this is my diving life!

one voice

2009-06-05T11:01:00.000-07:00

The Everett Symphony and Cascade High School teamed up to help find a cure for breast cancer. help them, and sing for a cure and help put an end to breast cancer!

shark versus octopuss

2008-09-09T13:09:00.001-07:00

me and my dive buddy after our dive

2008-07-25T15:00:00.000-07:00

on our dive we seen an octopuss about 6 inches in length and loads of crabs, and a bunch of rockfish. i even seen a rockfish that only less than 1 percent of divers have seen in the puget sound. and that is a yelloweyed rockfish. they tend to reside in canada and in caves. they rarely come to mukilteo t dock (north end of the puget sound). that was a great find. i just wish my camera was working so i could have taken the picture. but a great find none the less though.

northern lights (aroura borealis)

2008-07-24T20:12:00.000-07:00

Scientists expose mystery behind northern lights
In this Sept. 3, 2006 file photo, a spectator watches the aurora borealis rise above the Alaska Range, in Denali National Park, Alaska. On Thursday, July 24, 2008, NASA released findings that indicate magnetic explosions about one-third of the way to the moon cause the northern lights, or aurora borealis, to burst in spectacular shapes and colors, and dance across the sky. (AP Photo/M. Scott Moon, File)

2008-07-24T20:11:00.000-07:00

herring

2008-03-02T08:59:00.000-08:00

never seen so many herring in one place, there was alot more that i couldn't get in frame.

kelp with a blue tint

2008-03-02T08:50:00.000-08:00

i've always wanted to snap a picture of this kind of kelp for awhile, but most of my dives are at night, so its kinda hard to grab a good picture of these.

my dive buddies

2008-03-01T23:55:00.000-08:00

my dive buddys at the beginning of our second dive. i only got a handfull of pictures, dew to the fact that my camera was acting up. the camera had a bad day of diving. at least i got a couple of pictures though.

is that the sun?

2008-03-01T23:52:00.000-08:00

the sun greated us with his presance after a nice little rain storm. to bad it only lasted for about 20 minutes. just long enough to dry us out and make us cold.

hungry??

2008-03-01T23:38:00.000-08:00

in some country(i'm not sure witch one), these little guys are good eating. looks tastey doesn't he?

Hilarious 10 Brick Karate Chop Attemp Video - U Silly Billy

2008-02-09T00:20:00.000-08:00

to funny! i just had to share it with you! enjoy!

keystone jetty

2008-01-28T09:34:00.000-08:00

these pictures where taken at the keystone jetty on my second dive of the day!

langly tire reef

2008-01-28T09:18:00.000-08:00

these pictures where taken at the langly tire reef, on whidbey island. great dive!

Black Belt Test Sparring

2008-01-24T16:11:00.000-08:00

blac belts sparring. it was fun to watch.

board and concrete breaking. black belt testing

2008-01-24T16:08:00.000-08:00

i am the ONLY YELLOW BELT with long red hair there.

this is my pirate name, whats yours?

2008-01-11T14:30:00.000-08:00

Dread Pirate Vane

Like the famous Dread Pirate Roberts, you have a keen head for how to make a profit. You tend to blend into the background occaisionally, but that's okay, because it's much easier to sneak up on people and disembowel them that way. Arr!

Taekwondo Hand Conditioning - bloopers

2007-12-21T14:56:00.000-08:00

this goes to show, breaking a board is easy. but holding the board takes GUTS!!

Diver's dying moments captured by tourist

2007-11-27T22:10:00.000-08:00

Death dive ... a tourist is unaware of Tina Watson's (circled) struggles as a diving instructor swims over in a bid to save her / Pic suppliedDiver's dying moments captured by touristBy Richard Shears
November 22, 2007 01:00am
Article from: Font size: + -
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Picture shows US tourist sinking to death
Police believe diver killed by husband
Novice diver was "an easy target"

WHEN he posed for this underwater holiday snap, the diver in the foreground thought he would merely have a souvenir for the family album.

