Whidbey Island Dive Center Dive & Grill 8/10/08

So, it looks like I spoke too soon. The camera that worked Saturday night failed to perform when I got down to the Keystone Jetty in Coupeville for a Dive & Grill party. OH well. I still have a few bids in on Ebay for another S1. Maybe I'll tear this one apart and see what I can get going out of it. I mean, it's trashed now, really what harm can I do to it?

I got down to the parking lot about an hour and a half before we all agreed to be there. (Nothing like punctuality!) The reason was, I wanted my favorite parking spot at the end so I had plenty of room to set up the 10'x10' canopy that I brought. Little did I know that Wenatchee and Tri-Cities were also doing dives down there. Parking was at a premium.

So, I brought the Diver Dog with me, my 3 year old Blue Merle Australian Shepherd. I let him hop out of the truck and of course, everyone swooned all over him. (If only I could get someone to swoon over me like that!)

I set up the canopy and took Diver for a walk. I introduced myself to some of the divers there. (Must've been close to 40 of them!) I waited around for Julie, Paul and Derek to show up. Zach came and brought Aaron with him. (Yes, that's the correct spelling of HER name.) Pete was there and Pat showed up as well as Courtney and Crystal. Then Mike and his daughter "The Other Crystal", Betty, Sam, Steve, and David showed up soon after. Clint is taking a little siesta from diving, why, I do not know! Anyways, when Paul showed up with my tanks, I set about getting my gear together. Paul and Derek got into the water pretty fast because it was getting warm out. Julie pulled into the parking lot about 10 minutes later.

She brought me a hand painted Martini glass and shot glass for my birthday! What is she trying to say?

Julie and I buddied up and walked down to the broken down pier so we could ride the current down the line back to the Jetty. Upon descent, viz was incredible. I think this is probably the clearest I've seen the pilings and there was life everywhere.

We came around the south side of the pilings where there usually lives a Giant Pacific Octopus, but upon inspection, Julie noted that there was a live crab living in it's den. If that octo still lived there, I assure you, there would not be a live crab. The water temperatures have been pretty balmly lately. I wonder if it moved into colder waters or if it had met its' demise; either by natural causes, or by human tampering. It would be pretty sad if it were the latter.

So, leaving the pilings, we decided to run on the line down to the jetty. The line is a 2" rope that Paul and Pete had run there through concrete blocks as sort of a visual directional aid to and from the Jetty and Pier. It can get pretty crowded with bull kelp, but the kelp then creates this "living wall" where life can abound. Often, I see Kelp cod and other little fishies hanging around it.

The current was kicking pretty good. Julie, the show off, flipped over on her back and brought her arms up behind her head and just float along with the current. For me, I splayed my body and pretended like I was sky diving. It was pretty amazing.

When we got to the Jetty, we looked around little nooks and crannies. Julie found a wall that appeared to be a little nursery for several types of nudibranchs. I found my first decorator crab and also a helmut crab. We slowly worked our way back towards the beach, poking our heads in and out of crevices.

At about 20 feet, life really picks up on the Jetty. The bull kelp is abundant and the 'lettuce' seaweed is so brilliantly green, it seems to glow. At 20 feet, the sun can really reach through the water and create this surreal underwater jungle. It's really like being in a giant fish tank, the water isn't as cold and the fish that like to school hang out in the kelp. I rolled over on my back and got neutrally buoyant. I grabbed onto a bull kelp stalk and hung there in the current, looking up at the sky, watching schools of silver dollars and rock perch dart around me, watching my bubbles race to the surface. A school of needle fish came by and paused, curiously it would seem, at my bubbles. How I wished for my camera.

Resuming the dive, I caught up with Julie who was busy trying to take a picture of a kelp crab who, upon noticing her, turned towards the camera and started walking towards it. It raised it's claws and clamped onto her spiral keeper, then swiftly climbed right up and onto her camera. Julie looked at me like the thing had lost it's mind. I laughed through my regulator and gave her the universal sign for "Cuckoo", by pointing my finger towards my head and rotating it.

I glanced at my Uwatec dive computer... 58 minutes. Max depth for this dive, 58feet. I've never done a dive lasting over 50 minutes with Julie. That girl has gills, or something. She never seems to use air. Slowly coming up for our 15ft/00:03 safety stop, my computer clicked over 00:63. COOL. My first dive over an hour (that was exceeding 30 feet) and also with Julie, the Dive-o-matic girl. Glory day. :)

We got out of the water to do our SIT and gabbed with some of the other divers as they went in and came out of the water. Crystal and her dad decided not to go down for a second dive, so they instead started getting the grills and the propane crockpot ready for the chili. She opened up a 3 pound can of chili and asked me if Diver could lick it clean. I rarely deny my dogs anything, so of course, if they'll eat it, they can have at it.

What a mess.

I took him to the outside shower to shampoo his head after that. Paul came around the corner and mused at the most pitiful sight he'd ever seen. Diver, with his head down like he was hanging it in shame. Yeah, it was pretty pitiful.

Paul, Julie and I went down for dive number two which only lasted 00:45 but it was still nice. The current kicked up even more and the run on the line was a little faster, but still such great viz. Paul brought his camera this time and I motioned to him to take a picture of the bull kelp for me.

Afterwards, we came up and threw some ribsteaks on the grill. I hurried up and got out of my gear, took a quick shower and came back to open a Alaskan Summer Ale. I kicked back on the tail gate of my truck and just smiled.

What a great day. I got to hang out with some of my most favorite people, have some great beer and eat some pretty fantastic food. It doesn't get much better.

(Kit note: the link for the bullkelp is Sam's Flickr account, just so you didn't think I kyped some poor guys picture!)