Note from Captain Mike. I am often asked if we are ever going to resume running dive trips in British Columbia and Alaska. The obvious answer is that YES, we would love to!! I spent 20 plus years exploring the pacific coast from Cape Flattery in Washington State to Glacier Bay and Juneau. I still […]
Read MoreOur morning dive on the wreck of the Transpac was outstanding as usual with visibility estimated at 80 feet or more. The Transpac is without a doubt the most amazing wreck I have ever seen – standing upright as it does with the transom of the 180 foot fish boat plunked down on a ledge at 285 feet with the bow at 110 feet and the wreck aligned almost perfectly upright on the sheer wall. Did a dock dive in the afternoon and those divers who stayed under the pilings had a fabulous dive with giant pacific octopus sightings as well as 20 plus ratfish (aka chimera). We’re off to Shushartie Bay (Dillon Rock) and Browning Wall tonight and then in to Vancouver to finish off this very fine trip.
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 MoreThe amazing thing is that there is a ledge on the wall 285 feet below the surface and as the ship was sliding down the wall, the stern wedged itself on the ledge and the ship came to a dead stop in a vertical orientation! The stern of the 180ft ship is at 285 feet and the bow is at 110 feet! It’s not often one gets to see a large fishing vessel pinned vertically to a wall! I did one of my most memorable dives ever here when my instructor and I splashed to 285 feet on Inspiration rebreathers. The water was so clear that we could see from the stern all the way to the bow looking straight up towards the surface through a cloud of rockfish swimming around the mast (and no, I wasn’t narc’d!!).
Read MoreThe intense invertebrate life on Browning Wall is so thick and prolific and colourful that you cannot see the underlying rock at all. Until you’ve actually seen the brilliant reds, oranges, yellows, whites and all the amazing colours of the soft corals and other inverts, it is almost impossible to imagine how fantastic coldwater diving is. The tiny pinnacle of Dillon Rock is a story onto itself with 6+ wolfeels hiding in cracks and crevices, numerous giant pacific octopus, rarely sighted vermillion rockfish, a lovely kelp forest at the west side of the rock teeming with black rockfish, and dozens of chimera (ratfish in the shark family) cruising around on the sand bottom just off the rock. Great diving and a lovely day was had by all. Even the black bears cooperated with multiple beach appearances.
Read MoreWe steamed through Seymour Narrows early this morning and anchored later in the Pearse Island group to stage a couple of scuba dives. Pearse Island is located halfway between the very well known dive site at Stubbs Island and Telegraph Cove, the whale watching capital of B.C. (and sure enough, we got to see 4 orcas westbound in Johnstone Strait this morning as well as some very speedy, agile and acrobatic Dall’s porpoises close to Telegraph Cove). Steaming through Seymour Narrows is usually quite interesting and I am comfortable taking the Nautilus Explorer through with up to 8 knots of current on the tail. I can tell you that we have seen some very impressive whirlpools on some passages.
Read MoreWe capped the day off with a visit to the Quatsino lighthouse and were given a wonderful tour by the very friendly lighthouse keepers. Quatsino is a beautiful place and I won’t soon forget watching the sun stream through the trees on the steep and heavily wooded hillside beside our anchorage. But without a doubt, the highlight of the day was steaming 1/2 mile offshore from dreaded Solander Island off Brooks Peninsula. It was a spectacular sight in surprising calm seas – calm enough that I actually thought of staging a spontaneous dive off Solander (which is something I am sure nobody has ever done before).
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