In fact, this picture is now a key piece of evidence at the inquest into the death of a young woman.

Ringed on the right in the photograph is the body of American honeymooner Tina Watson, who police believe was killed by her husband as the pair dived in Queensland.

On the left is a diving instructor swimming desperately towards Mrs Watson in the hope of saving her life.

The unidentified tourist in the foreground, and his friend who took the picture, did not realise the drama they had captured with their underwater camera.

Crime scene 'frozen'

It was only after the picture was processed and they learned of 26-year-old Mrs Watson's death that they realised they had "frozen" a possible crime scene.

Mrs Watson and her new husband Gabe travelled from their home in Alabama to Australia for their honeymoon in 2003.

Ten days later, she died 24m below the surface of the Coral Sea after diving down to a wrecked boat off Townsville.

Mr Watson, a certified rescue diver, raised the alarm when he surfaced, saying his wife had got into difficulty in strong currents.

But police have expressed concerns about his account of the incident and are investigating his wife's death as a possible murder.

Mr Watson has not been charged in connection with the incident and will give evidence to the inquest in Townsville via video-link from the US.

'Mental anguish' compensation

He has claimed hundreds of thousands of dollars compensation from a travel insurance company for the "mental anguish" he says he suffered after witnessing his wife's death.

But US police have officially named Mr Watson as a murder suspect.

The FBI and two Queensland detectives seized his computer and other material in April this year.

Detective Gary Campbell told the inquest there were "issues of concern", including a supposed malfunction of Mr Watson's dive computer.

He has also given several differing reasons as to why he could not rescue his wife, all of which were contradictory to his qualifications as a rescue diver.

The inquest continues.

half inch octo

2007-11-02T11:46:00.000-07:00

for the first time in 3 (three) weeks i have not seen octos. normaly i see one on every night dive, but for the past 3 weeks i have not. untill november 1st, ending a 3 week no sighting. i almost swam over it, untill i seen one of his vents move, then i got a little closer and seen reflection of light from my dive light from at the time i thought it was a shell. which turned out to be his eye. all - in - all he was a half (1/2) inch long. a great find indeed. sorry if its a little blury, my brother bumped my shoulder just as the picture was being snapped. you can spot this guy's eye dead center of the picture.

small starfish

2007-11-02T11:41:00.000-07:00

this little starfish was so small, it was the size of a quarter. i finally got a good picture of such a small starfish, before they never turned out.

juvenille flounder

2007-11-02T11:34:00.000-07:00

my brother and i where 55fsw (fsw = feet of salt water) and he pointed out this juvenille flounder. never seen one so small here in the puget sound before.

shrimp with white eye

2007-11-02T11:22:00.000-07:00

one of the best pictures of a shrimp in a long time. ok when our picture is taken, sometimes we have what is called red eye on the picture right? on a crestation, would it be white eye?

my dive buddy

2007-10-30T14:56:00.000-07:00

my dive buddy messing around on our safety stop.

ratfish video

2007-10-30T14:53:00.000-07:00

a 6 (six) second video of a ratfish. sorry about it being such a short video, but on a night dive and limited lighting, you have to make do with what you got.

the makings of a ball

2007-10-26T11:03:00.000-07:00

this would be star fish starting a ball used for mating. i have seen one with alot more than just these 2 (two).

nudibranch

2007-10-26T10:56:00.000-07:00

granted this little nudi is on the ground, sunday the 21st of october, i found one floating to the ocean floor. it was about a half inch in length. sadly, the battery in my camera went dead so i was unable to capture the image.

the headless horse

2007-10-26T10:54:00.000-07:00

this is the headless horse. i think he might be looking for the headless horseman on halloween night.

my kick butt green belts

2007-10-26T10:52:00.001-07:00

my green belt children with grand master m. w. lee.

my bubbles

2007-09-17T09:53:00.000-07:00

just feet from the surace, i rolled over for a second to see what was above me for wild life. as i looked into the surface of the puget sound, i thought to myself the bubbles would make for an odd shot. so i took a picture of the bubbles as they rushed passed my hands.

