Mukilteo 7/24
Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 12:27 pm
I finally made the trek up north to go diving with my brother yesterday, and what a great weekend to go... Biggest reason was to give me some practice time in the mostly-drysuit I got from him, try out some new gear (BC and AL tank vs steel), and then just to have a good time in the water. All goals were met! 
When we got there and walked over to the beach to scope things out, what did I hear but a voice from the water calling out my name - My OW instructor was sitting out there getting ready to go out... NOT what I expected way up there
Anyway, we made our plans, geared up and headed out & down. As we were finally walking to the water (hey, I'm still slow at all this...), Mike came walking out, so I got to introduce him to my brother... When we got in, started out mostly playing around with the drysuit (O'Neill neoprene) and started getting a feel for using it properly. Had some glitches but got better as it went. When we got down to the geo-dome, there was a wolf eel in residence in one of the PVC pipes along the bottom. As I was looking him over, a second wolfie swam over, past Alexitt and right under me, then positioned himself head to head with the one in hte pipe. They showed each other their teeth a bit and acted like a couple of teenagers butting heads
and the second one swam back off. It came over to Alexitt's hand and checked it out to see if he had anything tasty, then kinda wandered off. At that point a third wolfie came over and swam past, over near the first one's pipe but not provoking any reaction from him. Then the second came back over, so we had three of 'em there all together within a foot or so of each other. And, of course, we had no camera with us because Alexitt's is being replaced by the mfr and wasn't back yet. I figure that not having a camera is the reason we actually saw it... In addition to these guys (my first wolf eels - way cool!!!!!!) we saw lots of crabs, flatfish, and other assorted fish I couldn't begin to ID... It was very very cool to hang there nose to nose with a rockfish of some kind (I think) about 6 inches from my mask... The dock pilings were pretty cool with the clouds of fish around 'em. A juvenile wolf eel in a little pipe out at the end of the dock, too...
Second dive was pretty similar, but no wolf eel mass gathering this time. Practiced drysuit buoyancy control, tried to suck gas more efficiently, had lots of fun. After the gear was all put up, had beer at the Diamond Knot... Perfect way to end a great day at/in/under the water!
Jim
When we got there and walked over to the beach to scope things out, what did I hear but a voice from the water calling out my name - My OW instructor was sitting out there getting ready to go out... NOT what I expected way up there
Anyway, we made our plans, geared up and headed out & down. As we were finally walking to the water (hey, I'm still slow at all this...), Mike came walking out, so I got to introduce him to my brother... When we got in, started out mostly playing around with the drysuit (O'Neill neoprene) and started getting a feel for using it properly. Had some glitches but got better as it went. When we got down to the geo-dome, there was a wolf eel in residence in one of the PVC pipes along the bottom. As I was looking him over, a second wolfie swam over, past Alexitt and right under me, then positioned himself head to head with the one in hte pipe. They showed each other their teeth a bit and acted like a couple of teenagers butting heads
and the second one swam back off. It came over to Alexitt's hand and checked it out to see if he had anything tasty, then kinda wandered off. At that point a third wolfie came over and swam past, over near the first one's pipe but not provoking any reaction from him. Then the second came back over, so we had three of 'em there all together within a foot or so of each other. And, of course, we had no camera with us because Alexitt's is being replaced by the mfr and wasn't back yet. I figure that not having a camera is the reason we actually saw it... In addition to these guys (my first wolf eels - way cool!!!!!!) we saw lots of crabs, flatfish, and other assorted fish I couldn't begin to ID... It was very very cool to hang there nose to nose with a rockfish of some kind (I think) about 6 inches from my mask... The dock pilings were pretty cool with the clouds of fish around 'em. A juvenile wolf eel in a little pipe out at the end of the dock, too...Second dive was pretty similar, but no wolf eel mass gathering this time. Practiced drysuit buoyancy control, tried to suck gas more efficiently, had lots of fun. After the gear was all put up, had beer at the Diamond Knot... Perfect way to end a great day at/in/under the water!
Jim