ttn Thursday

[bucknaked]

Two great Dives at ttn. lots of critters.tons of octos there was a very pretty med gpo out in the open hunting tom should have some pics of it. A fat grunt sculpin in a bottle with a hat on. once again tom has pics. vis was great at 40 feet u could look up and see the anchor ling the help growing on it and all sorts of bait fish around. at the end of the second dive we were attacked by a school of herring. big school and the fish were arming into us. pretty cool.

[Tom Nic]

More later - ditto and time to go diving!

Awesome viz, tons of critters and great company!

[KneeDeep]

Looking forward to some pics

Can't wait till I get back from vacation to dive TTN again. My first night dive site... kind of a first love thing

[BASSMAN]

Tom Nic, Bucknaked, Pogiguy, EJ and myself had two great dives!
I have a few pics, I'll try to get posted later tonight. Thanks EJ (ejrauschl) for being a great dive buddy.
She is very comfortable in the water, but she breaths like a girl. After a 1 hour dive on a 80 cuft tank she still had 1000+psi!
I only hope some day, I get accused of breathing like a girl.

A great night at TTN was had by all!

[Jeff Pack]

I only hope some day, I get accused of breathing like a girl.

Or just cheat it with technology like me. I'll likely never be the one to call a dive on low air when diving with OC folks unless they have tanks on them strung up like a christmas tree....

[Dusty2]

Tom Nic, Bucknaked, Pogiguy, EJ and myself had two great dives!
I have a few pics, I'll try to get posted later tonight. Thanks EJ (ejrauschl) for being a great dive buddy.
She is very comfortable in the water, but she breaths like a girl. After a 1 hour dive on a 80 cuft tank she still had 1000+psi!
I only hope some day, I get accused of breathing like a girl.

A great night at TTN was had by all!

Never dive with a girl and expect her to turn the dive! Even if she only using an 80

[Tom Nic]

Grrr.... just lost an hour's worth of work. My own fault, but one of the reasons I don't get to post much...

Too tired to try tonight... maybe tomorrow.

[Dusty2]

Been there done that. Hopefully the originals are still on the card?

[BASSMAN]

?

One of many Red Octo's

Here's a pic w/ a bottle in the background for a size referrence

This is EJ, Looking at one of the Octo's

Always a nice find...

Not a great pic but, EJ found this lonely, little Hooded Nudie.

This Star was HUGE! It is sitting on top of a tire, on the boat trailer. Hmmm, How did it get there?

Another Red (I think) Is that Eye Lashes on the bottom of the eye?

[ejrauschl]

Thanks Keith for sharing your pics and for being a great dive buddy! What an awesome night!!!

[Tom Nic]

Take 2 - Let's see how this experiment goes.

I love this dive site. I love the better than average viz. I love the definite slope that makes orienting yourself during a dive very easy. I love the slight, but not killer current that washes this place and brings different life in. I love the artificial reefs that have been placed here over the years. I love that you can go deep or shallow, and that there are at least 3 easily diveable profiles that you can choose, and if you want to be creative there are more. Hundreds of dives here for me personally and it does not get old.

We splashed at about 5 ish - still enough light to enjoy our fabulous viz. Tide was high, and we walked south and swam out to the buoy line and dropped right above the Cabin Cruiser. Bassman and EJ were going to do a bit shallower profile, so even though we were all together initially they buddied up and Buck, Pogiguy, & myself made up a threesome.

As we dropped viz was clear - a solid 40-50' easy - almost as good as it gets (except for the rare 'crazy day') for the Sound. I am keenly aware of the limits of my little point and shoot, but will sprinkle this report with a shot or two nonetheless.



As we glided up to the Cruiser my dive light started doing it's seizure inducing disco ball mode, meaning that I was diving with a battery that was not fully charged - my bad. I continued the dive with my mini-q 40 to give me a little more light for my camera to focus with. Ambient light was so good that even at 100fsw+ I could still see quite nicely!

We did a lap around the Cabin Cruiser, stopping to say hi to the large GPO that is the current resident. He is so far back that a good picture is impossible, but you get the idea. This shot is with me crammed face first under the bow and stretching my arm as far back as I can reach.



Drifting over the cabin I snapped a pic or two of the cautious, but curious Rockfish that live on and in the boat. There are Coppers and Browns and Quillbacks, and a weird looking hybrid (I think) that looks the most like a Quillback but Georgia calls them "Broppers". What are they for sure? Who knows... I will usually mark them as Quillbacks on my survey. The first shot is one of them, the kinda, though it looks more "Quillbacky", and the third is a Copper.

[Tom Nic]

Experiment continued....

We left the Cabin Cruiser, and our threesome dropped down toward the 100fsw range where the bottles are, while Bassman and EJ worked their way across slope and back toward the tire piles where we would meet up with them about 40 minutes later.

As we cruised downslope I spotted this little Red Octopus doing its best impersonation of a stick sticking straight up out of the bottom. As he saw us he was raising himself as high and straight as he could, directly facing us and remaining perfectly still. Even when I moved to his side and his subterfuge became more obvious he still did not move. "I am a stick. You cannot see me. Move along now, there is nothing to see here, I am a stick."





One of the redeeming things about diving with bottle hunters if you are a critter guy is that critters also hang out in and around bottles! Here's a couple, all at about 105 fsw.







