It was too choppy to take out my boat again today (Jan. 17, 2010) so I hiked out to the end of the breakwater. I've been putting it off for awhile because of all the extra weight I have to wear with my new shell-type suit, plus the famous breakwater barnacles don't mix well with spandex knee pads. Fortunately, it was a high tide so I only had to deal with the smooth stone blocks as I flopped through the swell. I almost landed on a Puget Sound king crab in the shallows. I ended up seeing several during the dive in the top 25 feet. Visibility was the usual winter 10'. There are still lots of large vermilion rockfish at the base of the breakwater. I had a look at the schools of black rockfish under the lighthouse and saw a few of the strange rockfish again (widow?).
Here are some more fisheye photos from the next week (Jan. 22, 2010). Visibility was a bit better (15 feet). I tried to visit the wolfeels at the second corner, but the dens were empty. I did see one on the swim back though. This is the first time I've seen an adult wolfeel along the middle section of the breakwater. As usual, there were several Puget Sound king crabs in the shallows.
