We got to boating and chad had some tasty tunes a rocking from the Zune MP3 player.... chad has a good selection of music and we were Rocking out on our way to camano... chads boat made there in about 15 mins.. the water way very smooth and flat, and the sky was blue and sunny for our dive today... we located the reef in about 50 feet of water and dropped anchor, then were geared up and went over the first dive plan.. We were going to either swim North on a heading or south ? depending on the current and etc...etc.. we splashed in doing the backwards fall from the boat and swam to the front of the boat for the anchor line drop... there was a little surface current but not to shabby... Chad dropped first, then Rick, then Me... down into the Green water... very very green.. as we drop the bubbles are rising up and we are dropping and clearing , dropping and adjusting trim, drysuit .... now Bc... feeling the squeeze on my legs and and chest...tap tap on the drysuit.. Ahhhhhhhh squeeze is gone now... Bottom..58 feet and the reef is 15 feet upslope to us... I watch chad grap the anchor and swim it up to the rocks... WE HAVE ARRIVED.....!!!!!!!!!!!
As i look out in front of me i see Huge boulders of rock, lost and lots of rocks... this site is almost Identicle to KVI tower, But this reef Is way more establish with Marine life... and I mean LIFE... Some if not most of the reef is COVERED in Plumose anamonies, white and Orange... there are Lost of fish, Lings, rockfish, kelp greenlings, Perch, I saw Painted greenlings, i saw a very cool Blenny type of fish that almost looked like a Jawfish with yellow side fins and a light blue head...but he wouldnt come out of his den for a picture...
We all kinda just swam around in a 50 yard area... all keeping and eye on each other.. The Vis was at least 40 feet on this 1st dive, i was looking at the rocks and hovering over the anemonies and shooting video.. Rick was exploring with his light and seeing a reef for the first time and having a killer dive... chad is also looking and exploring the site, i can see his bubles coming up from the other side of a long telephone pole thats has been also put here with the rocks... I am seeing alot of sea cucombers on the rocks and the sandy floor, my favorite starfish are here!!!!! here is the shot
I love these starfish, they are the cooooooooooolest EVER!!!!!!!!
I am hoving above and just seeing a small fraction of this well established reef...this reef is over 100 yeards long and it would take more than 4 dives to see it all... I see my next photo shot its a moonsnail trailing along in the sand
He is just a cruzing along in the sand on his way to work.... or maybe he is headed home from a hard days work on the reef cleaning up......
next up I see my first nudi and get the camera set on macro... i lower myself in between some rocks and get positioned for the close ups... I try shooting with the flash first on my cannon powershot A540 and see how they turn out..then i tryshooting with the dive light giving the subject some nice white 10k light ... Here is the final shot
and then i found this guy because rick had shown him to me as we were exploring ....
The water is pure green and everything looks green and grey , untill you hit the dive light on it and then you can see the color and beauty that we all get to see here in puget sound..... we are exploring and i am amazed by how the Black rockfish are just letting me get right up close to them... almost all the fish didnt seem to care that we were there...except for the Kelp greenlings...they are zinging and swimming off fast from here to there....
as we are diving at a stable 55 feet i am watching my computer bars stack up as the dive progresses..we are going to try not to go into deco!!! i am on my LP95 , and rick is on his LP100... I am going to try to get one more picture off and then rejoin rick.. here it is !!! this is one of my best shots from the dive....
I find rick and we check air... He is at 1600 and we are almost even.. I swim us back to the anchor and tell rick we can explore more untill we hit 1000 PSI... back over to some rocks and out of no where comes Chad, he had ventured south a bit to see another part of the reef.... we hit the line and head up... do our safety stop at 15..and get back in the boat...
Here is Rick...on the way out ...
and captian Chad
2nd Dive
we dropped back down and decided to explore North a bit this time.... But the vis had taken a turn...the tide was now moving out and we had mabey 15 feet or so..? I naved north and we did some more exploring, more of about everything here, rocks covered in anemonies, fish, and life... during this whole dive i had pressure in my head, and a bad headache... right in the front of my forehead... We turned and let the slight current push us back on a south heading... once again i made sure we wernt going to go into a deco and watched our air and computers... Chad found us again!!!! and we headed back up to the surface... I was stuffed up for the rest of the night and had to drink alot of water to clear my headache..i believe it came from not drinking enough water , and being a little dehydrated, because i feel fine today with my nose still plugged a bit...
A huge THANK YOU !!!!! to Chad and his wife for his boat...and letting us get crazy a wacky topside.... I am very very thankfull for the diving and your hospitality..... thank you thank you thankyou.....
Video will be up later....
