www.emeraldseadiveclub.org

Air Card, new rules

April’s Speaker

Critter Collection, Camp Casey Reschedule

Edmonds Fishing Pier clean-up

Picnic Fund Raiser

Upcoming Fun Dives

2004 Board Officers

Dive & Event Calendar

Dive Site of the Month

Divers on the Loose

Editor’s Column

How to Contact Us

Our Next Meeting

President’s Column

Sea Stories

Sound Life of the Month

Submission Deadlines

Guy Balbirona

PROSPERITY

One of the principles of continued prosperity involves giving of oneself; as it relates to the Emerald Sea Dive Club. We as members have the opportunity to give in an unexpected way to the marine biology program at Camp Casey. Yearly, we pay for the privilege to dive and collect specimens for study at their sea lab. It gives us a sense of accomplishment for the job we do and added reward by the gratefulness and appreciation that is given to us by Camp Casey’s staff. It truly is a win-win proposition: so begins our gains in prosperity.

During our last scheduled weekend for critter collecting many opportunities were presented and fulfilled to give of ourselves as individuals and club members. It makes me very proud to be associated with such a giving group. Thank you for that! Because of the unfortunate events caused by the weather and continued Murphy’s Law our spirit of giving and volunteerism was amazingly embraced. For those who did not make it to the event the wind storm on Thursday started a domino effect of bad juju for the upcoming start of the sea lab program for this year. The waves hammered the shoreline so badly that it separated the intake hose while the pump sat, still running. This in turn caused some sand and particulates to clog the intake pump and hoses preventing the flow of water to the touch tanks and aquariums. All the attempts to bring the system back online failed. Even after a solid bunch of helpers did all they could do to make it happen. Bummer! Not enough praise can be made to those who gave it their best effort.

In the weeks to come more help will be needed and it is my hope that the same spirit of concern will continue. Please do chime in with your support for any upcoming efforts to bring success to Camp Casey’s program. Not only will it add to the continued prosperity of ESDC but you could experience the opportunity as a fulfilling experience. Hence, prosperity you could not imagine.

David L Ripley

I would like to thank everyone who has contributed articles for the newsletter and I want to encourage those who have not to consider submitting an article on any dive or ESDC related topic. It does not have to be a lengthy article nor do you have to overly concern yourself with spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc. Darlene and I will do our best to take care of those details without changing the intent or content of your submission, so if you have been hesitant about writing because of those issues—fear not. This is your newsletter. Take some time and become part of it.

Darlene Ripley

The Earn An Air Card program has been dropped. In its place is a $50.00 raffle. Every time you sponsor a club dive (a dive that is approved by Rich Carton, Activities Coordinator, and placed on the clip-board and on the ESDC web-site) your name goes "into a hat" and two times a year a name will be drawn from "the hat" and that person will be given a $50.00 ESDC check. If you sponsor 50 club dives your name goes into "the hat" 50 times. Book those dives now!!

Camp Casey’s Critter Collection is rescheduled for Sunday, April 4. You may sleep over in the BOQ Saturday evening; however, you must be responsible for cleaning your own room and feeding yourselves as there will be no Camp Casey staff at this time. Critter collecting will take place Sunday morning. If you have access to the Yahoo Group the particulars are there. Please come out and help to restock their tanks!

Laura is sponsoring a fund raiser for the picnic by selling cookies. Please bring LOTS of money to the next meeting to make your donation. We do not want Mark having to eat dozens of cookies by himself.

Fran Murray

Once again the City of Edmonds wants us to do two pier clean-ups. The first will be April 3, 2004, 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.; the second, September 18, also 8:30 a.m. to

3:30 p.m. This dive is a hazardous dive with entanglement a real possibility but lots of fun anyway. It is important to streamline your dive gear and profile to reduce the chance of entanglement.