break water

2007-09-17T09:47:00.000-07:00

while riding the current can be a little tricky, getting the right shot of the water hitting the break point (usually on a rock wall called a break water)is even a bit more tricky. i was fortunate on the first attempt.

looking into the sun

2007-09-17T09:40:00.000-07:00

another shot i took on the way to the surface was one of the sun. it made for a good picture, just think all this time we are taught not to look directly into the sun. so what do i do? i look into the sun and take a picture of it. i think they meant on the surface and not at depth....

lone parrot fish

2007-09-17T09:32:00.000-07:00

on our way to the surface, i looked up and seen the most perfect photo opportunity. a lone parrot fish just under the surface of the water. so i took advantage of this most opportune moment and captured the image.

an octo

2007-08-31T09:41:00.000-07:00

sorry the picture did not turn out very good, my strobe did not fire on this shot, can't win them all the time. but a good picture none - the - less though.

whitenus gelatinous massicus

2007-08-31T09:35:00.000-07:00

What is a Gelatinous Animal?

Many people know jellyfish and other gelatinous animals only as unidentifiable jelly-like blobs on the beach. Jellyfish are also often treated as a scourge, deadly creatures that should be avoided due to their venomous sting. In reality, jellyfish and other gelatinous animals are among the most beautiful and stunning animals of the sea. Although a few types may present some danger to people, most are harmless. And you won't need to worry about dying after a jellyfish encounter on the Pacific coast - we don't have anything like the deadly sea wasp (box jelly) of Australia.

Take a jellyfish out of water and it collapses into a quivering blob. The disparate creatures comprising the gelatinous animals are united by having bodies lacking hard skeletal components. With tissues composed of 95% or more water, they are usually exceedingly delicate and easily damaged, with a gelatin-like consistency. Unlike a fish, which retains its form when out of water, a jelly requires the support provided by the aqueous environment. Gelatinous animals are remarkable in their abilities to swim and capture food without the aid of hard skeletal parts (with the exception of some pelagic molluscs that have jaws and a radula).

True jellyfish, or medusae, are members of the Phylum Cnidaria. This diverse and widespread phylum also includes corals and anemones. Cnidarian jellies have a simple tissue organization, with a thin outer ectoderm and an inner endoderm layer. The ectoderm serves a protective function, while the endoderm is involved with digestion of food. Between the two layers, forming the bulk of the volume of the animal, is the gelatinous mesoglea. This flimsy material is typically about 96% water, with the remainder about 3% various types of salts and only 1% organic material. The organic content includes a mucopolysaccharide matrix with fibers of collagenous material (sounds nasty!). Although it doesn't appear like much, the mesoglea manages to serve as a scaffolding for the tissue of the jellyfish, including a platform for bell muscles to pull from. Jellyfish lack true organ systems but nevertheless get along just fine without the aid of a heart, brain, liver or kidneys. Unlike the bilateral symmetry that humans and other vertebrates (and most invertebrates) are accustomed to, the cnidarian body plan is based on a radial symmetry. A slice from any angle through the anterior-posterior (oral - aboral) axis of a jellyfish or anemone yields two comparable halves.

Within the Cnidaria are those in the class Scyphozoa, the most familiar of the gelatinous animals, with representatives such as sea nettles and moon jellies. Many are large and conspicuous and typify what comes to mind when people think of jellyfish. All are equipped with the unique cnidarian stinging structures known as nematocysts, which enable them to be effective predators despite their lack of jaws and teeth. Nematocysts contain a variety of toxins and are typically concentrated in the sinuous tentacles and mouth region. Other types of nematocysts are sticky and function to ensnare and hold onto prey. Jellies vary in the number and length of tentacles but generally use them to incapacitate zooplankton prey such as copepods, krill, larval fish, invertebrate eggs and larvae, and other gelatinous animals. Jellies in the orders Coronatae and Semaeostomeae typically use nematocyst-laden tentacles for prey capture. The Rhizostomeae, a tropical order of scyphozoans whose members lack tentacles, utilize fused oral arms with multitudes of mouth openings to form a kind of zooplankton filter.

