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| July 24, 2007 : Training dive in Reuben Tarte Memorial Park |
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Today's dive was out at Rueben Tarte Memorial Park, with a big group of San Juan Safari's girls working on their Open Water certificates. I bugged out for a while, and found some amazing stuff - most notably the Lion's Mane Jellyfish! Amazing! After I took all the photos, I thought "Maybe these things are poisonous..." They are! I was lucky... |
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| July 22 , 2007 : Dawn's Bottom and Chris's Crag |
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First dive in a while! We headed out to do Dawn's Bottom with Dawn, Issac, Bruce from DiveRite, a NAUI Course Director from Seattle, and myself! It was a beautiful day, and Dawn's Bottom was amazing - brand new Strawberry Anemone (if that's what they really are!) Then I had the pleasure of being the first to dive a wall between D.B. and Pirates Cove, so it's named after me! Yeah! Enjoy the photos... |
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| April 5, 2007 : I got certified 20 years ago today! |
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It all started 20 years ago today for Chris Teren and the wonderful world of SCUBA diving. I can't believe I still have that raggedy old card. I also can't believe how fortunate I am to have been able to dive for so long in such a beautiful place as the San Juan Islands. Today's dive was out on the west side at County Park, and was in the neighborhood of dive #4800. Woohoo! So.... enjoy the photographs! And stay tuned - there will be 20 more years of photos to come! |
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| February 17, 2007 : O'Neal Island & Bell Island |
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A beautiful Saturday in the sunny San Juans! What a great day to get out on the water, and IN it! Dawn, Rome, a surprise visit from Greg, and myself took off for Swirling Reef of Death and it lived up to its namesake - too much current to dive here! So we regrouped at O'Neal Island for dive 1, then over to Bell Island for dive 2. The dives were great fun, and the vis is getting better! |
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| February 10, 2007 : Bell Island & Broken Point |
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Back to Bell Island and Proken Point. The visibility was much better today, and we were rewarded with some great critters out and about. A Puget Sound King Crab was happy to be photographed, but the pair of Wolf Eel wanted to be left alone - they were protecting a alrge bundle of eggs! It will be great to have hundreds of little Wolf Eel on Bell Island in the future! |
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| February
4, 2007 : Bell Island |
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This was Zach's
last dive on Bell Island for his Dive Master. The visibility
was much better, and I had some fun checking out the wolf
eel and the octopus. Nice to have clearer water again! |
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| February
3, 2007 : Bell Island and Broken Point |
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Went out with
Zach again for another Bell Island dive, then to Broken
Point, for more Dive Master training. The visibility was
pretty bad again, but I managed to get a few pictures. |
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| February
2,
2007 : Bell Island |
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Got all the
mechanical problems worked out on the boat and headed out
to Bell Island to help Zach get his Dive Master certificate.
We had a fun dive, although the visibiilty was terrible
- less than 5 feet for the most part. Oh well, a bad dive
is still a dive! |
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| January
28, 2007 : Marina Dive - YEAH!! |
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First day diving
this year! Back from Argentina (click
here for Argentina photos) and we were supposed
to head out to dive Bell Island, but due to mechanical
difficulties, the dive was aborted, and the divers left.
So what did I do? I jumped off the boat in the marina!
As if I WASN'T going to dive! |
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| November
26, 2006 : Swirling Reef of Death and SNOW! |
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Today was a
CRAZY day for diving! 50+ MPH winds, 6'+ seas, rain and
SNOW SNOW SNOW! By the end of the day, over 2 feet of snow
had fallen. We got one dive in, at Gull Reef, then had
to call the day due to bad weather. Oh well, the Basket
Stars were out in full form! |
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| November
25, 2006 : Bell Island & Randy's Surprise |
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Bell Island
and Randy's Surprise. What an interesting combo! Bell Island
was great,
with the Wolf Eels posing for the camera, and a new depth
record for me at Randy's Surprise - 175 feet!
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| November
12 ,
2006 : Devil's Eye Cavern, Ginnie Springs, Florida |
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I must say,
this was the coolest dive I've EVER done! After a week
in Orlando for DEMA, I got the opportunity to go to Ginnie
Springs, cave diver's Mecca, for a Cavern Diving course.