We meet at the foot of Edmonds Fishing Pier (Olympic Beach in the middle of Edmonds waterfront) at 8:45 a.m. for sign-in and a REQUIRED dive briefing at 9:00 a.m. There will be another briefing at approximately 12:30 p.m. for the afternoon dive.

If you have not participated in the past outings we will pair you with a veteran for everyone’s safety. A boat will take four divers at a time to the south end of the pier in the morning and the north end in the afternoon. Baskets will be lowered from the pier so we may collect lots of lost treasures. The boat will pick you up and take you back to shore or you may swim in and enjoy the scenery.

This is a great way to do community service and get ESDC into the spotlight. Underwater Sports has generously agreed to provide us with a second tank of air for our efforts. Please join us for a dive at a site not open to diving at other times.

I need lots of pier support so let me know if you are interested in participating topside.

Bruce Bury

Roman, Damon, and I did two dives at Three Tree Point. We went straight out from the fence on the south side of the public entry to about 150’ and submerged. The air temperature was 47° and water temperature was 41°; there was no wind and the sun was starting to peek out from behind the clouds. There was no rain and best of all, no noticeable current. At the first tire reef I found three leopard dorids on the inside of a tire. There was a lingcod guarding an egg nest that stayed inside the tires the entire time, not bothering us; also in the tires were scaly head sculpins, striped sea perch and kelp perch along with decorator, kelp, sharp nose, and hermit crabs. White plumose sea anemones were attached on top of the tires and red short scale shrimp in the tires with a green sea urchin and two large Oregon tritons on another tire. Ascidians such as the stalked hairy sea squirt and shiny orange sea squirt were also under the maze of tires. Sea stars seen were spiny pink, long ray, sunflower, mottled, blood, leather, and morning sun stars. Lined chitons were everywhere on the tires and we saw one large sea pen.

The second tire reef had a lingcod egg nest without any guard fish around. At the edge of our visibility I saw a kelp greenling swim away from us. There were dozens of alabaster nudibranchs, on the slope near our safety stop, with eggs attached to some blades of eelgrass. There was also a diesel engine where we saw a tunnel with a pen point gunnel and its eggs. Our maximum depth was 63', bottom time 38 minutes, and visibility at 20'.

On the second dive, after a surface interval of one hour and 20 minutes, we descended at the double white buoys to the north. While still on the surface I saw one Dungeness crab in about 10' of water. I led the group on a heading of 50 degrees and saw a one and a half foot long Pacific cod dart under the boat sitting on it’s trailer. The boat had kelp perch and one female kelp greenling hiding in the bow. On top of the bow were hermit crabs and a helmet crab by the windshield.  In a box on the port side of the boat I found a couple hundred golf balls; don't know what that was all about. We then checked out another tire reef and found a lingcod egg nest with a guard fish and a brown rockfish. After the boat we found the graveyard of toilets, bathtubs, wash sinks, and a stove. Just as we started to check it out a rather large Stellar sea lion surprised Damon from behind; alerting me when I heard Damon give a yell. It came within four feet of us, closer to Damon and Roman than myself, and stayed for about a minute. I was laughing so hard about actually hearing Damon scream underwater that I had to have lost 300PSI from my cylinder. Later, at our safety stop, I laughed about it again! Under a bathtub, we found a six foot giant Pacific octopus sharing the tub with a rather large saddleback gunnel. Damon took his glove off to allow the octopus to latch onto his finger with one of its tentacles for a few seconds. There was one California sea cucumber that I grabbed and put a sunflower star on top of it to see how the California sea cucumber would respond. On the way back, we saw lots of squid egg nests, some more alabaster nudibranchs and a large rock sole.

On both dives I saw and pointed out two small thumbtack size different species of jellyfish, one of which I recognized as a cat's eye comb, that displayed a rainbow of colors as I shined my light on it.  After a 58' maximum depth and a bottom time of 41 minutes we surfaced. We laughed again about Damon's scream under water but I forgot to ask him whether his dry suit was still dry. Thanks to Damon and Roman; I got to do two wonderful dives today and had a ball. Bye.

