviously we took a wrong turn at one point and had to back track a ways, as our start point was right near Lake Pondilla... ;)
Image
Lophiiformes rock.

"Anal fins are a gateway drug." - Tom Nic
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sheahanmcculla
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Re: Keystone (The Report)

Post by sheahanmcculla »

nice reports, i hope to hit it soon. wired that vis was bad its usually great!
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BASSMAN
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Re: Keystone (The Report)

Post by BASSMAN »

Great report and pictures :supz: =D>
I hope to actually do this dive some day, but I don't think it will be anytime soon.
Hi, my name is Keith, and I'm a Dive Addict! :supz:
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Jan K
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Re: Keystone (The Report)

Post by Jan K »

Great reports guys, sorry I missed you, we were on our regular (almost) Sunday boat dives. We suffered same not so stellar visibility at Camano Wall and off Whidbey Baby Island. Looking forward to see you at Keystone next year.
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airsix
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Re: Keystone (The Report)

Post by airsix »

Great reports, and I have to say the quality of photos is really improving. Each of you have notably advanced this year. Nice. :supz:

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Tom Nic
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Re: Keystone (The Report)

Post by Tom Nic »

GREAT reports guys! :notworthy: Now THOSE are dive reports!

I love the pic of the octo peeking out between his tentacles. The Cockerell's is nice too! Great find... The large nudi is a Dendronotus rufus, or Red Dendronotid. Cool looking large nudi. I have a dickens of a time getting a sharp picture of them in automatic mode. Something about the very white body and the very dark cerrata seem to play havoc with my auto focus.

Gotta get up to Keystone - never done a dive there.
More Pics Than You Have Time To Look AT
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coachrenz
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Re: Keystone (The Report)

Post by coachrenz »

Tom Nic wrote: Gotta get up to Keystone - never done a dive there.
WHAT! Say it isn't so. You have to get up there.
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Pez7378
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VIDEO @ Keystone

Post by Pez7378 »

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sheahanmcculla
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Re: Keystone (The Report)

Post by sheahanmcculla »

Ok, the light is super bright but the cannister is HUGE!
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spatman
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Re: VIDEO @ Keystone

Post by spatman »

look at you, with your new editing skillz! another scorcese in the making!


our little pez is all grown up now.
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Pez7378
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Re: Keystone (The Report)

Post by Pez7378 »

Sheahan wrote:Ok, the light is super bright but the cannister is HUGE!
Yeah, Chris has a big can. :bootyshake:

Spatman wrote:Look at you, with your new editing skillz!
Yeah! This is fun! I must say thanks to Dan the Man, and ljjames for the inspiration. I've got another one that I made from the first dive with Rachel and Greg, but it's a bigger file. I'll need to spend some time figuring out if I can post it or not.
defied
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Re: Keystone (The Report)

Post by defied »

Pez7378 wrote:
Sheahan wrote:Ok, the light is super bright but the cannister is HUGE!
Yeah, Chris has a big can. :bootyshake:

Spatman wrote:Look at you, with your new editing skillz!
Yeah! This is fun! I must say thanks to Dan the Man, and ljjames for the inspiration. I've got another one that I made from the first dive with Rachel and Greg, but it's a bigger file. I'll need to spend some time figuring out if I can post it or not.
you can always scale it down to a 640x480 or so.

Then you can also compress the video in a h.264 format or something instead of flash. 0]
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H20doctor
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Re: Keystone (The Report)

Post by H20doctor »

Dam I am ugly !!!!!! :vom:
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Biodiversity_Guy
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Re: Keystone (The Report)

Post by Biodiversity_Guy »

Great dive reports. A very fun read! Thank you for taking the time to post them.

Excellent pictures.
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H20doctor
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Re: Keystone (The Report)

Post by H20doctor »

Ok ok ok people !!!! After a long and painfull upload.. Here Ya go... Featuring the one and Only Indiana Chris and the keystone of DOOM ...

http://vimeo.com/2677014

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha
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sheahanmcculla
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Re: Keystone (The Report)

Post by sheahanmcculla »

Since I'm going to keystone tomorrow, can you tell me where the octo was? Near the old warf? I have never seen an adult octo. Thanks!
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Norris
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Re: Keystone (The Report)

Post by Norris »

sheahanmcculla wrote:Since I'm going to keystone tomorrow, can you tell me where the octo was? Near the old warf? I have never seen an adult octo. Thanks!
I was there last week and there were two. One at about 50' and one at 43'. The one at 43' is back in the rocks all the way on the bottom. Just stick your lights in and you will find at least one of them. I know this wasnt very descriptive but it was very easy finding them that day so I assume if you are looking you will bump into one.


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Re: Keystone (The Report)

Post by Knight Diver »

Bill Z and I were there the time as Rick and we found three. My goal for the day was to find at least one since we hadn't found an octo there before so three was a nice treat :supz: I think we might have even found a couple more if we had not gone looking for a crab to feed one of them. It seems like we've found more and more octos over the past six months at our usual haunts and a lot less crab. Hope it's just because of hungry octos and not the commercial fleet :dontknow:
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sheahanmcculla
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Re: Keystone (The Report)

Post by sheahanmcculla »

Cool, thanks guys I have high hopes for seeing my 1st octo tomorrow. I'll take a picture for evidence.
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Pez7378
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Re: Keystone (The Report)

Post by Pez7378 »

Sheahan, besides looking into nooks and cranny's, look for "middens". These are the Crab shells, left over from a GPO feast. Some Octos, will catch their dinner, eat it in their den, and discard the shells which collect just outside the hole. The photo I took of the smaller Octo, was one that Rachel found at the wharf. Look for a pipe or a log (I can't remember which) Oriented perpendicular to shore. If you are looking into the log, facing the direction of the Jetty (west) that's where we saw him. Good luck!
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