I did three dives in the caverns - two in Ginnie Spring,
and one in Devil's Eye. These pictures are from Devil's
Eye. Next, Full Cave - it may take me a while, as there
are no caves around here! This is a truely amazing type
of diving, with an entirely new set of skills designed
to keep you alive. Take a close look at the sign all divers
see when entering the cavern! |
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| October
28, 2006 : Larry's Lair and Bell Island |
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Yesterday's
dives could be summed up with one word : FRIKKIN AMAZING!
Ok, two words... Anyway, we started out at Larry's Lair
- and the fog lifted just for us! The visibility was great
- ambient light at 113 feet! And a playful harbor seal
that scared the crap out of me. Bell Island had ok visibility,
but due to the strong currents, I missed the Wolf Eels.
After that, we went back to the marina and spent about
an hour underwater practicing buoyancy skills. All in all
it was a great day for diving! |
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| October
14, 2006 : Broken Point and Bell Island |
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Saturday
the 14th started out very foggy. We had planned to go north
for Randy's Surprise and Swirling Reef again, but the fog
wasn't having anything to do with that! So we diverted
to Broken Point on Shaw Island then over to Bell Island
for dive two. The dives were nice - good visibility, virtually
no current, and great sea life. There were seals greeting
us at Bell Island, and there was a new Wolf Eel along with
the regular four. |
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| October 8, 2006
: Randy's Surprise (Henry Island) and Swirling Reef of Death |
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Sunday's
dives took us to a dive on the west side of Henry Island,
called Randy's Surprise, for a great dive on a great wall.
There wasn't much to see though, and what I did see, I
couldn't shoot because my camera fogged! The second dive
was to Swirling Reef of Death, where the visibility was
great, and I took a route I'd never been on for some great
exploring and a rewarding end of dive in an amazing kelp
forest. Unfortunately the camera fogged on this dive too!
Oh well, there WILL be more diving! |
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| October
7, 2006 : Turn Island Wall and Bell Island |
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Saturday
we returned to Turn Island then dove Bell Island.The weather
was sunny and beautiful, and the visibility was great at
each site. The diving was great, with some amazing life
on Turn Island, and a great show on Bell with the wolf
eel eating an urchin. |
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| October
4, 2006 : Turn Island Wall and O'Neil Island |
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Wednesdays dives
were great. On Turn Island Wall we had 50-75 feet of visibility,
with some crazy current (and a curious Sea Lion which I didn't
get a picture of) and great scenery. After that we went to
O'Neil Island for a nice, current free, dive. |
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| October
1, 2006 : Bell Island West and Broken Point |
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Back to Bell Island
and Broken Point today. The visibility was a bit better than
yesterday, and I was certainly rewarded by the show the wolf
eel and the greenling put on for me while chomping on an
urchin! |
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| September
30, 2006 : Bell Island West and Bell Island East |
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All week long
the water looked crystal clear. The visibility looked amazing.
However, Saturday morning when we jumped in the 51° F
water, the vizibility was a not-so-spectacular 10 to 15 feet.
Oh well, the giant Sea Lemon nudibranchs were out, and so
were the Sea Pens, and a Giant Pacific Octopus was hiding
in it's den. |
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| September
23, 2006 : Swirling Reef of Death and Bell Island |
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Saturday's dives
took us to the Swirling Reef of Death (Gull Reef) between
John's Island and Spieden Island for our first dive and Bell
Island for our second. I was out on the Island
Diver again and the conditions couldn't have been better.
