Sunshine Coast

[Warthaug]

In a few weeks I'm headed off to the sunshine coast for a breif dash-&-dive (4 days diving). We're doing 2 days in the Powell River area, and 2 out of Sechelt. Unfortunatly, we're not able to do any boat dives (financial "issues" on my part), so its strictly shore dives this time around.

Anyhow, we've got a list of shore dives we want to do in the Sechelt area - Tunaweck, Coopers Green, Egmont Marina, etc. However, we're a little short on the Powell River side - the Mermaid & Malahat are all that we remeber from our alst trip in the area that we want to do again.

So if you had 8 shoredives to fill in the area (4 in powell river, 4 in sechelt), which ones would you do?

thanx

Bryan

 

[PrincessOfPower]

Sunshine Coast - Tuwanek, Martin Cove and Egmont are the best. I would do 2 at Tuwanek or Egmont instead of Coopers, but that's me.

Powell River - The Mermaid (easily a 2 dive site), The Malahat (or go crazy and do the underside of the hulks), Dinner Rock (up in Lund), a night dive at Octopus City...

There are a few more in Powell. I'll check my notes and update if I've missed anything worthwhile.

 

[Warthaug]

Thanx Princess. Its a big help - we've only got a few dives in the area under our belts, so we're not completely familier with the area. It's always good to hear from an expert.

Bryan

 

[PrincessOfPower]

Hey Bryan - hardly an expert, just an ex trip planner Anyways, although there are more options, they're not as good as the ones I mentioned.

By the way, Malaspina Water Taxi will take you boat diving for really really cheap. Like 40 bucks cheap. He's out in Pender Harbour, near Martin Cove!

Airfills are cheapest at Egmont and in Powell at Alpha. Suncoast is more...

Mmmmm now I feel like some sweet sunshine coast dives....

 

[creamofwheat]

I havent done much diving in Sechelt or Pender Harbour, but Tuwanek is nice. Only shore dive I have done there. Others I did were boat. But for Egmont, make sure to dive at slack tide...the current through there can be ripping. i went to dive it in march but we missed slack, observed the current on the surface and decided right then and there, there was no way we were gonna do that dive.

Powell River...so many shore dives here. The Mermaid of course (you can easily do 2-3 dives here and not get bored in a day), the Malahat and the Hulks (though the surface swim for the Hulks is REALLY long. it took me about half an hour to swim out to the closest Hulk, but it was pretty cool under it, i admit). Also Octopus City is awesome at night. I saw 5 octopus and a ratfish in one dive there. Okeover Arms is nice as well. It's a jetty full of life. You can go north to Lund for more shore diving as well. Ask in Alpha Dive Services...they are really friendly and helpful. They gave us a list (and maps!) of a few shore sites.

 

[Warthaug]

Great advice guys - now I have more dives then time

 

[jsf35]

Hi Bryan,
Come by the dive shop (Alpha Dive) when you get into town and we can give you directions (and maps) to some of the local shore dives. The breakwater at the Okeover wharf is a great dive for sea life. Some of the biggest rockfish I have seen hang out there. There is also a small wreck nearby. The wreck of the Malahat is also great for life. Emmonds beach is easy access (a bit of a swim though). There are also a bunch of wrecks and old logging equipment and all sorts of interesting things in Powell Lake. Although it is cold, deep and dark, the visibility is usually 50+ feet. (Bonus=freshwater, no gear rinsing required).

Scott

 

[Warthaug]

Hi Bryan,
Come by the dive shop (Alpha Dive) when you get into town and we can give you directions (and maps) to some of the local shore dives. The breakwater at the Okeover wharf is a great dive for sea life. Some of the biggest rockfish I have seen hang out there. There is also a small wreck nearby. The wreck of the Malahat is also great for life. Emmonds beach is easy access (a bit of a swim though). There are also a bunch of wrecks and old logging equipment and all sorts of interesting things in Powell Lake. Although it is cold, deep and dark, the visibility is usually 50+ feet. (Bonus=freshwater, no gear rinsing required).

Scott

You're already on the list. I have a print-out you guys gave me a few years ago (all hand-drawn maps) which we were going by, but there isn't much in terms of descriptions on it so we were going to ask which ones you'd recommend.

We're definatly heading back to the mermaid - we did 2 dives there the last time we hit powell river, and everyone wants to add at least one more. BTW - does she have a name?

As for the malahat, we tried that the last time. The words "$&#*&$%@& disaster" would be a pretty good decription of that dive (insert whatever profanity you'd like for "$&#*&$%@&" - it's all acccurate). I'm hoping to try it again, but I cannot guaruntee that the rest of the crew will be willing.

See you in two tuesdays!

Bryan

 

[jsf35]

The mermaid is called Emerald Princess. She has a twin located in Grand Cayman named Amphitrite. Both were sculpted by Simon Morris. She has a bit of growth on her, but there is one part of her anatomy that is clean. (You can probably guess which part I'm talking about) Local legend has it that if you give that part a rub you will have good luck. Kind of like kissing the Blarney Stone in Ireland.

As for the Malahat, did your group have trouble finding it? When you come by I will give you directions that don't involve anyone having to use a compass. It's a great dive that you should try again.

Scott

 

[creamofwheat]

Why was your Malahat dive such a disaster?