We even had some spectacular sharks breaches fully out of the water.
Read MoreWhy is he a darned grizzly bear? Because he chose to amble across the beach 150 yards away from the Nautilus Explorer in the middle of my morning briefing. Cheeezzzz, how am I supposed to do a briefing when all the guests are running for their cameras and binoculars?! Anchored up in beautiful and scenic Secret Bay today. I hesitate to publish the topographic name of this bay because (a) it is so beautiful (b) we have had really good luck with grizzly bears here (c) there is an amazing grotto of marble accessible up the stream (d) when the salmon return to this stream, it is a great place to snorkel with them and (e) we have a permit with the good graces of the U.S. Forest Service that allows our guests stroll, walk and hike through the rainforest here
Read MoreWe staged 2 mystery dives today while hiding from the weather and really lucked out with the second one when I anchored on top of a pinnacle that was absolutely loaded with swimming scallops (aka pink and spiny scallops). Stupendous sheer drop-off and I managed to place the anchor right on the edge of the precipice. These scallops are hilarious to watch.
Read MoreOur scuba divers loved it as they found every imaginable sort of nudibranch and “muck” creature. I was a bit skeptical when they surfaced and gleefully told us that it was fabulous British Columbia muck diving but everyone seemed to have a great time. One diver even found the steel hull of a shipwreck on one side of the island. We staged dives 2 and 3 at slack in Quatsino Narrows and very good dives were had by all.
Read MoreWe did the Giants Causeway (or Southwest Benedicto for Mike) as the third dive and saw 2 or possibly 4 mantas but they did not seem to want to interact with us. Dive day 2 and we went to the Boiler for the first scuba dive. The dive was spectacular, 100+ feet of visibility, a pod of 6 dolphins and almost no current.
Read MoreWe started Dive day 2 by checking in at the Navy base and then picking up three underwater photographers from the World Wildlife Federation who had been waiting for us at Socorro Island during the storm (unable to dive). From there we went to Cabo Pearce. Throughout all 3 dives at Cabo Pearce we could hear the humpback whales singing in the background. In between dives two and three several guests were out snorkeling when a humpback whale mom and calf happened along and checked out the snorkellers. The encounter was, of course, an incredible experience.
Read MoreAfter a couple of disappointing dives, I persuaded everyone to join me for an exploratory dive along the lava flows on the east side of San Benedicto. I have always wanted to check this area out as a potential dive site and that thought continued until about 5 seconds after I jumped into the water. Uh oh. It was very green murky water with less than 5 feet of visibility! The only good news is that it felt like being back home in the plankton rich emerald seas of British Columbia!
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