Alki Junkyard

Went diving on Wednesday. Cory offered up a new place. It's still around Alki, where we normally go, but this time it's on the west side of the spit at a place called the junkyard.
Down there we found sporadic droppings of machinery probably dating to at least 50 years back or more. Washing machines, large metal chairs, and many other unidentifiable metal objects.

The area here had way less vegetation than I have been used to, pretty much none, aside from the short grasses in the shallower end. Otherwise it was just sandy.

There were so many new sites, I'm very sad I didn't bring my camera. However, on land my camera soon died after a few pictures, so I wouldn't have come up with that many shots.

So instead I'll use the internet as my visuals.
The first really new and exciting thing for me was a Moon Snail. The one we came upon, however, didn't have its shell, so it just looked like a white underwater cowpie. Either that, or a really developmentally challenged sea anenome.

Next was a tiny Sculpin that was hididng out in an abandoned moon snail shell. He was a little guy, but nothing I'd seen before.

Now this picture is from a previous dive, but I didn't get a picture of it then either. I thought it was for a bit of protection, but according to the website, these Crabs are mating. They fit quite well, don't they?

Aside from the moon snail blob, I think the other most interesting new thing for me were the Squid eggs
. There was a metal pole stuck in the ground that had these attached all around it. It looked a lot like a bunch of elongated white grapes. I still haven't seen an adult squid yet though. Oh, and if you couldn't really tell, here's a Closeup of the eggs. There's hundreds inside each capsule.

Again I ran into a Halibut, so that's nothing new. But i think my new mission with them will be to see if they're one side dominant. So far, with the three that I've seen, i think they all lie on their left side with their right side exposed to the world.

I saw tons more anenomes and starfish, but I've taken multiple pictures of those. What I did find interesting however, is where the anenome color stayed constant from Cove 2 to the Junkyard (white or the occassional orange), starfish colors changed. Purple and orange are the major colors at Cove 2, yet over at the Junkyard, a brown seemed to be the color of choice, especially for the sunstars. Maybe it's to better blend in with the sandy environment.

Anyway, I'll have to go back to that place with my camera, then it'll help me remember more of what I saw.

Stats:
max depth: 55'
down time: 45 mins
temp: 48 degrees (the coldest I've been in yet)

I'm now getting used to my dry suit enough to where I think I can manange both it and a camera. The day I dove, I also stopped into my dive shop and bought a light. They didn't have it in stock, but it should be coming within a week. Very exciting. Night dives might be scary.