Cheng-Hui Wong

Friday night, February 27, a group of ESDC members drove to Hood Canal for a weekend dive. Our group consisted of John, Brad, Jason, Rich, Phil, Greg, Skip, and Loogpla. I rode with Greg.

The house we stayed in had so many added sections it was hard to tell where the original house and foundation were. This house would never pass a building code inspection; it is owned by a law enforcement person, so that is why the house is allowed to be used.

For dinner we had store bought fried chicken along with a variety of goodies everyone brought along; after supper we chatted in front of the wood stove. The language got wilder and wilder. All I got out of the chatter was that I was the oldest in the group. I did not understand what most of their jokes were about. Jason, the youngest, said, "You may be the oldest, but you are just too pure."

Saturday morning, I was up before the others so I decided to practice Tai-Chi. I was surprised to learn that most of the group had done Tai-Chi before. Phil even demonstrated Young-Zhe-Tai-Chi. It was beautiful!

The hour plus boat ride to Flag Pool was captained by Don and assisted by Diane, who were kind and helpful. Don gave the dive briefing using a hand-drafted map and included the compass settings of 120 degrees out and 300 degrees in. It was so helpful to know at the end of the dive.

Rich and I were a team and we swam passed the first reef to a large rock pile. While I was taking a picture of a sea cucumber Rich was shining a light for me to go forward. Within five feet of me there was a huge octopus in the open. Of course, I had the close-up lens on.

Going around the rock pile we found wolf eels in a hole with their cheeks touching. We were really disturbing the intimacy there. Further on we saw other wolf eels but they were too far in the holes, my close-up could not reach them. A digital camera is really needed here.

Ascending to 60 feet or so the current was noticeable. Up to 40 feet my whole body wanted to go with the current. It was not that strong! I just remembered that I had one more layer of under garment today and I did not think of adding more weight! I saw Rich was working hard to stay down too. At thirty feet we held on to some rocks to stay down. At twenty feet there was not anything to hold onto, at 15 feet we held on to a little pile of small rocks for our safety stop. It was work and I was wondering if Rich had enough air still. Once Rich lost his hold on the rock he could not help but go up so I followed. At the surface we were excited about the octopus and so on, but my computer was not too happy with the ascent and was blinking "SLOW".

While Don headed for the next dive site, Black Point, Diane had soup, bread sticks, and candy bars for us to eat. This dive site was not as exciting as others in Puget Sound. Rich was not as aggressive as he was on the first dive so we hung around the first cliff and looked back and forth for anything that was there. At one spot we were among a school of perch and I took the chance to finish my roll of film. This time we both had good buoyancy and had a proper safety stop; I added two pounds onto the cylinder. Good dive! At least this one was a relaxing dive.

Back to the house, Skip and Loogpla were planning to dive on Sunday. I made dinner for all of us which I had promised to do when signing up for this trip; everyone liked the dinner. It was Zing-Do pork chops, red shrimps, broccoli with white mushrooms, and rice. While everyone cleaned the kitchen I took a shower. Knowing there was only one bathroom in the house I had to cut my relaxation short. Yet, still too long for everyone and their merciless jokes . . . I did not dive Sunday so I could catch up on my reading for the next book club meeting in a week and a half.

Fran Murray

Butterflies? Undersea and still flying? I encountered a sea butterfly or winged sea slug on the east side of Maury Island under the Tramp Harbor fishing pier. According to David Behrens’ "Pacific Coast Nudibranchs" (pg 34), it was a gastropteron pacificum commonly known as a nudibranch. Although small, (they can grow up to two inches or 40mm in length) it has a shell entirely enclosed in the body. There are two "wings" extending out from each side of the body with gills on the right side, which contain between twelve and twenty gill leaflets. They appear to be a mottled pink but are really yellow with red flecks. In fairly shallow water (under 30 feet) they were flying everywhere and were easily spotted. As I did a safety stop at 15 feet I noticed the bottom was literally covered with little pink bodies all curled up. My dive buddy told me she only sees them in January and February and does not know where they go for the warmer months. They have been found in waters 36-1400 feet deep from Alaska to the Gulf of California. Very interesting indeed.