Less familiar to most people are jellies in the Class Hydrozoa, which includes a bewildering array of smaller and generally inconspicuous species. Many are transparent and easily overlooked. Our most potent stingers, the siphonophores, are within this group, as is the tropical terror, the Portuguese man-of-war (Physalia). One species within the cnidarian class Cubozoa (the box jellies) occurs along the coast of southern California and Baja California, but it does not have a lethal sting like some of its Indo-Pacific relatives.

Cnidarian jellies typically use their bell for a sort of jet propulsion. By contracting the thin layer of muscle tissue in the bell, the margin is moved inward and water is expelled, propelling the animal forward. Acting as a hydrostatic skeleton, the gelatinous bell springs back to its resting state when the muscle contraction ceases. With hydrozoan jellies, the frequency of bell pulsing is influenced by sensory information from the light-sensing ocelli positioned around the bell margin. The signal is transferred by motor neurons to the bell musculature.

A group unrelated to cnidarians, the phylum Ctenophora (ctenophores), is known as comb jellies. Like the true jellyfish, ctenophores are predators on a wide range of zooplankton. Ctenophores typically have a solid globe-like body, rather than the pulsating bell of cnidarians, and utilize unique rows of cilia organized into a series of plates that beat in an oar-like fashion with highly synchronized waves. They also lack the stinging nematocysts of jellyfish and use other means for collecting food, including sticky tentacles, mucous-covered oral lobes and large mouths.

Some groups less familiar to most people have also taken up a gelatinous existence. Among the more abundant gelatinous zooplankton are the various types of pelagic gastropods within the phylum Mollusca. Lacking a hard, dense shell and using modifications of the molluscan foot for locomotion, many of these swimming snails barely resemble their benthic relatives. Few people are aware that some of the most common planktonic animals are gelatinous snails. Predatory heteropods possess a single swimming fin to scull through the water while seeking prey. Pteropods use a pair of swimming wings, and some are known as sea butterflies due to the manner in which they flap them. One group of pteropods uses various styles of mucous nets to graze on phytoplankton and other small particles. Another group is predatory, using complex mouth structures to capture gelatinous prey.

The tunicates are best known by the sessile benthic forms, the sea squirts. Tunicates are a subphylum within the phylum Chordata, to which humans and all other vertebrates also belong. Two groups of less familiar tunicates have taken to the open sea for their entire life cycle. The thaliaceans include salps, doliolids and pyrosomes. Salps are remarkable grazers that are among the fastest growing organisms and are capable of forming incredibly dense populations by a combination of rapid sexual and asexual reproduction. Salps and doliolids employ sets of ring-like muscle bands in their cylindrical bodies. By contracting these muscles while regulating the opening and closing of a pair of body openings, the pelagic sea squirts swim quite efficiently by jet propulsion. Another group of tunicates, the tadpole-like appendicularians (or larvaceans), are generally inconspicuous but ecologically important grazers. Like some of the pteropods, they use a mucous net to collect microscopic planktonic organisms. Swimming and water filtration are accomplished by rhythmic beating of the tail.

Properties of Gelatinous Animals

At first glance it seems to be a rather foolish strategy for a group of animals to have a gelatinous lifestyle. Being somewhat slow swimmers with easily damaged tissue and no hard skeletal parts might appear to be a clear path to extinction. The abundance and wide diversity of gelatinous animals is testimony, however, to the numerous advantages that this body plan presents. When thinking about jellies we need to suspend our bias toward hard skeletons with thick muscles and other relatively dense tissues.

With bodies that are 95% or more water, and lacking bone and thick muscles, gelatinous animals have come up with a solution to the problem of maintaining buoyancy in the water column. Rather than constructing air bladders, harboring lipid-dense bodies or using energetically expensive swimming, jellies in essence become one with their environment since they are mostly water. While some gelatinous animals, such as certain pteropods that retain a remnant of the shell, must swim to compensate for the extra weight, this requirement is far less than would be required for a comparably-sized denser animal. Buoyancy can also be enhanced by the exclusion of certain ions (primarily sulfate) or accumulation of others (ammonium) in body tissues. Lipids, which are less dense than water and stored by zooplankton such as copepods for buoyancy, are not typically used by gelatinous animals.

