It was a two hour trip, and we tried our best to amuse ourselves on the way down. Greg performs drysuit tricks:
![Image](http://nwgeogirl.smugmug.com/photos/679299655_62f3N-M.jpg)
Upon arrival and a briefing, we set out to find the wall, and since we were diving on a high tide, it was about 10 feet deeper than the last time we dove it. Only I had forgotten this minor detail, and we hunted for the wall longer than we should have had to. By the time Tom and I got down to 119 feet, and located it - I had the biggest narcosis episode I've ever experienced. Just icky, buzzy, creepy. I had to really do a bunch of self-talk to even stay down long enough to snap a few pics of some Cloud Sponge, a Spotfin Sculpin and a Stubby Squid and eggs that Tom had found. (notice the invasive Ciona savignyi back in the crack too)
![Image](http://nwgeogirl.smugmug.com/photos/680094509_Rimwe-M.jpg)
Poor Tom - he was a trooper about it, after I gave him the I'm-loopy-narced sign, stuck right with me, and up we went to shallower depths. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to see at the shallower depths - with all the cool stuff being back down on the wall. :( Unless you like blobby things and squat lobsters. The invasive tunicate, Ciona savignyi, has gone crazy-go-nuts at this location.
![Image](http://nwgeogirl.smugmug.com/photos/680094817_hrUhZ-M.jpg)
I've dove this site twice before, been deeper than 119 feet many times, but NEVER have I had a narcosis episode like this baby. (Usually I just get a bit more anxious about checking pressures, and don't remember a lot about what I saw down there once I surfaced - wait...that's normal)
Since conditions were excellent (both current and weather) Don suggested we dive the Knuckle on the way back home. After hearing the description and depths, Tom looked at me (considering what we had just gone through) and said, we're gonna do TWO deep dives in one day?? I smiled and nodded!! YES! Because The Knuckle is amazingly cool, and I've been wanting to get back there since I last dove it years ago. And it's not AS deep as Dewatto Wall. (At this point he's thinking - she's TOTALLY nuts!)
We dined on Clam Chowder (no thanks to the Sunday divers who ate up ALL THE TORTILLA SOUP - SHAME ON YOU!!) and breadsticks, along with hot shredded BBQ chicken sandwiches (wow, those were AWESOME!). Don sure feeds his divers well.
Don briefed us, and off we went. Thanks to a healthy dose of geezer gas we had offgassed nicely from the first dive, and had a good mix for the 2nd dive. First thing we came across were Cloud Sponge. Lots of them - beautiful colonies, with critters inside.
![Image](http://nwgeogirl.smugmug.com/photos/680101013_v7UYx-M.jpg)
Fields of zoanthids with a ginormous Ling Cod (she looked pregnant to me) perched on the edge of a rock:
![Image](http://nwgeogirl.smugmug.com/photos/680100327_z8ZmN-M.jpg)
Schools of rockfish all around, Yellowtails, Blacks, Browns, Coppers, Quills, Puget Sound - Tom saw a Vermilion also...and wolfies here and there and everywhere:
![Image](http://nwgeogirl.smugmug.com/photos/680095161_r2wEh-M.jpg)
As we were photographing a Heart Crab that Tom found (he was on a roll that day as far as critter spotting!), he suddenly motioned to me to look up the rock about 3 feet. There, out in the open was a GORGEOUS Giant Pacific Octopus. Oh wow. WOW WOW WOW! We started snapping and filming like crazy!
![Image](http://nwgeogirl.smugmug.com/photos/680099283_rrh9h-M.jpg)
![Image](http://nwgeogirl.smugmug.com/photos/680098615_Vukov-M.jpg)
At this point I'm sitting at about 750psi, so Tom hands me his long hose and off we go, heading up to shallower waters to do our safety stop. That long hose was GREAT! (his reg breathes awesome, too) Once in the shallows I switch back to my primary and we hang out there for awhile, putzing around the plumose:
![Image](http://nwgeogirl.smugmug.com/photos/680097527_23Wgd-M.jpg)
One of those dives where you were happy dancing and high-fiving underwater, and whooping into your reg. Upon breaking the surface, constant grins, laughing and chortling, etc. Don knew something was up!
Plugged in my SD card from my camera into his computer and pulled up the images on his flatscreen monitor on board to view on the way back to the marina. WOO HOO!
Thank you Don and the REEF team (especially Tom) for a safe, fun and glorious day of diving!
![Image](http://nwgeogirl.smugmug.com/photos/679299864_dbqr3-M.jpg)
- Janna
![:) :)](./images/smilies/smile.gif)