On Swirling Reef of Death we had 50+ feet of visibility,
and the Basket Stars were out in full force! At Bell Island,
I found two of the wolf eel and a nice big, well hidden,
octopus. |
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| September
17, 2006 : Broken Point and Bell Island |
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This Sunday was
Greg's last day in the San Juan Islands. He managed to get
35 dives in 70 days. Not bad! We dove Broken Point on Shaw
Island, the wall on the west side of Bell Island (where the
wolf eel play!) and had a final dive on O'neil Island. In
between dives, we played on a huge inflatable water-weenie,
flew kites, and jumped from the roof. Oh yeah, we had some
great diving, too! (For the festivities, click
here) |
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| September
16, 2006 : HMCS Mackenzie and Henry Island |
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Today we had the
good fortune of returning to the Mackenzie. The tides were
in our favor, as was the visibility. There were 6 of us on
the dive; Greg and Larry, Mike and Jay, Steve and me. After
the Mackenzie we went to the west side of Henry Island for
an incredible wall dive. |
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| September
12, 2006 : Bell Island East & West |
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I couldn't resist
the opportunity to jump on the Island Diver on this beautiful
warm sunny day. Pete & Nancy Hardy brought all the San
Juan Safari's girls and most of the staff and volunteer team
from Island Dive went out, and we were treated to wonderful
sights. I got to play with a wolf-eel! |
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| September
10, 2006 : Dawn's Bottom and Pirates Cove |
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Sunday's dives
were back to Long Island, for a deep dive on Dawn's Bottom,
followed by a nice drift dive at Pirates Cove. Dawn's Bottom
was INCREDIBLE with ambient light at 150 feet! Grunt Sculpin,
DEEP water, and proliferating anemone. These dives were truly
world class! GREAT! |
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| September
9, 2006 : Broken Point and Bell Island |
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First dives after
a 5 week hiatus from diving. It drove me crazy not to be
diving! But today MORE than made up for it! After a less
than impressive dive on Broken Point, we headed over to Bell
Island, where, for the first time ever in my diving career,
i saw not one, not two, but three wolf eels! Followed up
by a Giant Octopus. All I can say is WOW! |
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| July 29,
2006 : O'Neil Island |
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Today took me
to O'Neil Island, off the northeast tip of San Juan Island.
This is a fun dive, and there is always slack on some side
of the island. ALong the north side is a fantastic wall that
goes to about 70 feet, with large boulders at the base of
the wall. Great for sighting Sea Pens, lingcod, and lots
of different nudibranch. |
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| July 28,
2006 : Bell Island and O'Neil Island |
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This fine day
I found myself... diving at Bell Island and then O'Neil Island.
The currents were very strong today, so I didn't get many
pictures, I barely managed to hold on and not get swept away!
Drift dives are fun! |
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| July 2,
2006 : Turn Point and Swirling Reef of Death |
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Today's dives
take us to Turn Point, on Stuart Island, and Swirling Reef
of Death on Gull Reef . Turn Point was incredible, with 20-30
feet of visibility, and lots of great stuff, and Swirling
Reef of Death was pretty fun too, though Christine and I
got caught in some pretty wild currents. I guess that's why
they call it Swirling Reef of Death! For a diver's profile
of the reef, click here. |
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| May 21,
2006 : Dawn's Bottom |
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This dive to Dawn's
Bottom was one of those dives where everything clicked, and
I got some of my best photos ever. Things I've never seen
before, beauty unequaled. The Strawberry Anemone fields are
amazing, and the proliferating anemone, with their tiny baby
anemone are just too cute for words! I hope you enjoy looking
at the pictures as much as I enjoy taking them! I also shot
some video: Barnacles Feeding and Anemone.
You'll need Quicktime to view the movies. Get
it here if you don't have it. |
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| May 14th,
2006 : Bell East and Larry's Lair |
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Got a nice private
charter, just Scott, Zak, and me! John captained, and Niky
was crew. Two dives today, Bell Island East, and Larry's
Lair (on San Juan Island) both were pretty good, with marginal
visibility. Well, and dive is a good dive! The Puget Sound
King Crab was great, and some of the giant Nudibranch were
pretty cool too! |
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| May 13,
2006 : Dawn's Bottom |
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Had a surprise
last-minute trip to Dawn's Bottom today. Just at sunset too,
the scenery above water was almost as spectacular as the
scenery below water! This dive was great, with Puget Sound
King Crab, Strawberry Anemone, Coral, Sponges, Lingcod, and
more! Jump in and enjoy the pictures! |
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| May 7, 2006
: Bell Island |
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Today's dive was
Jens' and Ben's checkout dive. We went to Bell Island to
put them through their paces, and they did great! The visibility
was pretty rotten though, so not too many pictures. But check
out the mouth of this Metridium! |
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| April 23,
2006 : Dawn's Bottom and Pirate's Cove (Long Island, The
San Juan Islands) |
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This was the perfect
day! It was almost 70 degrees today, and crystal clear blue
skies. And the visibility underwater wasn't too bad, either
- 30+ feet! Dive 1 was to Dawn's Bottom, where I did a checkout
dive for my Advanced Nitrox/Extended Range Tech Diver certificate
- to 156 feet. Did I mention that my instructor was Dawn
- the very Dawn Dawn's Bottom is named after? How cool is
that? What a weird world it is down there. Saw some great
stuff, too! Dive 2 was to Pirate's Cove, just around to the
north of Dawn's Bottom. Good visibility, and lots of Anemone
there. It's days like this that make it all worthwhile! After
a tough morning of diving, the whole staff of Island
Dive spent the day cruising in land-yachts and Harleys. |
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| April 15,
2006 : O'Neil Island and Bell Island |
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Another questionable
day above the water led to another great day UNDER water!