You could win a $50.00 ESDC check by hosting club dives. Every time you sponsor a club dive your name "goes into a hat" and twice a year a raffle will be held and one person from each drawing will receive $50.00 from ESDC as a Thank You for sponsoring dives, friendships, and fun! Remember, a club dive is a dive approved by Rich Carton, Activities Coordinator, and placed on the clip-board and on the ESDC web-site. This is a great way to meet club members and have lots of fun. Book your dives today! Remember: the more dives you book the more chances you have of winning.

When you take a class that furthers your diving experience, such as Advanced Open Water, Rescue, Dive Master, etc., show The Board your certification card and you will receive a congratulatory $15.00.

E-mail Jason Miller, our mailing list moderator, jason.miller@IDG-Corp.com,

to be put on the ESCD yahoo group mailing list (www.groups.yahoo.com/group/ESDClist) where you can communicate with other members regarding various dive topics, find dive buddies, or let everyone know about a planned dive that did not make it to the newsletter or clipboard in time. Join the list so YOU won’t be left out!

Wednesday, April 7, 2004

Alfy’s Pizza

4820 196^th SW

Lynnwood WA

425-775-5459

Board meeting, 6:00 p.m.; everyone is welcome to join these meetings

General meeting, 7:00 p.m.

April’s speaker is Ron Kenny from Island Dive and Watersports who will speak on Diving the San Juan Islands.

Heading north on I-5: take exit 181B (196^th St SW/Alderwood Mall Pkwy). At the top of the exit there is a stop light, turn left. At the next stop light turn left onto 196^th St SW proceeding to 48^th. Alfy’s is on the south side of the road. (Alfy’s is 4 blocks down from The Rock.)

Heading south on I-5: take exit number 181 (Lynnwood). At the top of the exit there is a stop light, turn right onto 196^th St SW, proceed to 48^th. Alfy’s is on the south side of the road. (Alfy’s is 4 blocks down from The Rock.)

President Guy Balbirona kaikanuni@aol.com

Vice-President Elena DiPardo edipardo@u.washington.edu

Secretary/historian Laura Orlich lorlich@ssoe.com

Treasurer Willow Moore dr.moore@verizon.net

Activities Coordinator Rich Carton addcorich@verizon.net

News Letter Editor David Ripley esdcnewsletter@mindspring.com

NL Editor’s Secretary Darlene Ripley esdcnewsletter@mindspring.com

Big Buddy Coordinator Sharan Smith sjsmith0@gte.net

Webmaster Phil Morgan pmorg@olmpus.net

Greeter Loogpla Cowden loogpla@att.net

Visit our web-site: www.emeraldseadiveclub.org

Write us: Emerald Sea Dive Club

PO Box 73

Edmonds WA 98020

Contact any of the board members via telephone or e-mail.

Chat/messages: www.groups.yahoo.com/group/ESDClist

Month for newsletter Deadline

May April 26

June May 31

July June 28

August July 26

September August 30

October September 27

November October 25

December November 29

₪ Bruce Bury

425-788-8063

bury1of6@aol.com

₪ Skip Stacy – rainy days

425-775-2410

₪ Guy Balbirona – anytime after work (3:30)

425-252-1632

₪ Jason Miller -- Rescue 425-778-7548

Jason.miller@idg.corp.com

₪ Mike Bevan

work: 425-788-0595

home: 425-788-1015

₪ Greg Becvar

425-670-3978

tridoxia@yahoo.com

₪ Jim Sawyer -- Rescue Certified

425-335-5312

jpsmrvideo@aol.com