www.emeraldseadiveclub.org

In This Issue

Guest Speaker

Everyone is encouraged to submit stories about their dives or any dive related topic.

The deadlines for submissions are:

July 24

August 29

September 26

October 24

November 28

Open to all ESDC members. Photographs may be of above water dive related subjects as well as underwater subjects.

Each participant may submit a total of 12 photographs with no more than 3 submitted in any one month. Photographs should be those taken from October 2005 through September 2006.

The photos can be submitted to me via e-mail to edscnewsletter@mindspring.com

or by hard copy at any of the meetings.

Contest closes September 2006 and entries must be submitted no later than the October 5^th meeting.

Prizes and calendar price will be announced later.

Everyone is encouraged to submit a paragraph or two about themselves. How and why you got interested in diving, where’s your favorite dive site and what you enjoy most about diving are all subjects you could include. Don’t be bashful, tell us about yourself.

Johanna Raupe

Dive Location: Sunrise Beach, Gig Harbor

Max Depth: 63 feet

Dive Time: 37 minutes

Visibility: approximately 10 feet

Date: May 21, 2006

Divers: Greg Becvar, Johanna Raupe

Dive Sponsor: Loogpla Cowden

On May 21, 2006 Greg, Loogpla and myself (Johanna) set out on a dive adventure; destination Sunrise Beach in Gig Harbor, Washington. The three of us met in the parking lot of Southcenter Mall in Tukwila. After a brief discussion and greetings we consolidated our belongings into Greg’s car. There was a lot of excitement between the three of us as we got into the car and headed out on our adventure. With a bit of requested/solicited backseat driving from Loogpla, we exited the parking lot and headed south on I-5 for the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. As we neared Gig Harbor we required much additional backseat drive instructions as we navigated our way to the much anticipated dive site.

At the dive site there were several vehicles parked in the gravel based parking lot with one vehicle being of particular interest to Loogpla. She had her eye on a SUV parked near the northwest end of the lot. She instructed Greg to park next to this vehicle. Loogpla jumped out of our vehicle and immediately approached this suspect vehicle. She had her hands cupped over her eyes, shielding them from the glare created from the sun as she tried to peer through the vehicle’s windows. While looking through the glass she made the comment, "I believe this car belongs to a diver." She didn’t divulge any more information to us. The first thought that came to my mind was "I wonder what her first clue was? Could it have been the dive sticker placed appropriately on the vehicle or was there something else that she was clueing into?"

Without much ado we decided we would walk down to the shore and see what the water looked like. The initial part of the walk cuts southward across a grass covered area about the size of a small pasture. In the distance we could see a couple pushing a wheel barrow up the hill toward us loaded with dive gear. It was Martha and her dive partner Rich; the owners of the vehicle that Loogpla was so interested in. Martha and Rich had just finished a dive and were remarking about how nice the water was. Loogpla stayed and chatted a bit while Greg and I proceeded down to check out the dive conditions.

The roughest part of the walk appeared as we rounded the old apple tree and started down the narrow gravel/dirt trail to the beach. We recognized that this part of the hike would be the most difficult post dive. We proceeded on down to the beach. There were already several boats with divers in the water. Loogpla soon joined us and remarked that Martha and her dive partner would be joining us for a post dive cocktail at a local tavern in town.

After our initial assessment we decided to return to the upper parking lot and dress for the dive. Greg and I methodically geared up, both of us going through our mental equipment checklist while Loogpla checked her voice mail on her cell phone.

With each of us geared up and Loogpla carrying the loose items, we started the long walk down to the shoreline. On the beach we collected our fins, masks, lights and camera and began the southward beach walk to the post with a sign a top. The sign marks the southern end of the park’s public beach. From this point we entered waist deep into the water and continued our southward direction past the park’s boundary sign, the first house and to a position directly out from the protruding evergreen.

When we reached the evergreen tree, given the current; we looked at one another and decided we would continue on to the far southern edge of the next residential property. Once there we donned our fins; did a quick buddy check and descended into the cool moving water.

We swam against the current headed slightly southward on an approximated 115 degree course out over the vegetation and rock covered bottom. Close to shore there was enough current present that the descent was difficult without the help of a trusty rock for added weight. Once submerged and below the height of the current the rock found a new resting place on the bottom.

As we headed toward the underwater ledge, underwater ravine and rock outcroppings we crossed paths with numerous flat fish and sculpins. Peering out over the first ledge in the distance we could barely make out the lights of three distant divers through the silt that they had stirred up. We proceeded over the ledge single file swinging out away from the other divers going around their backside turning to the right proceeding further down.

My dive buddy (Greg) soon reached the top of a large distinct bolder. He proceeded down the right side of the bolder turning to the left so that he was facing the rock from the lower side. I could see a little bit of a jump and then he turned and waived hurriedly for me to come down and join him. As I came around the edge of the rock wall my dive light flashed on the surrounding bottom. This must have been an all too familiar signal for at that moment a large male wolf-eel darted half way out of his den and set down on his front fins much like a pet would do waiting for some sort of an acknowledgment from its master.