Today's dive spots were O'Neil Island and Bell Island West.
The water was a balmy 44° F, and the vis was OK at O'Neil
and pretty damn good at Bell. Lots of starfish, sea pens,
urchin, anemone and nudibranch. |
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| April 8,
2006 : Willow Island, Peavine Pass, and Dawn's Bottom |
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Today we got to
do three dives. First one, Willow Island. Not very good visibility,
so not much to see. Second dive - Peavine Pass. What an amazing
dive! I saw stuff I've never seen before! (See the Grunt
Sculpin, and the starfish oozing something, maybe sperm?)
The third dive was to Dawn's Bottom, where Mike and I went
down to 155'. Then spent most of our decompression in the
Strawberry Anemone fields. It was pissing rain and the light
were out on the land, what a great day to be underwater! |
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| March 25,
2006 : Back to the Mackenzie for a little bit of penetration! |
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Off to the Mack
again, with 16 divers from the Marker Buoy Club in Seattle
and a group from somewhere in Oregon. Mike, Alex and I decide
to go inside the ship - three levels in! Fun dive, but really
dark in there, so not too many pictures. |
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| March 12,
2006 : Bell Island East and Harney Toad |
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Two dives today,
in hopes of getting Mike MacNabb to his 100th dive milestone!
The first dive was to the east side of Bell Island, and it
was a pretty darn good dive! Great visibility, LOTS of fun
stuff to see, and a nice little current to help us along!
The second dive was a new site for me, Harney Toad. This
was Mike's big 100! We jumped in, and were graced with a
whopping 3 inches of visibility! Woohoo - diving by braille
for the 100th dive. Well, every so often the vis opened up
a bit, and we saw some cool stuff, and I got the commemorative
picture... Congrats Mike! |
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| March 11,
2006 : Larry's Lair and Bell Island |
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This weekend I'm
on the big boat with a group of 6 other divers from all over
Washington, and some from Canada! We've been blessed with
wonderful sunny weather, with little wind! Perfect diving
conditions. Our first dive was Larry's Lair (just south of
Turn Island on San Juan Island) and there wasn't much to
see. But the second dive, on Bell Island, made up for it!
I saw more variety of Nudibranch than I've ever seen before! |
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| March 4,
2006 : Broken Point |
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It was a beautiful
sunny day, so we decided to head out for some diving on Broken
Point. SCUBA Steve and I paired up along with two other people
on board, and we jumped in! |
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| February
25, 2006 : Back to the Mackenzie! |
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Today we set out
for a dive on Turn Point and Kellett Bluff. It was overcast
and windy, but nothing bad. In Spieden Channel we came across
some 30-50 Sea Lions. We think they were all female, and
they were playing and jumping and gave us a great show! I
was on Chewy with Mike and Sid, and Jason as crew. We got
to Turn Point, and I had an equipment failure that kept me
out of the water, but Mike and Sid had good dives. Then we
decided the Mackenzie was closer, so we blew off Kellett
Bluff and went Wreck Diving instead! I got all of my gear
working, and had a great dive - I even got into Deco! Finally
this windchime thing is paying off! |
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| February
20, 2006 : Tec Weekend Day 3 |
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Day three of the
Tec Weekend was set to be a fun day. We took off at the crack
of dawn, to Dawn's Bottom (no pun intended Dawn!) but the
currents weren't in our favor, so we had to scrap the dive.
It was not a total loss, several of the divers had a great
dive there, and our second dive, to Lab's Wall, was great.
131 foot max depth, I helped a student achieve his Advanced
Diver rating! We had a great time! |
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| February
19, 2006 : Tec Weekend Day 2 |
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Day two of Tec
Weekend started off with a sunrise dive on Turn Rock wall,
off Turn Island. It was cold, clear, and beautiful - then
we jumped in the water (which was also cold, clear, and beautiful!)
