Northwest Dive Club

OK...I'm not real sure why I can't get the actual photo to be displayed.
However, the link does seem to work. Anywho...
Last Wednesday I was diving the Possession Pt ferry and I ran into a juvenile PS KIng Crab. It was near the west end of the old ferry.
Now, I have seen a great many of the PSKC's over the years. I have never seen one actually in Puget Sound before this one. Usually they're in the rockier areas up north. San Juans, BC..etc. Has anyone else seen one of these critters down here...in the sound itself? Very curious.

Aaaaaggghhh!!! I was on the ferry Wednesday, too, and I didn't see him. And PSKCs are on my list of "must see" critters, too.

Oh, well. We had a fantastic dive anyway, including being entertained on deco by a very playful sea lion. But the crab would have been the icing on the cake.

Great find! Great pic!

And nice to know PSKC are around in the sound this far south... would love it if they multiplied more!

I've seen 'em at Keystone Jetty (more than once) ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Bob!

Wow, great shot. That is colorful indeed.
I have seen one (once) before at Keystone. That was a loong time ago.
I was on my friends boat (4 of us). We hailed Mike on the Dash while we were getting ready to do our 2nd dive on the "fingers". That two produced some fairly good shots as well. Both very fine, pleasant dives last Wednesday.

Calvin has some pics of one up in the San Juans this summer- they are crazy looking critters!

Oh, Randy, it must have been you guys that talked to Mike about the conditions on the ferry.

We were the divers that got spread out all over the place on the wall . . . What can you do, when one team goes north and the other goes south? :-)

It sure was a great day for diving those sites!

Cute little sucker. Great find!

RDW wrote: OK...I'm not real sure why I can't get the actual photo to be displayed.

Fixed. Great photo by the way!

Great shot, Randy! Welcome to the world of digital, you old bastard! (Uh....wait a minute....never mind!)

I suspect that your juvenile is there as a result of planktonic drift, which, unfortunately, dropped him in an environment not condusive to the well-being of Puget Sound King Crabs. As he matures he will find himself in need of current-swept, less silty, steep and rocky underwater hillsides as well as significantly deeper depths - he will either have to successfully complete a LONG trek to find such an environment, or he will die before reaching maturity. Unfortunately, I expect that the latter will be the case.

- John

Thanks group for the fine feedback. Calvin! Thank you for fixing the pic for me. John is right. I suspect this was a bit of an "accident of nature".
PSKC's down here just don't happen...normally.
See...it's true: Even after many thousands of hours underwater in my diving career, I still found something new. It is that excitement of discovery that keeps me going. I still have fun diving.
"Still crazy(divin'?) after all these years" Thank you Paul Simon.

John Rawlings wrote:Great shot, Randy! Welcome to the world of digital, you old bastard! (Uh....wait a minute....never mind!)

Hey! I resemble that remark. In fact, I am a fully certified (see avatar) instructor and member in dubious standing with the OFDA.
Now...If only I could remember why?

I LOVE the avatar Randy! Nice to know you're an official, card-carrying member. How do others go about joining? Do they have to Old Fart Divers, or just Old Farts?

-Valerie

Zen Diver 2 wrote:I LOVE the avatar Randy! Nice to know you're an official, card-carrying member. How do others go about joining? Do they have to Old Fart Divers, or just Old Farts?

-Valerie

You can check it out here: Old Fart Diver's Assoc.

You probably have enough dives to qualify.

Sea of Green wrote:
You probably have enough dives to qualify.

But not quite enough years; I'll only be 48 next week.

Oh well, something to strive for I s'pose

-Valerie

Zen Diver 2 wrote:

Sea of Green wrote:
You probably have enough dives to qualify.

But not quite enough years; I'll only be 48 next week.

Oh well, something to strive for I s'pose

-Valerie

From the OFDA site:

To qualify you must:
Be certified by a recognized dive agency.
Have 50 years life experience or have at least 250 dives.
Have $20 cash and a picture of yourself.

Key word is OR. Perhaps he means AND, but you have to ask him. Shoot an e-mail to the Grand Ol' Poo-Ba of OFDA, Dick Barker. He responds to e-mails in a timely manner and is very accommodating.

BTW, Happy Birthday!

Sea of Green wrote: Key word is OR. Perhaps he means AND, but you have to ask him. Shoot an e-mail to the Grand Ol' Poo-Ba of OFDA, Dick Barker. He responds to e-mails in a timely manner and is very accommodating.

BTW, Happy Birthday!

I think "and" works much better. There are lots of young suckers that have way more than 250 dives. Unfortunately, not me yet.

Seth T. wrote:

Sea of Green wrote: Key word is OR. Perhaps he means AND, but you have to ask him. Shoot an e-mail to the Grand Ol' Poo-Ba of OFDA, Dick Barker. He responds to e-mails in a timely manner and is very accommodating.

BTW, Happy Birthday!

I think "and" works much better. There are lots of young suckers that have way more than 250 dives. Unfortunately, not me yet.

That would be my sentiments too, but that probably takes care of itself in that young whipper-snappers don't want to go anywhere near being thought of as an Old Fart.

Oh, and Valerie, it occurred to me, just do what most women do - lie about your age! hehehe!!!

Sea of Green wrote:
That would be my sentiments too, but that probably takes care of itself in that young whipper-snappers don't want to go anywhere near being thought of as an Old Fart.

Oh, and Valerie, it occurred to me, just do what most women do - lie about your age! hehehe!!!

Well, whenever I'm precepting new nurses at work I often feel like an old fart, does that count?

And it never occured to me to lie about my age! Apparently I have a reputation of being "nice"......

-Valerie
(heading off to work and fervently hoping it's not the hell it was last night...)