Alki III

i went and dove at Alki again yesterday.
i took keith along for the ride. he dropped his car off at his parents, and we were going to be hanging out in Seattle for the duration of his stay in this here state of Washington, so he came along to the dive site.
he got a picture of me all suited up. maybe i can snag that from him and post it (hint, hint. wink, wink.)

so this time i went down with Cory sans camera. it was kind of sad, but in other respects, it seemed to open up a new world.
beforehand i was always concerned with my camera, but this time around i was free to be much more tactile than usual.
i poked at the fatty sunstars, i pet the crabs.
apparently the crabs only get mildy perturbed when you touch their ass (which is what i did), but they rear up when you throw your hand in their face like what Cory was doing.
i like that defensive response of theirs better.

another difference without the camera was that i got a closer look at things.
before i had to keep a distance to get a good shot, but this time i could be right on top of the subject in question.
it was almost like being at the petting portion of the aquarium rather than having the inches thick plexiglass between you and your curiosity of the creatures.

this time, two other people came with us, but quickly went and did their own thing.
we met them at the bottom around 30 or 40 feet down.
one of them had brought a dead fish in a bag.
when we got to a wood/metal(?) board that had apparently been down there for many years, he took the fish out of the bag and shoved it under the 6" area beneath the leaning board.
as to whether there was an octopus or something down there, i have no clue. i didn't ask.
and you can't really ask questions underwater anyway.
the odd thing was that they didn't really stick around to see if anything was going to devour the fish.
Cory and I stayed around the longest. He actually shoved the fish in further than it already was.

After that episode of our dive, Cory took me deeper.
without always looking for good shots to take, i was able to focus more on our depth.
i remember this set of wheels from my last dive. apparently that's down at just about 60 feet.
that's about how far we went last time.
but this time, we ventured further.
beyond this, the scenery got very dull. i'd seen many a views like this in the lake.
just barren, nothing but dirt and maybe a pebble here and there.

we came upon a HUGE sunstar like the one pictured above. Cory shone his light on it.
cool. it glowed a pretty orange, almost like those small rave glow-sticks, with a luster of what it looks like when you shine a flashlight through your hand in complete darkness.

after doing this, Cory picked the thing up and we dragged it north to a rock pile.
(sidenote: for some reason, in open spaces i am awesome with my orientation, but get me in a building, like a mall or its parking garage, and i'm totally lost.)

the base of the rock pile was 85 feet down! that's a new record for my deepest dive!
acsending the rock pile (which sounds kinda weird cuz it's not really climbing, you just float up) i got a bit of a scare.
lying amongst the rocks are these orange-spiked purple arms that looked like they were coming out from under the rocks. an octopus!?!
no. after a few seconds of investigation my heart got to rest.
these 2 foot long "arms" were not connected to anything even more scary looking, they were their own entity.
i believe they were sea cucumbers.
the one in that picture though is a little shit and way less turgid than the ones that i came upon.
it's spikes are wilted and limp, the things i came upon were full of life and very intimidating.
the things were also easily twice the size of the one being held.

since i've written a lot since i mentioned it, you may have forgotten that Cory was still carrying a large sunstar when we came upon this rock pile.
so what did he do? he tossed the sunstar atop the, at least, half a dozen sea cucumbers.
i've never seen anything so closely resembling a turd not move like one!
those fuckers darted in any direction that was not the sunstar.
the sunstars underside feelers were going crazy, elongating to almost an inch searching for a slow cuc, but finding none.
one of the cucumbers rapidly inched its way in my direction.
Cory motioned to pick it up.
i didn't want to hurt the thing, so i was attempting to be delicate, which is hard with 5mm gloves on.
but you touch the thing and it's like there's no substance to it all. you could easily touch your fingers together if you wanted.
i may have, but couldn't really tell with the gloves.
so i picked the thing up and held it at either end.
these sea cucumbers also had thousands of tiny feelers on its underside. so that's how it hovered across the bottom of the Sound...
held up like an offering, it easily stretched to its 2.5 foot extent while Cory shone his light on it.
a very odd experience.
when i got bored with checking out its thousands of feelers, i wanted to put it down.
i let go of it thinking that it would slowly drop back to the seafloor, but no.
the thing remained in status as i had presented it.
not wanting to slam it back to the "ground", we just let it remain hovering and ventured back to more shallow waters.

i'm realizing more and more how to manipulate my BC as to not rocket to the top when getting into shallower waters, and i'm also getting slightly better on not slamming to the seafloor.
the optimal position is hovering horizontal just over the seafloor with your knees bent and feet up. then when you go to propel yourself by kicking, you don't stir up sediments on the bottom.
i still suck at keeping a pristine environment, but i'm getting better.

in shallower waters Cory had me do some basic safety tests like removing my regulator, holding it out infront of me, while grabbing my backup and using that. then, of course, switching back.
he'd show me how to do that one while underwater.

the next drill he only motioned. he points to his mask and makes a motion that indicates taking it off.
i knew what he wanted, but i really didn't want to do it.
he wanted me to take it all the way off of my head, then replace it and blow all the water out with my nose.
i played dumb, to a point, and only flooded my mask, leaving it on my head.
but that was a pain enough.
i've done it in a pool before, but i forgot why it sucks in the Sound: salt water.
it kinda stung, and there's no real way to wipe your eyes with your mask on, so you just grin and bear it.
no wonder he didn't demonstrate...

before the dive i was worried about getting really cold, but only at the initial entry of the water was i ever really cold.
even though the water was a blistering 53 degrees, i never felt like turning to Cory and asking to call the dive.
it wasn't until i started to take my wet suit off in the parking lot that i got chilled.
the air temperature was probably similar to that of the water.

so because of that, i took keith to my pool where we met air for some good hot tubbing action.
then came dinner at keith's ultimate idea of a good food: burgermaster.
i can't really blame him.
then came drunky-time at Cooper's on Lake City.
a good round of pool, darts, and BS made it a complete night.

around 11pm, dan and i dumped keith off at the airport headed for Pittsburgh.
i guess he'll be back for about a day in about a week, but beyond that, he'll be living in PA for some time.
first the east side, now the east coast.
from E-burg to P-burgh.
we'll miss your ass. (mostly Stu's;)