The second dive was to Bird Rocks, where Patrick and I recovered
a great crab-pot, and the final dive of the day was back
to Turn Rock wall, where I captured the elusive Puget Sound
King Crab (digitally, of course!) |
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| February
18, 2006 : Tec Weekend Day 1 |
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Island Dive & Watersports
(website)
hosted it's 2nd annual Technically Speaking Weekend. Speakers
like Jeff Bozanic & Peter Den Haan talked about Rebreathers
(and gave demos!) as well as diving in Antarctica and in
deep caves. There were many other lectures and lots of great
diving! Today's dives included Larry's Lair and Bell Island. |
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| February
12, 2006 : Back to my old favorite sites, Bell Island and
Broken Point |
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It was another
wonderful day of diving on Bell Island and Broken Point,
on Shaw Island. The weather was wonderful, the sea was calm,
and the visibility was pretty good! Today's dives presented
me with some spectacular scenery for pictures. Juvenile nudibranch
near egg-clusters, a Puget Sound King Grab and a juvenile,
and a newly certified diver on his first dive out of class!
Although the high-light of the day was probably the flips
and butt-flops Dawn and I did off the roof of the boat! |
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| Wednesday
the 8th - We're diving the H.M.C.S. Mackenzie! Waaahoooo! |
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OH MY GOD! I've
been waiting for 10 years to get back to this wreck! I dove
it one month after it was sunk, and finally got back. For
info about the boat, click
here. Mike Hilliard, Jason Royal, Scuba Steve and myself
headed out on a blue-sky day for a day of wonderful diving!
I stayed down for 85 minutes on my first dive to 85 feet,
and 50 minutes at 65 feet. It was great, and I hope you'll
enjoy the pictures! |
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| Sunday the
5th - Swirling Reef of Death, Broken Point, and F.H. Marina |
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Sunday's dives
were weird. No wind, slightly overcast. Yes, there is a dive
called Swirling Reef of Death. And it chewed me up and spit
me out. I dropped to 85 feet in under a minute, never saw
the bottom, and aborted the dive. Came up over a mile away
from the boat, and never got a picture. So these pictures
are of Broken Point and Friday Harbor Marina. Trying to learn
a new flash on the camera; fewer pictures, more mistakes..
But the ones that turned out, turned out pretty good!! |
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| Crazy weather
Saturday, the 4th. Bell Island and O'Neil Island |
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Wow was the wind
crazy on Saturday! We found shelter from the storm at Bell
island, and had a fun dive on O'Neil Island, but a spooky
pick-up in 60 mph wind! |
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| Diving off
Crane Island and Bird Rock (Near Bell Island) |
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Sunday's dives
were pretty fun, but the weather was NASTY! High winds, huge
seas, but it was calm underwater. Got some interesting pictures
- enjoy! |
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| 75 minutes
beneath the Port of Friday Harbor. January 28, 2006 |
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Just got my Atlan
drysuit back, and had to test it out! So I grabbed a little
steel 80 and swam around for 75 minutes. The suit worked
great, and I even saw some cool stuff! |
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| Broken Point
and Bell Island, San Juan Islands. January 15, 2006 |
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I finally made
it out diving this year... And it was great! First day of
no rain in 26 days - how can you beat that? Broken Point
and Bell Island were great dives with lots of fish and even
an Octopus! |
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| Los
Cabos, Mexico. December 2005 |
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Merry Christmas
everyone! Here's what I've seen so far... The diving had
been excellent and the beaches are wonderful! |
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| SCUBA Diving San
Juan Islands, December 17 & 18, 2005 |
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A marina dive
on the 17th, and a beach dive off Pear Point on the 18th,
which I have the honor of naming: Amy's Wall |
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| SCUBA Diving San
Juan Islands, December 11, 2005 |
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Whoever said
diving in a marina was boring was WRONG! |
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| SCUBA Diving San
Juan Islands, December 4, 2005 |
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SCUBA Diving
in the San Juan Island, in the winter! Can't beat it.. |
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| SCUBA
Diving in Thailand, February 2005 |
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At long last
(better late than never, right?) my photos from Thailand
are online. I spent five weeks in Thailand, in February of
'05. I was in Phuket for a week, then over in Koh Samui for
the rest of my trip. It was quite soon after the tsunami,
and the diving was no good on the Andaman Sea side, so I
decided to go to the Gulf of Thailand to do my diving. These
photos don't do the place justice, but they are better than
nothing! They were, after all, my first ever underwater digital
photos! |
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