Greg reached for the can of herring that he had brought along for the experience and again this stirred some excitement within the wolf-eel for he came all the way out of his den and sat between the two of us. As Greg fumbled with the top of the can trying to open it you could see the excitement stirring within the wolf eel. The eel portrayed the impatient characteristics of a pet dog waiting for his master to dump the contents of the container so that he could rapidly scarf it up.

The can was soon open and passed to me. I now had the wolf-eel’s complete undivided attention. I parceled out pieces of the herring as the wolf-eel quickly inhaled each chunk. In some of its excitement the wolf-eel swam about circling and then toward me looking for the gifts that divers often bring. I placed my hand up in front of my face so as to guide the fish up over my head. It glided over the top of me, circled around and came back to rest between the two of us. It soon finished off the remaining pieces of herring and then turned and went deeply back into his den. Peering with a light down into its den you could barley make out the side of the wolf-eel.

With the highlight of the dive past us we finished the remainder of the time cruising back and forth along the rock wall looking for other mentionable photo subjects, none of which came close to the showmanship put on by the wolf-eel. We saw numerous flat fish, a variety of adult and juvenile painted greenling, and great sculpins along with some sea squirts and a lone grunt sculpin. Near the end of the dive we came across a single crimson colored mosshead warbonnet.

We ended the day at the local tavern reminiscing on the days experience both above and below the water and of course making plans for a return visit.

photo by: Greg Becvar

Evening Phone: 425-316-9973

Day Phone, Ron 206-617-7238 (Cell)

Camp Patterson is located on the northwest side of Silver Lake, and is part of the

Thornton A. Sullivan Park. The facility includes two sheltered areas, restrooms, and a large grassed area for games and activities. The main park has a public swimming beach and a public dock for fishing as well as playground equipment for the very young.

As with all Everett Parks, there is NO ALCOHOL or PETS allowed in the facility.

Please plan to join the club for food, games, friendship, dive stories and of course FUN.

From I-5 take the WA 527 N. Exit, (Exit #189)-toward WA99 /Broadway/ Everett

Mall Way.

Take the WA-527 So./19^th Ave SE Exit

Turn Right onto 19^th Ave SE to 112^th St. SE about 1.1 Miles

Turn Right onto 112^th St. SE to Silver Lake Road (.3 Miles) (Bartell on the corner))

Turn Left on Silver Lake Road, the park is on your left.

From I-5 take the WA-99 So. / Everett Mall Way exit (Exit # 189) toward WA 527 S

Take the Everett Mall Way exit toward WA-99 / WA 527 S.

Take the Broadway ramp toward WA 527 S. / 19^th Ave SE

Merge onto SE Everett Mall Way / S Broadway

Turn Right onto WA 527 / 19^th Ave SE

Turn Right onto 112^th St SE (about 1.6 miles) (Bartells on the corner)

Turn left on Silver Lake Road, the park is on your left.

Emerald Sea Dive Club Picnic

Sunday August 6^th

Silver Lake Park

Silver Lake Park is an old established beach and picnic area that was used as a resort

and recreational area in the 1920’s and 30’s. The reserved picnic area is a private section of the park with easy access to the beach and playground area for the kids. The beach is manned by City of Everett lifeguards and usually crowded during the warm summer days. The beach has a great sand area with a dock that encloses the swimming area.

We have the area reserved from 12:00 noon until 6:00PM. or a little sooner for those that want to get a quick start. The covered area will accommodate a couple of picnic tables with extra tables available.

I anticipate having a volleyball court set up, Bocci Ball and if I can work out the details a slip and slide for the young and young at heart. The BBQ will be going so bring one of your favorite side dishes, the sign up list will be posted at the meeting, and join your dive family and friends for an afternoon of relaxation and conversation.

Bob Bailey

We did our first dives on Sekiu Jetty Saturday 6/3/06. Cheng and I were joined by our friend Janet, who lives in Port Angeles, for a pair of dives.

I love this dive site. There’s ample (free) parking, nice facilities nearby, and relatively easy entry. It’s a very shallow dive that starts out in eel grass, progresses through dense kelp, and ends up at a series of large rocks. Each habitat offers a unique environment … providing different things to see throughout the dive.

We started out surface-swimming straight out from the center of the beach … through the "sand flats". The bottom slopes off from the beach fairly suddenly, but then if flattens out at 12-15 feet for quite a ways out. After a couple of minutes of kicking I looked down to get a feel for how deep we were and was surprised to see that the water was full of tiny jellyfish.

"We’re dropping down right here", I told my dive buddies … as I unclipped my camera. There were at least five or six different species swimming around, including these long, slinky things that I later found out were some kind of colonial salp … they looked like a translucent pearl necklace slinking around in the water. Sadly, they proved difficult to take pictures of, as my camera didn’t understand what I was asking it to focus on. In the first few minutes of the dive I found two or three species of jellies that I had never seen before, including a type of segmented worm called a "tomopterid" … I later found out it’s a deep-water pelagic species … what in the world is it doing here, in 23 feet of water?

