Last week, we travelled north to the tip of Vancouver Island, to the Port Hardy resort facilities at God's Pocket; located in a small island in the Georgia Straights.
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After a two-day trip north through the border at Blaine, across the Tswassen ferry to Naniamo, and by bear-lined highway up to Port Hardy, we were met by the God's Pocket team and we loaded our gear onto the dive boat for the quick trip north to the resort.
I was joined by my wife, Delaina, and our friends Steve & Mikel Milton. At the resort we met 3 experienced Canadian divers who would be sharing the resort with us, as well as Bill Weeks, owner/operator, and his staff of two - and of course, their famous dog Lewis.
The resort itself is beautiful. Each of us got a "cabin" that was as nice as many hotels I've stayed in, featuring a soft bed, closet and shelves for storage, and bathroom with shower. The resort also features a common dining hall/kitchen area, as well as a communal gathering room with widescreen TV, DVD player and book/video library.
The island itself is hikeable for those so inclined, and is home to deer, many kinds of birds, and the occasional minx (we saw them occasionally playing on the rocks near the resort itself - as long as Lewis didn't notice them!) A flock of hummingbirds are attracted to two feeders just outside
the dining area and were constantly buzzing around us as we walked to and fro.
I took my double LP95s, and everyone else in our group dove singles. The resort provides steel 80s and 85s on request. The facility has a compressor on site, and can do mixing for Nitrox. The dive boat has storage bottles allowing divers to get topped off on the water and avoid a trip back to
shore between dives. We all dove in drysuits. Water temperatures were in the mid 40's (F), and we layered several undergarments to stay warm. After flooding my drysuit via a leaky neck seal, the staff was kind enough to put my undergarments in the drier to keep me warm & comfortable on subsequent dives. I also took my argon bottle (which I forgot to get filled before leaving) but the resort didn't have their Argon filling station ready for me so it sayed in the cabin after the first day.
The typical daily plan was to rise between 7 and 9am, breakfast, then head out for a two-tank dive, return for lunch, and make a 3rd dive before dinner. The boat used by the resort is large enough to accomodate up to 12-14 divers, but was "just right" with 7 divers aboard for our trips. In that configuration everyone had room on deck to gear up without banging into one another and we all fit into the heated cabin between dives.
Most of our dives were done in Browning Pass, or areas in the immediate vacinity. This area features wall dives of extreme beauty. The walls are covered (as is almost any surface we dove on) with metridium; both large and small Pulmose Anenmomes. Unlike the Puget Sound, they're all white! In addition, the area features hard and soft coral, sponges, and large kelp beds. Animal life proliferates everywhere you look. The walls are home to a diverse collection of invertebrates, including dozens of different nudibranch, scallops, abalone, and crab. The water column features rock fish of all kinds, greenlings, sculpins, wolf eel, and Giant Pacific Octopus.
Visibility ranged between 10 feet and 40 feet. There was no discernable thermocline. Most dives were done at slack, or on a slight current; the tides in the straights are very tricky; relying on Bill's expert seamanship
was a must! He was able to take us to a diverse selection of sites and we felt like we'd only scratched the surface of the kinds of dives available.
We limited ourselves to 100fsw max depth, and spent most of our time between 35 and 75fsw. At those depths, we were regularly notching 40-50 minute dives; two of the Canadians with our group regularly exceeded an hour of bottom time.
We did one dive in God's Pocket Bay itself. The bay is shallow, with depths down to 40fsw. We concentrated on the west wall of the bay, searching for GPO. We found one, but he was pulled tight into a tiny crevasse, making it hard to see more than a tentacle.
We also dove the wreck of the Themis. This turn of the century cargo ship was run aground on a rock in the middle of the straights. Its cargo was salvaged, and the ship itself was dynamited to remove a hazard to navigation. Today it is little more than steel pates and girders scattered across the bottom, and is home to numerous friendly pairs of wolf eels. This is not a penetration dive, but the edges of the metal are still sharp, and we did see evidence of fishing nets on the wreck, so caution was advised at all times.
Over four days of diving we did 12 dives. Max depth was 91fsw. Shallowest dive was 40 fsw. I did all dives on Nitrox, between 29% and 33%. All the other divers dove on air. Total bottom time was 8 hours, 29 minutes. Average time was 42 minutes.
