Powell River

[Skookumchuck]

I was joined by r2t and Peter, (lurking, not yet posting.) for a trip too Powell River on the weekend. We met up at SunCoast Diving and headed to Tuwanek where we began by practicing decending as a group and accending seperately. After a half hour or so of this we got on with the real business of extreme low vis diving. We continued honeing our skills later that afternoon with a mud exploration dive in front of Kent's Beach Resort. Saturday we were joined by Rob from Suncoast Diving and Rob and Michelle from NewWestminster. Conditions at Ball Point remained perfect for a game of "now you see me, now you don't" with vis in excess of 50 cms. Alas, poor bouancy control caused us too drop though the murk at 90 feet and call off the game. We used our remaining air supply to enjoy the enourmous cloud sponges. Rob and Michelle, haveing seen enough, or rather far to little, decided to return too the mainland leaveing us to work on full contact diveing at Evandon Point the next day. A confidence builder if nothing else.

 

[r2t]

Ya two thumbs up to Suncoast diving for putting together a great trip and Kent's beach, they really cater to the divers even have a portable hot water shower/rinse station. Except for the viz it was a fantastic trip. Can't wait for the next expedition...

Ron

 

[walrus2]

I'll stop lurking and post something I had a great trip too, thanks guys. The mud expedition from Kent's Beach appears to have been the single least fortunate choice out of the entire area near the beach, with boulders continuing off the shore boulders to the left of the cabin, boulders at the point further outward from Octopus City, and boulders deeper but due south of where we were.

Peter

 

[jsf35]

Glad you guys got to see the cloud sponges. That is a great dive. Vis has been crappy for about a month now. If you are thinking about coming to Powell River in the future, PM me for a vis report. There are a lot of great dives here.
It was nice meeting you guys in the dive shop.

Scott

 

[deepdiverbc]

My buddy and ended up in extreme low vis half way through our dive at Porteau two weeks back and we called the dive. Too many things to get entangled in. Low vis dives like that just aren't worth it sometimes.

I have never practiced full contact diving but it sounds like a good idea. Typically we dive shoulder to shoulder unless the vis gets ridiculous and then we abort. When I first started diving I use to play follow the fins and dive single file. I quickly learned that in low vis it's a good way to loose your buddy.

 

[creamofwheat]

Oh, I was up at Powell River for a weekend at the end of April...though the viz wasn't great, it sounds like we had it better than you guys. I do like the diving up the Coast though. Very pretty. I hope the viz cooperates for your next trip!