Chanb77's Weblog

Friday, September 2nd, 2011 ~

Short and sweet… Flight landed at Sea Tac, at about 10pm. Picked up luggage, met Kathryn (thank goodness), and headed to Casa Evans Bugles! Settled in, put gear together, and sleeeeeeeep….  

Saturday, September 3rd, 2011 ~

Up and at ’em! We headed to the ferry, to go over to Keystone Jetty, for the GUE Community Dive and BBQ, that Koos had arranged.

Taking in a few sights, as we waited for the ferry…

On the ferry…

We arrived to a full parking lot, where we greeted many really wonderful people. Some, I knew from before, and some, I was finally able to put faces to internet names. After socializing a little, we decided to gear up for Dive 1! 

As we were gearing up, we chatted, laughed, and.. well.. Then there was Doug, teaching Park Ranger Randy how to use a condom cath. Yes, this really happened. I can’t make this stuff up…

Time to dive!

Dive 1 – Holy smokes… So much life! This would be my first salt water dive since my AOW dives, in 2005. Diving in fresh water all the time, we really do not get to see all of this underwater wonder. There were so many ling cod, and they were definitely not afraid of us, or shy. I had a few swim right up to my face, which was both a bit strange, and utterly delightful. Laurynn was helping out, so did not get in for the first dive. Kathryn, Karen, and I had a grand ol’ time!

Bottom Time: 45 mins.
Max. Depth: 40′
Water Temp.: 53F

After our dive, we were graced with some wonderful BBQ, delicious nacho dip, chips, fruit, and some fantastic company. Koos and Jeannine rock!

Dive 2 – All four of us went in! We stayed in the same area, and were in two teams of two, although still stayed relatively together. We saw the same things, but it was neat to really focus, and look for some of the smaller life. There were crabs of all different varieties and sizes, more big ol’ ling cod, anemones, and even a giant lion’s mane jelly fish. It was a good thing he didn’t have any tentacles (which was odd, apparently). What a cool looking creature! I had never seen one like this!

Bottom Time: 45 mins.
Max. Depth: 52′
Water Temp.: 50F/52F

What an excellent day, and it was really awesome to see friends, and to meet some that I have only met online! Great way to kick off the diving!! 

When we returned back to Chez Laurynn, we had a little get-together, that included The Biebs, The Princess, and The Pokeman Pig…

Doug also tried to convince us that it was entirely possible to pop a cork from a wine bottle, with a rock and a shoe. Let’s just say that the shoe suffered a terrible fate… and I still think that Koos won that bet…

It was also really nice of Ben to join us, wearing his team shirt…

An awesome day of Diving Goodness, in Seattle! w00t!

Stay tuned for Part 2!