Ryan
http://livedigital.com/content/362598/
After a two-day trip north through the border at Blaine, across the Tswassen ferry to Naniamo, and by bear-lined highway up to Port Hardy, we were met by the God's Pocket team and we loaded our gear onto the dive boat for the quick trip north to the resort.
I was joined by my wife, Delaina, and our friends Steve & Mikel Milton. At the resort we met 3 experienced Canadian divers who would be sharing the resort with us, as well as Bill Weeks, owner/operator, and his staff of two - and of course, their famous dog Lewis.
The resort itself is beautiful. Each of us got a "cabin" that was as nice as many hotels I've stayed in, featuring a soft bed, closet and shelves for storage, and bathroom with shower. The resort also features a common dining hall/kitchen area, as well as a communal gathering room with widescreen TV, DVD player and book/video library.
The island itself is hikeable for those so inclined, and is home to deer, many kinds of birds, and the occasional minx (we saw them occasionally playing on the rocks near the resort itself - as long as Lewis didn't notice them!) A flock of hummingbirds are attracted to two feeders just outside
the dining area and were constantly buzzing around us as we walked to and fro.
I took my double LP95s, and everyone else in our group dove singles. The resort provides steel 80s and 85s on request. The facility has a compressor on site, and can do mixing for Nitrox. The dive boat has storage bottles allowing divers to get topped off on the water and avoid a trip back to
shore between dives. We all dove in drysuits. Water temperatures were in the mid 40's (F), and we layered several undergarments to stay warm. After flooding my drysuit via a leaky neck seal, the staff was kind enough to put my undergarments in the drier to keep me warm & comfortable on subsequent dives. I also took my argon bottle (which I forgot to get filled before leaving) but the resort didn't have their Argon filling station ready for me so it sayed in the cabin after the first day.
The typical daily plan was to rise between 7 and 9am, breakfast, then head out for a two-tank dive, return for lunch, and make a 3rd dive before dinner. The boat used by the resort is large enough to accomodate up to 12-14 divers, but was "just right" with 7 divers aboard for our trips. In that configuration everyone had room on deck to gear up without banging into one another and we all fit into the heated cabin between dives.
Most of our dives were done in Browning Pass, or areas in the immediate vacinity. This area features wall dives of extreme beauty. The walls are covered (as is almost any surface we dove on) with metridium; both large and small Pulmose Anenmomes. Unlike the Puget Sound, they're all white! In addition, the area features hard and soft coral, sponges, and large kelp beds. Animal life proliferates everywhere you look. The walls are home to a diverse collection of invertebrates, including dozens of different nudibranch, scallops, abalone, and crab. The water column features rock fish of all kinds, greenlings, sculpins, wolf eel, and Giant Pacific Octopus.
Visibility ranged between 10 feet and 40 feet. There was no discernable thermocline. Most dives were done at slack, or on a slight current; the tides in the straights are very tricky; relying on Bill's expert seamanship
was a must! He was able to take us to a diverse selection of sites and we felt like we'd only scratched the surface of the kinds of dives available.
We limited ourselves to 100fsw max depth, and spent most of our time between 35 and 75fsw. At those depths, we were regularly notching 40-50 minute dives; two of the Canadians with our group regularly exceeded an hour of bottom time.
We did one dive in God's Pocket Bay itself. The bay is shallow, with depths down to 40fsw. We concentrated on the west wall of the bay, searching for GPO. We found one, but he was pulled tight into a tiny crevasse, making it hard to see more than a tentacle.
We also dove the wreck of the Themis. This turn of the century cargo ship was run aground on a rock in the middle of the straights. Its cargo was salvaged, and the ship itself was dynamited to remove a hazard to navigation. Today it is little more than steel pates and girders scattered across the bottom, and is home to numerous friendly pairs of wolf eels. This is not a penetration dive, but the edges of the metal are still sharp, and we did see evidence of fishing nets on the wreck, so caution was advised at all times.
Over four days of diving we did 12 dives. Max depth was 91fsw. Shallowest dive was 40 fsw. I did all dives on Nitrox, between 29% and 33%. All the other divers dove on air. Total bottom time was 8 hours, 29 minutes. Average time was 42 minutes.
Ryan