Gelatinous zooplankton have a far higher water content on a percentage of mass basis than other marine creatures such as fish or crustaceans. With their high water content and relatively low carbon density, there is a greater potential during growth for rapid increase in size on a volume basis. This helps render them a poor source of food for predators lurking about. The low carbon density enables a low metabolic rate to be maintained, which can be an advantage in that food requirements are lower. As a consequence, many gelatinous animals can withstand long periods without food, sometimes shrinking in size during these periods. When presented with an abundance of food, however, many jellies are opportunistic and can respond with rapid increases in size or population density. Certain species can also regenerate parts of their bodies that have been damaged or bitten off by a predator.

A large surface area relative to carbon content also results in an increased area for capture of prey and gas exchange. Certain medusae and siphonophores act like living drift nets, exposing a large tentacle network to passing zooplankton prey. Larvaceans and thecosome pteropods utilize large, delicate mucous webs to gather tiny food particles. With their thin tissues and high surface area exposed to the environment, cnidarian jellies and ctenophores have no need for specialized gas exchange structures. Pelagic gastropods and tunicates may have reduced gills but can also exchange gases over much of the body surface. Associated with the gelatinous body plan are severe osmotic problems in dilute ionic environments. Fortunately for them, with the exception of a few species adapted to fresh and brackish water, most will never encounter such situations.

Another property of gelatinous tissue is that it is often transparent to light. Transparency is useful for avoidance of visual predators in sunlit open water habitats that lack shelter. This is particularly important for delicate gelatinous creatures since the absence of hard body plates and the relatively poor swimming ability renders most quite susceptible to predation. While medusae, comb jellies and pelagic molluscs may have limited escape responses, they are still slow compared to fishes and turtles that are seeking a meal. Only the cnidarian jellies with their stinging nematocysts can mount any serious defense against predators. With their capable defenses, many scyphomedusae such as purple-stripe jellies and sea nettles have abandoned the transparency strategy. Many gelatinous animals are also bioluminescent. Production of intense flashes of light are thought to provide some defense against visual predators, who can be confused or startled by the display.

Although most gelatinous animals are capable of some type of locomotion, their long-distance travels are generally under the control of currents and other patterns of water movement. For this reason they are regarded as having a drifting lifestyle. The disadvantage is that they may be carried into areas that present multiple dangers, such as near shore. The upside is that with little expenditure of energy they can be dispersed over wide areas. A number of fish, crabs, amphipods and other hitchhikers have taken advantage of this by developing associations with wandering gelatinous hosts.

Gelatinous cnidarians, ctenophores and thaliaceans have relatively low carbon to dry weight ratios (less than 15%). Some of the pelagic molluscs are more semi-gelatinous, with values ranging between 20 to 30%. For the purposes of the JelliesZone, we will consider all of these species to be gelatinous.

Perhaps our gelatinous friends are on to something. Simple can be better.

congrats on getting your open water certafacation!

2007-08-19T21:15:00.000-07:00

my dive buddy just got his open water cert, congrats! may all your diving ventures be rewarding and fun! safe diving!

just looking up

2007-07-22T20:04:00.000-07:00

i found a kelp forrest of some kind, and looked up. i liked what i had seen so i thought i'd share it with you!

old rockfish

2007-07-22T20:01:00.000-07:00

this rockfish was so old it probably could remember its grand children being hatched. if not, then he most likely remembers how a hook feels having never been caught before.

clear as white and orange

2007-07-22T19:58:00.000-07:00

ok out of 80 logged dives now, i have yet to see this untill know. a white and orange anenome together. normaly i have seen red and white, just red, or orange, just white. but i thought it was cool looking.