One of the most interesting things we found in the eelgrass was something called a "stalked medusa". Not sure if it’s a jellyfish or an anemone … or something else altogether … but there’s a couple of pictures of them in the photo show.

In among the kelp were tons of black, copper, quillback and canary rockfish … as well as lingcod and various other species common to the Puget Sound area. Kelp and decorator crabs were also pretty common, as were several varieties of snails. We found several large yellow patches of some sort of encrusting sponge that seemed to attract them.

But the rocks were the best … they were totally covered in riotous color reminding me very much of my recent trip to Monterey CA. Urticina anemones were abundant, along with all the shrimp and other types of life they seem to attract. We saw at least a dozen different types of nudibranchs, hydrocorals, strawberry anemones, cup corals, encrusting sponges, and some weird cobalt-blue stuff that looked like little patches of seaweed. It was a painter’s palette of oranges, yellows, reds, and blues everywhere.

Our dives lasted 47 minutes and 62 minutes, respectively. On the second dive, Janet stayed on shore and it was just Cheng and I (with our larger tanks, which allowed us to stay out longer). Our final few moments in the water provided another unique experience … as we entered the "sand flats" in front of the beach I noticed the bottom was literally moving with thousands of tiny crabs … perhaps the size of a common house fly. Then I noticed they were "raining" down from above us, dropping down to the bottom out of the water column … it was downright strange. Capturing one on my glove, it appeared to have a gelatinous appendage … somewhat like a "tail". I wasn’t aware that crabs went through a larval stage, but that’s exactly what it looked like. Unfortunately, I had filled up my camera’s flash card attempting to take video of the swimming salps we’d seen earlier, so I was unable to get pictures of these fascinating little critters.

At any rate … here’s a photo show. I took about 150 pictures, but there were a lot of floaties in the water so most of them weren’t worth reproducing.

 http://photoshow.comcast.net/watch/SR3Yd2hD

I didn’t know what a salp was either so I checked it out on the web and found this. (David Ripley)

Salps are semi-transparent barrel-shaped marine animals that move through the water by contracting bands of muscles which ring the body (the body is referred to as a test). These contractions draw water in the front of the test and out the rear. There are about 70 species of salps worldwide, with more than 20 found in southern Australian waters. Salps are classified in the Phylum Urochordata and Class Thaliacea. They are related to all the animals with backbones (Phylum Chordata).

7 Nights, Unlimited Shore Diving, Vehicle Included

PRICE ONLY $599/person

      Click "Vacation Rentals", see "B1027" and "B1025"

1.  Port Authority Fleece Vest R-TEK - #JP79

2.  Port Authority Polo Shirt KP 60? 

3.  Jackets: black – 754-BK  gold –754-GD

4.  Jackets: All Season, men’s & women’s – black 779-BK

5.  Full Fleece Zip Jacket – available in black – 77-BK, midnight heather 77-MH

Available both men’s & women’s styles

Members can order directly from Dan Singley at www.thelogopress.com

FREEDOM ORDER – Have the ESDC logo embroidered on blankets or any article of clothing.

Personally customized by Rodney Windhorst: lsvision@earthlink.net

Be sure you have your ESDC membership card with you when you go shopping at dive shops—you just never know. If you find a dive shop that offers you a discount for being an ESDC member please let us know and we will publish their name.

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 Skip Stacy, 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. This offer is only good one time per calendar year.

E-mail Jason Miller, our mailing list moderator, jason.t.miller@comcast.net or Loogpla Cowden, loogplacowden@att.net 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, July 5th at Alfy’s Pizza

4820 196^th SW

Lynnwood WA

425-775-5459

Board meeting, 6:00 p.m.; everyone is welcome to join. General meeting, 7:00 p.m.

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 Loogpla Cowden loogplacowden@att.net

Vice-President Rich Carton addcorich@verizon.net

Secretary/historian Mary Lou Hernandez hmarylou@hotmail.com

Treasurer Willow Moore-Mukherjee dr.moore@verizon.net

Activities Coordinator Skip Stacy skipstacy@aol.com

Newsletter Editor David Ripley esdcnewsletter@mindspring.com

Big Buddy Coordinator Greg Becvar tridoxia@yahoo.com

Greeter Shawn Miller shawnm1833@yahoo.com

Web Master Phil Morgan-Ellis pmorg@olympus.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 www.groups.yahoo.com/group/ESDClist

₪ Greg Becvar

360-659-2853

tridoxia@yahoo.com

₪ Bruce Bury –PADI rescue

425-788-8063

bury1of6@aol.com

₪ Jason Miller –Rescue

425-778-7548

Jason.t.miller@comcast.net

₪ Skip Stacy – rainy days

425-775-2410

₪ John Laggart –weekday dives

jmnlaggart@msn.com

If you are interested in being included on this list please contact the editor.