Whidbey Island Critters

[Tangfish]

Love the GPO pic, Jan - hard to get photos of them that look like they do in real life. I think you nailed it here though!

[Jan K]

Love the GPO pic, Jan - hard to get photos of them that look like they do in real life. I think you nailed it here though!

Thank you. This one just keeps watching us swim by, while the hordes of mostly hermit crabs waiting for scrap, easy shooting


Keystone Jetty, August 14, 2023 dive.
Some of the color at the jetty is provided by little tunicates.
Red rock crab found the cockle a difficult nut to crack.

[Tangfish]

Gorgeous colors, Jan. Those tunicates are so cool. I think I need some "mushroom compound"!

[Jan K]

Gorgeous colors, Jan. Those tunicates are so cool. I think I need some "mushroom compound"!

Come to Keystone, the small tunicates are doing well these days

Driftwood Pond # 1. August 16, 2023 dive.
Again, the difference between the two ponds is startling.
Plenty of Moon jellies here, although also many are dying. Less of the slimy Green Hair algae, and even one Mottled star and High Cockscomb. But none of the Bubble shell slugs so numerous in Pond # 2.

[Jan K]

Driftwood Pond #1. August 16, 2023
The rest of pixels.

[Jan K]

Keystone Jetty, August 20, 2023 dive.
Under the smoky skies...

[Jan K]

Keystone Jetty, August 20, 2023 dive.
The rest of the pixels .

[Jan K]

Skyline, August 22, 2023 dive.

[Tangfish]

Gorgeous photos and love the illustrations and descriptions, Jan. Please keep them coming. Though I can't be in the water lately, this is the next best thing by a mile!

[Jan K]

September 21, 2023. Keystone Jetty dive.
The 300 feet visibility is now only memory, the reality is that 15 feet is what we got here, on Whidbey. Nobody was keeping me from diving here . And unlike in Iceland's Silfra fissure, we have baby Puget Sound King crabs and schools of rockfish

[Jan K]

Langley Harbor, September 24, 2023 dive. After almost a month absence, I check on the critters.
Some Mottled and Ochre stars are still wasting, but it seems to be slowing down.
But the overall numbers are way down. Not a single Sunflower star found on this dive.

[Jan K]

Possession Point Fingers, September 30, 2023 dive.
Slowly, I am getting back to revising the familiar, but still enjoyable scenery of local waters.

[Jan K]

Skyline, October 3, 2023 dive.
What would be a dive here without Candy ? As the Red Sea cucumbers stopped feeding, probably for the season, less color is to be enjoyed here now, but there is still plenty stuff to enjoy.

[Jan K]

Deception Pass, October 6, 2023 dive.

[Jan K]

Deception Pass, October 6, 2023. The rest of the pixels. I am not sure what the "inflated" White Sea cucumber is doing, but after searching the net, I found that Cucumaria cuts do it to move around, which I didn't know until now. Unfortunately I don't have the luxury to hover nearby and wait for hours to see if this particular cucumber is ready to depart Deception Pass. Finding Wolf-eel was nice, the Grunt sculpin is more common here.
And bonus find, Aggregating anemone reproduction, by dividing

[Jan K]

October 8, 2023. Lagoon Point dive. Not to be outdone by the fall colors above,
marine life under the floating dock shows off with its version of Autumn.

[Jan K]

October 8, 2023. Lagoon Point dive.
The rest of the pixels.

[Jan K]

October 13, 2023. Keystone Jetty dive.
What would Keystone be without Lingcod?

[Jan K]

October 13, 2023. Keystone Jetty dive.
And some of the smaller critters. And sea star wasting disease now hits Keystone too. :(

[Jan K]

October 15, 2023. Driftwood Park dive.
Juvenile Wolf-eels, plenty of Dock shrimps and good time with Pacific Red Octopus.
The one in the bottle? No, it decided to stay inside...

[Jan K]

Skyline, October 19, 2023 dive.
I think this is the first time I found Six-rayed star wasting.

[Jan K]

Deception Pass, October 22, 2023 dive.

[Jan K]

Deception Pass, October 22, 2023 dive.
And the rest of the pixels.

[H20doctor]

Nice Jan ...

[Jan K]

Langley Harbor, October 23, 2023 dive.
Some of the critters.