I wanted to take some close-up photos of all the small stuff here so I came out on Feb. 11, 2011. Since I had that close-up lens, visibility was much better (a bright and sunny 30 feet) than last time. I was diving when the Race Passage current table showed a 4-knot ebb and I felt less than a 1/2-knot ebb here. I swam out a bit from the base of the rocky slope (50 feet deep), but I didn't see any more reefs out there. On this dive, tiny juvenile Puget Sound king crabs seemed to be everywhere I looked. There were also a few adults. The Irish lord was still in exactly the same spot as last week. I saw some small, dark rockfish that I didn't recognise in a crack. I think they might have been young blue or dusky rockfish. I came out again the next day with a proper lens to take some wide-angle photos with the decent visibility. This time the current table was showing a 3-knot ebb at Race Passage and it was a bit stronger than last time here (maybe a 1/2-knot ebb).
juvenile Puget Sound king crab
plumose anemones, etc.
hydrocorals in small canyon
hydrocorals and sponge in small canyon
Irish lord
nudibranch on hydroids
hydrocorals and yellow sulphur sponge in small canyon
looking up wall of urchins
urchins
purple ring top snail on hydrocoral
small Puget Sound king crab
tiny Puget Sound king crab
juvenile Puget Sound king crab
octocorals
small wall
at base of small wall 25 feet deep
plumose anemones, etc. on small wall
sand anemone
nudibranch
slipper cucumber and staghorn bryozoan
lobed tunicates
close-up of lobed tunicate colony
sponge and plumose anemones on boulder at base of slope
yellow sulphur sponge
cup corals
lobed tunicates on boulder
nudibranch
plumose anemones on boulder
nudibranch and cup coral
small wall of urchins
rockfish hiding in crack
nudibranch eggs and hydrocoral
looking up under overhanging boulder
nudibranch on coraline algae
adult Puget Sound king crab
cup corals
urchins in shallows
juvenile Puget Sound king crab
crimson anemone
crimson anemone
macrocystis kelp
macrocystis kelp
kelp crab on kelp
copper rockfish and urchins
copper rockfish in middle of picture
copper rockfish with bulging eyes
crab
copper rockfish
copper rockfish
juvenile Puget Sound king crab
above reef
anemone
anemone
3 nudibranchs
slipper cucumber, zoanthids and tunicates
wall of urchins
wall of urchins
hydrocoral
yellow nudibranch
sculpin
abalone
patches of hydrocoral again
fish-eating anemone
Puget Sound king crab
Puget Sound king crab
hermit crab
over canyon with hydrocoral
Irish Lord
Irish Lord