Joe Cool
Contributor
I apologize for this late report. I got buried with work as soon as I got back from my trip. I did 2 boat dives with Ocean Planet Adventures of Tofino on June 28. It was sunny but breezy. Surface temperature was only around 18-deg. C. On both dives the bottom temp was around 52-deg. F or 11-deg. C. Viz was between 20 to 25 feet. I rented (from them) and wore a 2-piece 7mm farmer john and vest, and hood. I brought along the rest of my personal gear (mask, fins, boots, gloves, computer, and reg. Being a rental suit, it did not fit me too well. As usual, the arms were too loose but the body and legs were OK. I do not own a dry suit system yet. I rented the BC, tanks and weights from them. They rent out ScubaMax jacket-type BCs. Mine looks and feels like it was still brand new. I will comment more on the rental BC later. On both dives, I was with a couple of people from the UBC aqua society, one was a lady (I forgot her name) who is an instructor and has some 800+ dives under her belt and the other was a 30-ish year old male, named Colin, with some 30++ dives under his belt. Both wore drysuits.
The Ocean Planet dive shop is located near the Coop Supermarket in Tofino. Follow Campbell Street all the way into town and make a right turn into First Street at the corner of the Coop Supermarket. Go down a block along First Street and make a left at Main Street and go down that road and veer towards the right down to a dock area. This is the last dock west of the First Street Wharf or dock. There are some parking spaces available. Ocean Planet Adventures is in the blue and white building. Cant miss it once you reach that dock area.
I find Andy, the Owner, and his staff, very friendly, accommodating, and easy-going (laid-back). I had a warm welcome when I got to their shop. They have a change room in a separate building which doubles as a laundry area and washroom. I suited up before we left the dock. I was on-board a 20-foot-ish dive boat. Its a bit tight for 5 people with dive gear but manageable. We were accompanied by Alex, Andys DM, and the two UBC AquaSoc members. Andy stayed on the boat and followed our bubbles around. Andy, by the way, was a commercial diver working around Clayquot Sound (pronounced Klack-kwat. While going around Tofino, I have met several people who could not pronounce it properly so here it is - pronounced like a local). He would discover most of the dive sites around this area while at work and explored other dive sites on his spare time. Seeing the potential of this area to become a popular dive destination, he established Ocean Planet Adventures. Ocean Adventures has been in business for more than 2 years (Pls. correct me if I am wrong).
Eagle Point Rock is a small islet more of a big rock that comprise of a group of islets north of the town. Its name was made up by Andy long ago after an old eagle that used to be a resident over there. After doing a back roll off the deck of the boat, we initially descended to 25-ish feet then proceeded gradually down to a max of 55-ish feet. The dive site had some small patches of kelp. Saw the regular sea stars, lots of crabs (that made me salivate), PNW-size (large) nudis, sea cucumbers, and your standard fare plumrose anemone garden. I took several underwater photos (Ill post them a bit later). I encountered difficulties on this first dive. I had (always did have) buoyancy issues due to the thick suits and difficulty using the rental BC. I wont elaborate on these issues here on this report. Alex, our DM and guide pointed out critters. He is quite good in spotting them. My bottom time was around 45-minutes. There was a slight current so it was sort of a nice and relaxed drift dive.
The second dive site is called Nudi Point. Andy named it Nudi Point because of the plethora of Nudis that can be seen around this site and because he did not have any other name for it. Same marine life as the first dive site. No current, if there was a current, it was barely noticeable.
Overall, the dive experience was excellent. For a 2-year old-ish pioneering dive company, Ocean Planet Adventures has lots of potential to becoming a great dive service company. Its the only dive op in Tofino but the customer experience is very good. I hope it stays that way. A lot of companies who find themselves without competition tend to slack off in the customer service department. Rental gear choice is somewhat limited but they have no problems cross renting from surf shops (in this case wetsuits) around Tofino. I did not bring all my gear with me since I am only doing 2 dives and I did not want the hassle of carrying around a damp BC and wetsuit. The wet suit I wore is slightly loose around the arms so that was where I felt the 11-deg. C water. Their shop has some ScubaMax jacket style BC as part of their rental inventory. I have two complaints about this particular BC: (1) The inflator button has a very numb feel to it and silent. You do not know whether you are pumping air into your BC or not. You just realized that youve over-pumped air if you start feeling positively buoyant. It is very easy to dump air through the inflator though. One of the things I love about my Sequest Black Diamond and Balance BCs is the feel of the inflator button (even with thick gloves) and the sound it makes when its inflating the BC. These are cues that I use to determine how much air I am pumping into it. (2) This BC needs a crotch strap. When inflated, it tends to ride up your body, Very annoying especially underwater.
