Sand Point

So i'm a little behind the times, but at least i'm getting to it.
that's worth something, right?

so i went on a solo snork run down to Sand Point on Labor Day.
it had just occurred to me a couple days before that i had no pictures of the place that sparked my love for this weekly summer adventure, so i set out to correct that.

i park at the parking lot at the south end of the photo, and i walk to that dirt opening where the mish-mash of crossing dirt paths are, and enter the water just below that clump of trees.
then i follow the shoreline north until just before that gravel area at the top of the photo where there's a road that seemingly ends there. that's the dog park.

along there is where the US Navy and whoever else decided that dumping unwanted items in the water meant disposing of it for good.
well, i guess it worked, until i came along.

this area kind of holds a sense of nostalgia now.
but doing this round of snorking wasn't like all the others.
for the most part there's a sense of adventure that comes with each place we visit.
but here, i've dove this area at least 6 to 8 times, so the thought of finding something new is long past.
so whereas in the past i will be excited by everything, here i was basically doing a mental check-off list to see that i took pictures of everything i wanted to.
which wasn't so bad, but it just seemed like more of a task than an adventure.

what did make me glad, however, were the amount of fish.
i'd always seen fish there before, but this time they were more abundant.
i dove down one time to see about 8 fish waiting for me.
i think that's the largest number i've seen yet for fish that are over an inch or three long.

and to actually get a semi-decent shot of that large, pale fish made my day.
i've seen him before in the distance, but never that close.
that guy's really shy and doesn't play around like the others.
the others are more curious and will wait for me to get a breath and come down to chase after them again.
but i guess that's how that one guy gets so big. he takes no chances.

so i did many dives. most were around 20 to 25 feet.
that also seemed to be the level where most of the fish hung out.
but i think the consecutive dives got to me after a while.
or maybe, as i remember my scuba instructor once warning me, "don't let CO2 build up in your snorkel."
but either way, i came to the surface and had a coughing bout. this was some hardcore stuff, like a smoker's hack. i did this for a minute or two and then everything turned fine again.
i could breath and i didn't feel like i needed to puke.
my throat was a little sore, but that's something i could deal with.

so i continued to do the dives and took the snapshots of everything i wanted to.
the last thing on the list was those large spool-looking things.
but i think by that point the 70 degree water was getting the better of me and i didn't even remember to take a side shot of the spools to actually show their spool shape.
oh well. maybe there will be another time.

so after i hit up the random junk, the underwater tree, the chairs, the shelving, the old pier remnants, the safe, the oil drums, and finally the spools, it was time to head back.

but silly me, i had one more thing on my mind.
i wanted to see how far down i could go.
the last time i had an opportunity was at mercer island, luther burbank park.
the two times before that in Kirkland and Montlake, the water never got that deep at all.

but this time i had a revelation, just like with the fact that i hadn't taken any Sand Point pictures at all, i thought, "why not take a picture to prove my depth?".

so i attempted this. failed once with a blurry shot.
i took some time to recover and attempted again.
i thought i had everything set up so i would just have to push the button when i got there,
but for some reason it seemed more difficult than that.
i guess i still had to line up the shot which took valuable time.
so when i got to the bottom, and i started to fiddle with the camera, i still had a foot or two below me.
but i snapped the shot anyway.
what was also getting to me was a thermocline that presented itself at that depth.
i could feel an immediate change to something that reminded me of the bone-chilling waters of alaska that i would find only 10 or 15 feet down.
at least here, where i took the picture, i was at 39 feet.

i think i'm making all these excuses because i really wanted to hit that 40 foot mark.
i know i did it at mercer island, but i have no concrete proof.
one damn foot. balls.

by the time i reached the surface after marking my 39 feet down, i realized it was time to head back. that insanely cold water just saps the life and energy right out of you.
it makes you somewhat lathargic especially later on in the day.
after snoking i went to my pool to see if the hot tub was up and running yet.
apparently it wasn't. one co-worker came up to me and asked if i was alright.
she said my lips were purple. i was also shivering. good deal.
another coworker came in and again asked if i was alright.
she commented on my unusual paleness.
i think that deep diving did have its effects on me.

but anyway, heading back i took one last quick sweep over everything and found what i'm going to call a radio. there's pictures toward the end of my Sand Point set. it has dials with labels above them that read "elevation", "azimuth", and "range".
maybe when i get another day off i'll clean it up and take a picture to see if it strikes any familiarity with anyone.

so along with that radio, i took home with me a golf ball (as usual), a tea cup from PA, and a hunk of metal.
i should take pictures of those too, along with the cleaned-up radio.

so after all this time, a 18 months after my first solo snork, i can finally bring to you the joys that sparked my interest in this whole endeavor.
cuz if i had first gone into seward park with the same curiosity, and found maybe a can or two, i don't know if i would have continued doing this as a passion.
i wouldn't have introduced it to keith, manuel, or calen.
my summers would have been a lot more boring, and my time at home would be spent blogging about nothing, well, maybe just about how my jobs suck and how i want to go to school.

haven't done that in a while...
it's nice to have something else to keep my mind occupied and away from the mediocrity of my current position in life.
so i guess a thank you should go out to the US Navy for all the crap that they dumped in our beautiful lake.
and i guess everyone else in the past who perpetuated this mindset.
well, i guess archaeology wouldn't even exist if people were more concious about waste disposal.
so there ya go...