Chanb77's Weblog

Sunday, September 4th, 2011 ~

Today, we were going out on Scott Boyd’s Boat – Dive Bum!

It was cool to have a full kitchen and head on board. We are not used to this kind of thing, in our area!

Our first dive was on the Day Island Wall. The goal of the dive, was to find GPOs and Wolf Eels. Since Laurynn is known as the Octo Whisperer, I was optimistic! We managed to find both, quite quickly. I also think I did ok, for my first creature hunting attempt! The first GPO that I found, was hidden deep into a crack, and did show a hint of orange colour, which I was able to spot! It was a little like Where’s Waldo, at first ! I wasn’t sure how I would react, seeing an octo, as they kind of freak me out.. coming from me, who had never seen one. I was quite wide-eyed with excitement! 

We were looking in a hole, watching a pair of Wolfies, which was extremely cool. Laurynn had her video camera, so once I had a good look, I backed up a bit, for her to get some footage. Kathryn and Karen were also near us, and came up for a look. Kathryn had her stills camera too, so I backed up a little more, to give everyone some room. As I did this, I looked down… “LAURYNN!!! LOOK!!” Ok.. I didn’t yell it, but that about sums up my level of enthusiasm. I signaled Laurynn… There was a Wolfie, right out in the open! Wait a sec.. What’s that on his back? Is it a.. a.. Holy smokes.. it is.. There was a small octopus on his back!

Yes, there was photographic evidence! Pic by Kathryn Arant!

There is also videographic evidence! Video by Laurynn Evans Bugles/Seainggreen!

So.. on my first Seattle boat dive, we see something as spectacular as this. What else was in store for us??

Bottom Time: 53 mins.
Max. Depth: 77′
Water Temp.: 53F

After our dive, Scott fired up the BBQ, and Janet made us brownies! What kind of service is that??? 🙂

For the second dive, we went to Sunrise Reef. We were waiting for slack tide to “arrive,” and as we waited, we noticed that the kelp went from being completely sideways, to standing up, with ease.  It was time to splash in! There seemed to be a bit of a surface current, so we did a quick gear check, and down we went. It seemed that it was a bit of a pain to fin against the current, and all I could think of was, “This is slack tide?” Lol! It was like that for about 10 minutes, then.. whoosh.. gone. No current at all. I guess the kelp fooled us on the way down, and the current had a little extra for us, before letting up. It was much nicer, now. 🙂 We found more octos and wolfies, and had quite a lot of fun, playing amongst the sea life.

Surfacing to this, is really not difficult…

Bottom Time: 42 mins.
Max. Depth: 60′
Water Temp.: 53F

Yeah… I think I could really get used to diving here. This place rocks, just a little bit…

After our dives, Scott and Janet took us to a really cool little restaurant, on the water.

AGGAST sisters, after another most excellent day of Diving Goodness!!

 Stay tuned for Part 3!