anenomes

2007-07-22T19:56:00.000-07:00

we where about 39fsw, when we both looked up and seen this. it made for a nice shot, and we both had the same thought at the same time!

juvinile rock fish

2007-07-22T19:54:00.000-07:00

there where at least 10 juvinile rock fish, but only these 2 stuck around to have a picture taken of them.

my dive buddy

2007-07-22T19:52:00.000-07:00

my dive buddy was looking at something just behind me, so i took his picture as if he was looking into the camera.

a thinking lingcod

2007-07-22T19:50:00.000-07:00

this lingcod moved the fist time i took his picture, so i waited untill he stopped. it turned out to be a better shot than the first one was, at times i think it is better to let the animal decide where to take the pictures.

spider crab

2007-07-22T19:47:00.000-07:00

this spder crab was just hanging there untill i wanted a picture of it. then it decided he was not happy with it, i think i got his bad side. most likely his good side was more to the left...

lion's mane

2007-07-22T19:43:00.000-07:00

my dive buddy and i where at the edmonds oil dock when i came up just as this lion's mane swam with in 2 feet of me. it seems i just have this thing with getting a little to close with these jellys. i just hope i am not on the receiving end of those tentacles at any time!

my little octo

2007-07-20T13:54:00.001-07:00

even though it is a short clip, i the fact that some animals are just easy to get not only pictures of but videos as well.

before our dive

2007-07-20T13:47:00.000-07:00

just before our dive, an old friend of mine took this picture of us. i would be the one on the right side.

slightly disorieanted

2007-07-20T13:38:00.001-07:00

this sunfish was just slightly disorieanted i think. upside down and all!

dogfish numbers decreasing in puget sound

2007-07-20T13:35:00.000-07:00

Dogfish Numbers Decrease In Puget Sound
August 2, 2005
Release from: UPI

The number of dogfish in Washington State is at an historic low, with officials estimating current numbers are just one-sixth of those reported in 1987.

Over-fishing is blamed for the dramatic decline, researchers told the Seattle Times. Statistics in 2001 -- the most recent available - indicated there were 1.75 million dogfish in Washington's inland waters, compared with more than 10 million 15 years earlier.

"We need to get the message out to the public. It's an amazing animal that can live up to 100 years," said Richard Beamish, a senior scientist for Fisheries and Oceans Canada. He noted dogfish don't start reproducing until they are 25 to 35 years old.

Beamish said sport fishermen may not realize a dogfish they've caught might have been born in 1925. And it is those fishermen who are catching the majority of dogfish in Puget Sound.

"They cut the fin off a dogfish, or cut off its nose or cut the belly open and let the entrails drag out, and throw the fish back alive to die," he said. "People should be disgusted. No animal should be treated this way."

sand castle

2007-07-14T20:48:00.000-07:00

after someone put all this hard work into this castle, it was finaly lost to davey jones's locker.

great balls of sea weed!!!

2007-07-14T20:46:00.000-07:00

this root ball had sea weed all over it!

jetty island

2007-07-14T20:40:00.000-07:00

this was taken at the jetty island, in everett, washington. it was just a nice day to play in the sun!

my second lion's mane encounter

2007-06-30T12:16:00.000-07:00

this lion's mane is just under the surface, as you can tell by the surface of the water coming up past my lens and other divers just entering the water. we where just standing there telling the other divers to watch out for the lion's mane and you can see them just breifly.

lion's mane just under the surface

2007-06-30T12:13:00.000-07:00

this lion's mane was just under the surface of the water. i even took a 15 second clip of this one as well.

war bonnet

2007-06-30T12:09:00.000-07:00

war bonnets are common, but sometimes hard to photograph. they have a tendancy to say "SWIM AWAY!" or "DON'T LOOK INTO THE LIGHT!". but they make a good picture from any angle. so why do they call them war bonnets anyway? i don't see them in a war with anything or anyone...

anenome

2007-06-30T12:04:00.000-07:00

cool looking anenome. i never seen one like this before, with the stock and the top the way it is! i thought it was a good find.