So, the moral of the story: Take your gear with you if you can and dont let unfamiliar gear spoil your dives. I have learned about this from previous dive trips but did not practice it on this Tofino trip. My dives came out OK but they could have been better if I did not feel too lazy to take all of my gear with me.
I will post some photos soon. Thanks for spending a few minutes going through my report.
The Ocean Planet dive shop is located near the Coop Supermarket in Tofino. Follow Campbell Street all the way into town and make a right turn into First Street at the corner of the Coop Supermarket. Go down a block along First Street and make a left at Main Street and go down that road and veer towards the right down to a dock area. This is the last dock west of the First Street Wharf or dock. There are some parking spaces available. Ocean Planet Adventures is in the blue and white building. Cant miss it once you reach that dock area.
I find Andy, the Owner, and his staff, very friendly, accommodating, and easy-going (laid-back). I had a warm welcome when I got to their shop. They have a change room in a separate building which doubles as a laundry area and washroom. I suited up before we left the dock. I was on-board a 20-foot-ish dive boat. Its a bit tight for 5 people with dive gear but manageable. We were accompanied by Alex, Andys DM, and the two UBC AquaSoc members. Andy stayed on the boat and followed our bubbles around. Andy, by the way, was a commercial diver working around Clayquot Sound (pronounced Klack-kwat. While going around Tofino, I have met several people who could not pronounce it properly so here it is - pronounced like a local). He would discover most of the dive sites around this area while at work and explored other dive sites on his spare time. Seeing the potential of this area to become a popular dive destination, he established Ocean Planet Adventures. Ocean Adventures has been in business for more than 2 years (Pls. correct me if I am wrong).
Eagle Point Rock is a small islet more of a big rock that comprise of a group of islets north of the town. Its name was made up by Andy long ago after an old eagle that used to be a resident over there. After doing a back roll off the deck of the boat, we initially descended to 25-ish feet then proceeded gradually down to a max of 55-ish feet. The dive site had some small patches of kelp. Saw the regular sea stars, lots of crabs (that made me salivate), PNW-size (large) nudis, sea cucumbers, and your standard fare plumrose anemone garden. I took several underwater photos (Ill post them a bit later). I encountered difficulties on this first dive. I had (always did have) buoyancy issues due to the thick suits and difficulty using the rental BC. I wont elaborate on these issues here on this report. Alex, our DM and guide pointed out critters. He is quite good in spotting them. My bottom time was around 45-minutes. There was a slight current so it was sort of a nice and relaxed drift dive.
The second dive site is called Nudi Point. Andy named it Nudi Point because of the plethora of Nudis that can be seen around this site and because he did not have any other name for it. Same marine life as the first dive site. No current, if there was a current, it was barely noticeable.
Overall, the dive experience was excellent. For a 2-year old-ish pioneering dive company, Ocean Planet Adventures has lots of potential to becoming a great dive service company. Its the only dive op in Tofino but the customer experience is very good. I hope it stays that way. A lot of companies who find themselves without competition tend to slack off in the customer service department. Rental gear choice is somewhat limited but they have no problems cross renting from surf shops (in this case wetsuits) around Tofino. I did not bring all my gear with me since I am only doing 2 dives and I did not want the hassle of carrying around a damp BC and wetsuit. The wet suit I wore is slightly loose around the arms so that was where I felt the 11-deg. C water. Their shop has some ScubaMax jacket style BC as part of their rental inventory. I have two complaints about this particular BC: (1) The inflator button has a very numb feel to it and silent. You do not know whether you are pumping air into your BC or not. You just realized that youve over-pumped air if you start feeling positively buoyant. It is very easy to dump air through the inflator though. One of the things I love about my Sequest Black Diamond and Balance BCs is the feel of the inflator button (even with thick gloves) and the sound it makes when its inflating the BC. These are cues that I use to determine how much air I am pumping into it. (2) This BC needs a crotch strap. When inflated, it tends to ride up your body, Very annoying especially underwater.
So, the moral of the story: Take your gear with you if you can and dont let unfamiliar gear spoil your dives. I have learned about this from previous dive trips but did not practice it on this Tofino trip. My dives came out OK but they could have been better if I did not feel too lazy to take all of my gear with me.
I will post some photos soon. Thanks for spending a few minutes going through my report.
