Octoboo 2019 volume 30, number 10 t h e s t a g g e r i n g s t a r f i s h the official newsletter of the GSNDAMBAA SCUBA Diving Club 29621 232ND AVE SE, Black Diamond WA 98010 [email protected] 360.886.1679 ctoboo Club Meeting -GSNDAMBAA-at-a-Glance O Our regular monthly meetings will resume on 10/3/2019 6:00 PM Thursday, Octoboo 3 at our normal meeting Club meeting at Edmonds Underwater Sports time of 6:00 PM. The meeting agenda includes 10/05/2019 10:30 AM selecting the dates and locations for our December Club Dive – Point Whitney bonus dive and January club dive. We will also finalize 10/26/19 12:00 PM the menu for the annual holiday party. After we select Underwater Pumpkin Carving at EUP a suitable eatery Spanky will formally adjourn the 11/7/2019 6:00 PM meeting. Club meeting at Edmonds Underwater Sports 11/16/2019 10:30 AM ctoboo Club Dive Club Dive at Point Hudson O This month’s club dive will be on Saturday, 12/08/19 12:30 PM Octoboo 5. We will travel to Hood Canal for a Club dive at Edmonds Underwater Park dive at Point Whitney. The meet time for this dive is 12/08/19 3:00 PM 10:30 AM with our entry time around 11:30 AM. This Club Holiday Party site has lots of parking and easy entry. We should see some large GPOs on this dive in addition to plenty of great, and included butter clams collected along the rock fish. This is on State land, so be sure to bring your shore in front of the house. ESSDB Richard ferried 8 Discover Pass (you cannot buy a day pass at this site). divers for a series of dives at Octopus Hole, where we After the dive we will have lunch at the Timberhouse found several GPOs, wolf eels, grunt sculpins, Restaurant, which is located at 295534 U.S. 101 in nudibranchs, and squat lobsters. We had a very Quilcene. successful weekend with good food, good company, and Directions to the Point Whitney: good dives. Spanky was a happy camper! You need to get across to the Peninsula. If you take the umpkin Carving Contest Edmonds-Kingston or Seattle-Bainbridge ferry, take The annual EUP Pumpkin carving contest will be Highway 104 across the Hood Canal Bridge and go P held on Saturday, October 26 at 12:00 PM. South on Highway 101. Continue about 8.5 miles south Please plan on joining Spanky for the contest. The of Quilcene, and watch for Bee Mill Road on your left entry fee is $10 and includes your pumpkin. There will (it should be shortly after you pass Hjelvick Rd). Turn also be a raffle ($20 per ticket) for Shearwater’s left on Bee Mill Road and continue for about 1.5 miles newest dive computer, the Teric, which was donated by where Bee Mill Road turns left and Point Whitney Road Shearwater Research. All proceeds from the contest continues straight. Go straight on Point Whitney Road and the raffle will go to the underwater park and take it about 1 more mile where it ends at the park. maintenance fund. All you need is your dive gear, a There is a parking lot to your left. If you are coming knife and sheath, and your dive buddy. from the south on Highway 101, watch for Bee Mill Road on your right about 4.5 miles north of Brinnon. It quat Lobsters should be about 0.5 miles past the southern S Spanky saw so many cute little squat lobsters intersection with Hjelvick Rd (this road does a loop during the dive near Octopus Hole that he from Hwy 101). commissioned an article for the newsletter. Squat ive/Camp Weekend Report lobsters are really not lobsters at all – they are crabs that are closely related to hermit and porcelain crabs. Spanky would like to thank ESSDBs Steve and D There are more than 900 species have been identified Dee Ann for hosting the dive/camp weekend at all around the world. They are generally tolerant of low Hood Canal and ESSDB Richard for providing his boat. oxygen conditions, and some species are found around We had a full house for the weekend. The food was hydrothermal vents. Our local squat lobsters are munida quadrispina, and are found from Alaska to the Sea of Cortez. They feed primarily on detritus and plankton. There is one known species that feeds only on the wood in submerged logs and shipwrecks. In South America, squat lobsters are harvested for their tails. They are also harvested to produce a protein for food processing. Cool-?-of-the-Month Section Cool-Sightings-of-the-Month: ESSDB Bart at the Octopus Hole Dive: “Is that another FSWE (free swimming wolf eel)????” ESSDB Margaret at Hood Canal: “Are those river otters using the swimming dock???” Cool-Internet Videos of-the-Month: Our video this month was taken at the Seattle Aquarium. One of the Aquarium’s cutest animals, the dwarf cuttlefish, decided to enjoy its dinner while attached to the side of its tank. This provided a unique view of how a cuttlefish eats. Spanky thinks that octopus probably can eat in a similar way. Watch it here. Spanky’s second video concerns how long a person can hold their breath. Although we know scuba divers shouldn’t hold their breath, it is interesting to know how long free divers can. So, watch this to learn! Cool-Web Articles of-the-Month: Spanky’s article for this month is a bit scary, so it’s appropriate for the Octoboo issue. WWII wrecks are a popular for divers, but there is more to them than meets the eye. It has been estimated that the wrecks in the South Pacific contain 12 times the volume of oil spilled by the Exxon Valdez. The wrecks are rusting and are expected to start leaking more significantly within the next 5 years or so. A good article about the rusting wrecks is here. Cool-Photos-Of-The-Month: This month’s photos were taken by ESSDB Larry at the Octopus Hole dives during the dive/camp weekend. The first photo is a FSWE (free swimming wolf eel) at Got a C?OTM? Send it to Spanky at [email protected]. Octopus Hole. The second shows the crab known as a squat lobster, and the final photo shows a California Visit Spanky at Sea Cucumber collecting its meal from a kelp leaf. This www.gsndambaa.org cucumber is showing off its modified tube feet that it Email Spanky at uses to collect food and move it to its mouth. [email protected] The deadline for items to be included in the November Issue is Friday, October 18..