lion's mane video

2007-06-16T12:12:00.000-07:00

the light you'll see is from my brother's dive light, he kept the jelly in the light as i recorded.

my little octo

2007-06-14T14:28:00.000-07:00

i had a video of this octo, however i lost it some where in the computer! but thankfully i took a picture of it before we where done with the dive.

ratfish with no fear

2007-06-14T14:20:00.000-07:00

these ratfish where not feared by us divers at all. as you can see, they where more than willing to get up and close to us. i think one of these guys wanted to learn how to take pictures!

baby, baby sailfin sculpin

2007-06-14T14:15:00.000-07:00

if my dive buddy would not have pointed this out to me, then i would have missed it. its a baby, baby sculpin. about a half an inch in length. most likely just a couple old. great find!

lion's mane ( cyanea capillata )

2007-06-14T14:10:00.000-07:00

we just started our dive, and i almost swam right into this jelly. just think if i would have then i'd have this huge medical bill, not to mention a big scare on the side of my face.

jellys

2007-06-09T11:58:00.000-07:00

same jellyfish, just a minute or two apart. the second shot of the jellyfish, he actualy made contact with my lens, that was cool acording to my brother.

baby sailfin sculpin

2007-06-09T11:54:00.000-07:00

on our ( my brother and i ) safety stop, we spotted this animal. it is a baby sailfin sculpin. out 72 logged dives, i've never seen one before. these baby sailfin sculpins are about an inch or two in length and are yellow in color. a great find.

ratfish up close

2007-06-09T11:44:00.000-07:00

i was able to get up close to this rat fish. as you look into his eye, you can see the light being reflected out just a little bit.

pacific snake pricleback

2007-06-09T11:38:00.000-07:00

although it is hard to capture a photograph of this elusive animal, as they are often very skittish and swim away very fast. but when you are very lucky enough to get the photo of this animal, it is a reward to the skilled and patient diver.

an old stump

2007-05-28T21:00:00.000-07:00

this old stump looked cool. i had just enough juice in my camera as far as the batteries went to take this picture.

bleeding hearts

2007-05-28T20:57:00.000-07:00

for along time i thought that bleeding hearts did not grow in the forrest, as you can see, i have been wrong for a long time. they do grow in the forrests.

money creek

2007-05-28T20:49:00.000-07:00

here we are at money creek, just a short ( one mile and a half ) hike. it has some pretty senery aswell as a peaceful place to be.

trillium

2007-05-28T20:45:00.000-07:00

this is trillium. although rare, it grows in washington, in the snowqualmie area. it is one of the most beautyful plants i have ever seen!

sunset

2007-05-24T23:26:00.000-07:00

just before we entered the water, i took a picture of the sunset. i liked how the clouds sorta hooked around the sun.

big octo

2007-05-24T23:25:00.000-07:00

this octo was one of the biggest i have seen in a long time.

headless horse

2007-05-24T23:23:00.000-07:00

at one time or another, this was a horse, the head has since caroded away.

spider crab

2007-05-24T23:20:00.000-07:00

this spider crab was just more than willing to pose, i like the colourations under the head.

grunt sculpin

2007-05-22T21:42:00.000-07:00

i'm not to sure but i think these are grunt sculpins. as it turned out, it is a grunt sculpin. i have never seen one before, made for a great find.

odd looking hermit crab

2007-05-22T21:39:00.000-07:00

if you look at this hermit crab, it has what looks like fur on the shell, granted it is not!

mouse nudibranch

2007-05-22T21:37:00.000-07:00

this is the same creature. it is a mouse nudibranch.

rose painted anenome

2007-05-22T21:35:00.001-07:00

this is the clearest rose painted aneome i have ever taken!

anenome

2007-05-22T21:33:00.000-07:00

i thought this was cool looking, as did my sister in law. red base, with a white top.

cressent gunnel

2007-05-22T21:31:00.000-07:00

my brother, sister in law, and i where at 65fsw ( f = feet, s = salt & w = water ), when we spotted this little guy. a cressent gunnel. you can identify it by its "croisant" shapped markings on its back.

me when i was finished with the mark 5

2007-04-22T14:43:00.000-07:00

after learning how to walk with this gear on, it wore me out a little bit. so i decided to just chill with the mark 5 and catch my breathe. this is one thing i'll have to put back on my to do list again!

climbing the ladder

2007-04-22T14:39:00.000-07:00

with all this stuff on, the boots where a challenge to work with on the ladder. you actualy do just 1 step at a time.

just as i came out of the water.