We found this good sized Ohdner's Dorid (6-8", they get bigger), something of a treat because we normally don't see them here. He also has a hitchhiker, obvious on his white body - a parasitic copepod if my memory serves, which it often doesn't.



This juvenile Red Irish Lord was in a good sized hollow log.



As I shot the RIL Matt and Jeff both came up with small cushion stars (which we also don't usually see here) and set them on the log. Here is one of them - Elise would say that he is "cute"!



Our last deep find was this little Green Sea urchin that Matt spotted. He (the urchin, not Matt) had an interesting fashion sense, perched on a shell and wearing a very spiffy looking shell "hat"!

[Tom Nic]

And the experiment continues....

Heading north slightly upslope as we moved toward the tire piles and the conclusion of our dive we found a pleasantly cooperative Whitespotted Greenling. They don't usually hang around to pose, so I was grateful for this shot!



A bit later this CO Sole let me take it's picture - these guys are so cool looking, and are fairly occasional in putting in an appearance, at least compared to their much more abundant cousins the Rock Sole.



As we came up on the tire piles we were reunited with Bassman and EJ. They were easy to find because of the amazing viz. At 50 fsw you could clearly see the buoy on the surface, and the Shiner Perch were suspended by the hundreds in the water column, joined by their not quite as abundant buddies the resident Rockfish. These pictures give you an idea, in spite of the severe limitations of my P&S.



The buoy and line from 50 fsw. Notice the Lion's Mane Jelly in the water column?



Shiner Perch heaven....





We finished up the dive looking for little treasures, and hanging out at 10 fsw for a l o n g time because a certain one of my dive buddies really pissed off his computer.

I haven't noticed these tube worms / hydroids here before... they were on top of the concrete block that sits at about 30 fsw.





The Shiner Perch were also abundant in the shallows, feeding on who knows what?!



All in all, a great dive for not having my regular light! Great buddies, fabulous viz, tons of critters, and even a bottle or two... Great dive!

[Tom Nic]

Our night dive was eventful because of the Octos... Lots of them, and a few put on quite a show.

Here is the resident of the golf ball boat looking like he is really tired of divers. Darn Papparazi.



These two reds were either fighting or arranging a mating, I'm not sure which. :luv:

Actually, come to think of it, it is often hard to tell with humans as well. But I digress...

One of them (the smaller, I think) was standing up tall and coloring himself pretty red as he peeked strategically from behind a rock for cover.





All at once he flares out and rushes across either the field of combat or the field of love (or both - again, I'm not sure), moving two feet toward another, slightly larger Octo that I had not noticed before.





His nemesis, or paramour (again, I'm not sure which) rose up and met his challenge head on!





This guys seemed a bit larger than our red attacker, and sent him scurrying back toward his original safe perch behind his rock.



Love? War? You be the judge. After a couple more very impressive bouts the challenger finally decided to move off, and so, alas, we may never know.

[Dusty2]

Tom, Your little red parasite is a scale worm. They are fairly common on larger nudibranchs

[Tom Nic]

About 20 minutes later, as we were begining our drift back toward the entry point, Matt flashed his light in my direction and gave me the octo signal. I turned around and swam into the slight current, knowing that if he wants me to look it must be worthwhile.

Sure enough, there is a young GPO hunting in the kelp. He is moving in and out and under the leaves, snaking his tentacles out, "smelling and tasting" more than feeling around corners that he can't see.



He is a gorgeous specimen... healthy, strong, and pretty hungry! Of course you would be too if you only had 3-5 years to grow up, get huge, mate, and die! He was a beautiful orange, and I'm not sure why?! He was for the most part quite unconcerned with us and continued hunting as I photographed him for a good five minutes, always remaining the same delightful orange hue. What a treat!









As we continued to head toward the entry point the light of the almost full moon was clearly visible from depth... wow. One of those amazing nights underwater!

Here are a few more shots from the dive to close this part of my report. I took well over 200 pictures for the two dives. I am working on what I call the "roving photographer" technique for REEF surveying. I take a picture of as many different species as I find that a photographable, being concerned first with ID, and then if I find a particularly photogenic subject I'll spend a little extra time on them. I get a pretty well documented survey dive, and my memory is aided in filling out my surveys. Lots of fun!

Congratulations and thanks if you read this far. Every now and then I get the "itch" to write more detailed reports than "We came, we dove, it was cool, nobody died."

Safe diving everyone!

[Tom Nic]

Tom, Your little red parasite is a scale worm. They are fairly common on larger nudibranchs

Thanks Rich!

[Tom Nic]

Oh, and my uploaded pics are here .

[Dusty2]

Nice shots Tom and a great report.

Better than those other slackers you were divin with.

[Dusty2]

Nice when you can have an octo out and about and good enough viz to take advantage of it. That last RIL pic is great.

I been telling Janna I don't need a survey sheet on my dives. Just a camera and a good memory and I can tell everything worth telling and it's a permanent record of where, when and what I saw.

[YellowEye]

Tom -- Appreciate the report -- wish I could have made it. Hopefully next time!

Awesome octo-on-kelp photos!!

[Tom Nic]

Tom -- Appreciate the report -- wish I could have made it. Hopefully next time!

Awesome octo-on-kelp photos!!

Thanks Eric! Now is sure the time to dive Three Tree!