ChrisM
Contributor
Following Melvin's lead on out of state places, thought people might want to hear a little about our neighbors a little further north. It's not Cal, but it's similar (kinda), and very close. 3 hour plane to Vancouver, 2 hours drive to Quadra.... bada bing. Other cool places, Port Hardy (2 hours further north), Nanaimo wrecks (at the ferry from Vancouver.
Got back Tues. from four days of diving Quadra Island, B.C. Wow, what we do is definitely NOT cold water diving. Wait til the water in your BC freezes overnight and you have to dump ice... ICE!!!! out of your dump valve. Or you have to break the top layer of ice in the camera rinse bucket to get your camera in...... We had an artic flow that cleared the air but with clear skies comes freezing air temps. It was all in celsius, so I can't tell you what it was, but the 45 degree water was steaming, that should be a clue. By Monday some cloud cover rolled in and warmed the place up.
Depending on the computer, water temp readings were anywhere from 41 to 46. Most dives in the 45 minute range. The last dive, one of those putter around dives, was 63 minutes. Luv my DUI suit. If I could just get my hands and toes warm.
Cool critters- didn't see a wolf eel or decorated warbonnet, but saw stellar sea lions (Cal. sea lions on steroids), a GPO out in the open... a BIG GPO, somewhere between 6 to 7 feet tip to tip, was stalking myu dive buddy up a wall.... I warned her... after I took the pics
, red irish lords, harbor seals, bald eagles in the trees, walls paved with anemones, walls and walls and walls of metridiums at 10 fsw and deeper.
Generally, this is tidal diving since it's the passage between Vancouver Island and the mainland. At one point, Seymour Narrows, it's only a few hundred yards wide so the current in there gets up to 15+ knots. General dive plan is to get in just prior to or at slack, which happens every 6 hours or so, and as the current picks up the other way, just go with the flow and enjoy the ride. Only had one real current dive, by the time we surfaced we were booking along at about 4 knots, the rest were more benign.
Dove with Abyssal Dive Charters, good operation. Dive day is get up, eat, suit up at the lodge, walk or drive down the hill to the dock for the boat, dive (boat trips vary - 1 minute to 30 minutes), back to the lodge to warm up and eat, do it again, maybe once, maybe twice. I did 7 dives in the four days, skipped one because I was a popsicle despite the drysuit. Was wearing two layers of fleece, and had to compensate for the AL tanks with 35 pounds of lead (6# plate, 4# tank weights, 25# weight belt). That sucked, at home I wear 8 pounds in my drysuit and steel tank (less undergarments as well). Although I was overweighted by about those 4# on the tank and had a heck of a time establishing good buoyancy. I should have changed at some point but never got around to it. Wasn't wicked oerweighting, but just the same, felt like a PADI student doing skills
This is not your father's diving. I heard a story of a woman on a prior trip, first time in a drysuit (that was stupid), massively overweighted (stupid) basically ended up dropping from the surface at Copper Cliffs - sheer underwater cliffs with a 300+ foot bottom -- only reason she is alive because she landed on a boulder field, the only boulder field, on the wall. People also die at Whytecliff, again usually overweighted. Have to have good experience and buoyancy here, and be able to deal with heavy gear.
Pics to follow
Got back Tues. from four days of diving Quadra Island, B.C. Wow, what we do is definitely NOT cold water diving. Wait til the water in your BC freezes overnight and you have to dump ice... ICE!!!! out of your dump valve. Or you have to break the top layer of ice in the camera rinse bucket to get your camera in...... We had an artic flow that cleared the air but with clear skies comes freezing air temps. It was all in celsius, so I can't tell you what it was, but the 45 degree water was steaming, that should be a clue. By Monday some cloud cover rolled in and warmed the place up.
Depending on the computer, water temp readings were anywhere from 41 to 46. Most dives in the 45 minute range. The last dive, one of those putter around dives, was 63 minutes. Luv my DUI suit. If I could just get my hands and toes warm.
Cool critters- didn't see a wolf eel or decorated warbonnet, but saw stellar sea lions (Cal. sea lions on steroids), a GPO out in the open... a BIG GPO, somewhere between 6 to 7 feet tip to tip, was stalking myu dive buddy up a wall.... I warned her... after I took the pics
, red irish lords, harbor seals, bald eagles in the trees, walls paved with anemones, walls and walls and walls of metridiums at 10 fsw and deeper. Generally, this is tidal diving since it's the passage between Vancouver Island and the mainland. At one point, Seymour Narrows, it's only a few hundred yards wide so the current in there gets up to 15+ knots. General dive plan is to get in just prior to or at slack, which happens every 6 hours or so, and as the current picks up the other way, just go with the flow and enjoy the ride. Only had one real current dive, by the time we surfaced we were booking along at about 4 knots, the rest were more benign.
Dove with Abyssal Dive Charters, good operation. Dive day is get up, eat, suit up at the lodge, walk or drive down the hill to the dock for the boat, dive (boat trips vary - 1 minute to 30 minutes), back to the lodge to warm up and eat, do it again, maybe once, maybe twice. I did 7 dives in the four days, skipped one because I was a popsicle despite the drysuit. Was wearing two layers of fleece, and had to compensate for the AL tanks with 35 pounds of lead (6# plate, 4# tank weights, 25# weight belt). That sucked, at home I wear 8 pounds in my drysuit and steel tank (less undergarments as well). Although I was overweighted by about those 4# on the tank and had a heck of a time establishing good buoyancy. I should have changed at some point but never got around to it. Wasn't wicked oerweighting, but just the same, felt like a PADI student doing skills
This is not your father's diving. I heard a story of a woman on a prior trip, first time in a drysuit (that was stupid), massively overweighted (stupid) basically ended up dropping from the surface at Copper Cliffs - sheer underwater cliffs with a 300+ foot bottom -- only reason she is alive because she landed on a boulder field, the only boulder field, on the wall. People also die at Whytecliff, again usually overweighted. Have to have good experience and buoyancy here, and be able to deal with heavy gear.
Pics to follow