2007-04-22T14:34:00.000-07:00

just as i got to the top of the ladder, my youngest daughter snapped this picture of me. she was my personal photographer for the day. GREAT WORK

KID-O!

the boots for a mark 5

2007-04-22T14:28:00.000-07:00

these toys are not only expensave, but they are also seventeen and a half pounds each (17 & 1/2 ) they are walking in them is no small feat. you actualy have to walk at moving you legs.

octopus

2007-03-05T08:21:00.000-08:00

on our third dive of the day, it became a night dive. and on our way back to the shore, we swam onto this octo. it is odd seeing one at edmonds underwater park, as they are not known to reside there. but it was a great find all around though.

a different type of nudibranch

2007-03-05T08:15:00.000-08:00

this is a different type of nudibranch.this one is a mouse nudibrach. kinda cool looking.

side profaile of a lingcod

2007-03-05T08:11:00.000-08:00

this shot was kinda tricky. i had to balance myself on some rocks with my elbow. i got lucky with this shot, as it was the only one i took.

lingcod

2007-03-05T07:57:00.000-08:00

this lingcod is still farely young, he was just resting on the rocks at edmonds underwater park when we swam by him.

eggs?

2007-03-05T07:53:00.000-08:00

could these be eggs by the mass? this was the most bizzarest thing i've ever seen.very cool though!

my brother

2007-02-28T15:20:00.000-08:00

we where diving thru some pillings, and i looked up, and there he was, the light above him, both from his dive light, and the light coming thru the water, made for a great shot.

spider crab

2007-02-28T15:17:00.000-08:00

this spider crab put on a small show, i had to check the housing for my camera after this, he did get ahold of it. i was glad there was not even a scratch on it.

cabazone

2007-02-28T15:13:00.000-08:00

ok so i'm not sure if this is a male or a female. but this cabazone was just resting on this log, made for a nice picture.

a juvinille spider crab

2007-02-28T15:11:00.000-08:00

this little guy was just a juvinille spider crab. he was about the size of a dime.

a rose painted anenome

2007-02-28T15:09:00.000-08:00

this sea urchin has rings, makes me wonder if he is a rich one or not. ( haha )

another sun fish on the move

2007-02-28T15:07:00.000-08:00

this sun fish was another one on the move. it just happened to be on the ocean floor.

a sun fish on the move

2007-02-28T15:04:00.000-08:00

there was lots of these guys slowly moving like this, it was cool wacthing this. i have never seen a sun fish or star fish move like this. very intresting.

painted anenome

2007-02-28T15:03:00.000-08:00

how about that, a light purple sea urchin.

ratfish

2007-02-28T15:01:00.000-08:00

if you look closey in the center borrum, you'll find the top of a ratfish. its odd seeing one in the day light, since they are noturnal in nature.

edmonds oil dock

2007-02-28T14:58:00.000-08:00

this is the edmonds oil dock. it a great dive location.

skate

2007-02-25T16:56:00.000-08:00

its rare to see a skate in mukilteo, i have only seen four skates now out of the three years i have been diving. its such a pleasure to take pictures of these small creatures. and on our way back to the exit point, we where greeted by the presence of a sea lion.

rock fish

2007-02-25T16:54:00.000-08:00

this rock fish was stuck in a hollowed out log, so i opted to take the picture.

this is another rose painted anenome

2007-02-25T16:50:00.000-08:00

this is the last of the urchins for today. i just can't believe the various shades red in the sea urchins. just so awsome, i'm glad i had the chance to photograph them!