After three rather personally-unsatisfying dives in the San Juans in June, my second dive trip there was [thankfully] better. The quality of my first visit had nothing to do with the charter or the sites; it was really just a bad day for me on an individual level. (We all have “those” days, right?) The sites themselves on the first trip were pretty nice, with a lot of life and some great vertical surfaces. One of the sites on the second trip was really nice; one was just okay, and the other fell somewhere in-between. (In case you have never been, it should be noted that the San Juans present some rather challenging dives in terms of currents, and the currents can have a big effect on the enjoyability of a number of dive factors.)

The first trip was on Deep Sea Charters on a trip arranged by Northwest Sports Divers. We dove Cypress Head and Lawrence Point (on Orcas Island), and Cone Island. I think my favorite creatures of the first trip were the Swimming Scallops, the Clown Nudibranchs (and their wavy ribbon egg nests), and the Umbrella Crab.

Puget Sound King Crab

My second trip was on Lu Jac’s Quest on a charter arranged by Grateful Diver. We dove Swirl Island, Long Island, and something the dive boat captain called South of Lime Kiln Point. My favorite creatures of the second trip were the Red Octopus, the King Crabs (adult and juvenile), and the Wolf Eel.

I am finding that like dive shops, dive charters also seem to have distinct personalities – in terms of the boats themselves, the captains who command them, the divemasters who man them, and everything else that goes along with the cost (including food, and comfort). Determining whether one is better than the other would depend on what aspects are more important to you, and personally I think it is what you see on the dives that matters most. And the San Juan islands definitely have a lot to offer in that department!

On June 17th, Mel Clark and Curt McNamee (otherwise jointly known as Silent Scuba) offered a “Rebreather Experience” for certified divers. The one-day session took place at a local pool and included a presentation of a wealth of information introducing us to rebreathers, as well time in (and under) the water to try several different rebreather units.

The photo to the right, as well as several other photos from the day (all taken by John Rawlings, staff photojournalist for Advanced Diver Magazine) are featured in a thread about the event on the Northwest Dive Club website. Several participants commented on the event, but my favorite remark was made by “Nailer99,” who described the Experience as “a little bit like test driving a Ferrarri in the parking lot of the dealership.” Let’s just say rebreathers aren’t cheap – you could easily spend upwards of $10,000-15,000 all told (which is actually a lot less than you’d spend on a Ferrari), but the practical idea of them is intensely appealing. For one, there’s a reason Mel and Curt call their endeavor “Silent” Scuba. In essence, closed circuit rebreathers are bubble-free, and if you’ve ever dived open circuit, you likely know just how noisy bubbles can be. But having no bubbles is not just all about the silence; it’s also about actually having no bubbles. Most fish don’t like bubbles (as many an underwater photographer will readily attest), and some creatures (like sea lions) actually consider bubbles a sign of aggression. And then there’s the whole not needing to get truckloads of tanks filled all the time … because you just re-breathe the gas already in your unit. (It’s actually quite a bit more complicated than that, but that’s the gist of the name anyway.) There are a multitude of other benefits to using a rebreather (and of course some drawbacks), but I just wanted this to be a short review of the Experience, so if you want more information on rebreathers themselves it’s up to you to pursue it at this point.

I will say Mel and Curt did a fantastic job of providing us a wealth of information about a vast subject in a very short span of time, and it was clear that they would be more than happy to answer additional questions and assist in acquiring a rebreather unit and/or obtaining the necessary training to dive one safely. (Incidentally, they have been highly recommended to me for open circuit technical diving courses by more than one of their students.) Although I will unfortunately not be able to afford even thinking much about getting into closed-circuit rebreathers seriously for quite some time, I felt the day spent with Mel and Curt was well worth the time and minimal cost.

If you’re interested in a future Rebreather Experience, don’t hesitate to contact Mel Clark at Silent Scuba.

We went diving with Deep Sea Charters of Anacortes yesterday. There is a lot of life up there, and – despite having some of the worst dives I can remember – I was glad we went. (By “worst” I mean for me personally; that descriptor had nothing to do with the dives in-and-of-themselves.)

Due to weather conditions (which included a small craft advisory) we were unable to dive the preplanned sites the shop had set up for us. Instead we dove Cypress Head, Lawrence Point, and Cone Island. Life-wise, they were all really nice sites. Unfortunately I don’t have much to show in the way of photos due to the above-mentioned issue, but there was a lot to see down there. My favorites were probably the swimming scallops (the first I’d ever come across, and the one thing I remember from the Deep Sea (IMAX) movie I saw last year) and the clown nudibranchs (which I had also never seen before).

On April 27th, 2007, we headed to Bonaire for 8 nights at the Sand Dollar. Bonaire is part of the Netherlands Antilles, and one of the three “ABC” islands (along with Aruba and Curacao). “We” consisted of me, my boyfriend (Mark), his friend (Scott), and Scott’s friend (Alisa). Mark and I started diving last July and made our first warm water trip to Cozumel in December. I don’t generally take vacations very often, but somehow – less than 6 months after returning from Cozumel, we were headed back to the Caribbean for more. Bonaire was Scott’s idea – implanted in his head by a friend of his in New Zealand. We’d heard and read good things about Bonaire anyway, and (aside from maybe going back to Cozumel) it appeared to be the least expensive option for another foreign warm water diving experience.

It was a fantastic trip, filled with excellent diving. During our time there, I managed to do 18 dives, with an average bottom time of 59 minutes. (Thank God for nitrox!) The sites I dove were: Angel City, Andrea I, Bari Reef, Boka Slagbaai, Buddy’s Reef, Front Porch, Hilma Hooker, Karpata, The Lake, Larry’s Reef, Oil Slick Leap, Our Confidence (Eden Beach), Red Slave, Salt Pier, and the White (Blue) Hole. (In case you were counting, we dove the Bari Reef four times – it is big and full of things to see.) I wanted to tell you what my favorite sites were, but it’s not that easy – we had no bad dives, and we were never left feeling like we could have made better use of our time if he had done a different site. Bonaire is truly a “diver’s paradise” in that sense! But if I really had to pick a few – like if you were going to Bonaire and only had time to repeat six of my dives … I think I’d recommend these: Salt Pier, Karpata, Bari Reef, White (Blue) Hole, Hilma Hooker, and Boka Slagbaai.

I actually wished I had done more dives while we were there, but for varying reasons I could not. Perhaps I’ll have to go back.

While diving in Sechelt last November, I took a picture of a very cute little creature that I was unable to identify at the time. This week I attempted to find it again, and ended up finding two nudibranchs that appeared similar – the Golden Dirona (Dirona pellucida) and the Janolus Fuscus. I also came across a post from 2000 by Marli Wakeling about the Dirona aurantia (now classified as the Dirona pellucida) on the Sea Slug Forum:

There is another nudibranch that mimics this one, but it is new and undescribed; in fact it is a Janolus sp. One can tell the difference from the liver coloured digestive tract…otherwise identical.

That sounded like the nudibranch in my image, and I contacted Marli to see if she could give me a positive identification. She believed it was the Janolus sp. she had referred to her post, and she forwarded the photo to Dave Behrens for a second opinion. It turns out that while this creature’s existence is known; it has not yet been described for science and has no name.

05/11/2007 Update:
I recently submitted my photo to Bill Rudman at the Sea Slug Forum, where you can see the message I sent him in addition to the Janolus sp 10 factsheet.