Anyways, we saw one young adult today who defied any description of humpback whale behaviour that I have ever observed. Bob (which is what we named this guy) was hanging out with stellar sea lions instead of other humpback whales. Not only was Bob hanging out and interacting with 10-20 sea lions at a time, but he also seemed to be mimicking their behaviour. Twisting and turning on the surface and throwing himself from side to side. Bob was even doing barrel rolls and swimming along on his back. Even more oddly, Bob approached the Nautilus Explorer a couple of times with his head out of the water – just like a sea lion. All I can say is that never before have I seen a humpback whale that so clearly wanted to be a sea lion.
Read MoreToday’s exploratory secret dive site is a spot that I have wanted to dive for some time and it does indeed have excellent potential. Divemaster/engineer A.J. trumped the scuba diving by taking a group of guests out in the inflatable for a shoreline exploration and discovering 5 grizzly bear in the process! We steamed back in the Nautilus Explorer later in the day and had a grand time watching a grizzly (coastal brown) bear rummaging around in the sedge grass on the beach. It was almost equally entertaining when a young fellow in a Boston Whaler zipped past us, beached his skiff beside a small glacier, and started shovelling ice from the glacier into the front of the Whaler. That’s truly ice cubes Alaskan style!!
Read MoreSome of the ‘bergs were at least 3 times the size of the Nautilus. Our scuba divers had a fabulous time regardless under a clear blue sky without a breath of wind in the nice warm sunshine. As always, our guests got to go kayaking in the ice and splash around in their drysuits and climb up the smaller bergs. Our lovely hostesses are taking our service levels to new heights with the delivery of “adult beverages” by kayak to divers sitting on icebergs!! Now that would be a great promotional image!
Read MoreStarted today off with a “mystery dive” on a pinnacle just north of Green Islet lighthouse. There was a wee bit more current than I expected but the divers reported that the diving on the wall and tumbles on the backside of the pinnacle was excellent with loads of white plumose anemones and other typical pacific northwest life. Other divers wandered onto the flats and investigated under and around the large boulders with less success.
Read MoreWe are enroute now for 2 days of scuba diving at Port Hardy (Queen Charlotte Strait, Browning Pass and Dillon Rock in Shushartie Bay), 1 day diving the wreck of the Transpac at Butedale and then it’s off to Alaska!
Read MoreOur British Columbia and Alaska scuba diving adventures are among my favourite trips of the year and I am anxious to get going. We were up very late last night and all the staff made one heckuva an effort to wrap this year’s intensive and extensive refit and overhaul in time to board our guests at noon.
Read MoreDive 2 was on what I call the Red Wall portion of Browning Wall. The red soft coral (gersemia rubiformis) is so thick and abundant that the entire wall looks red and there is not even a square inch of bare rock on which to push yourself off with your hand! Visibility was spectacular (maybe some of the best of the year?) and we were able to quite nicely enjoy the dive from the deck of the skiff.
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