March 5 - 11, 2010 Browning Pass Trip Report

[John Rawlings]

I pulled in to my driveway this morning about 1:00 AM, and then got up at 7:00 AM to buzz Curt to SeaTac....my ass is dragging!

I'm going to be going through my pics and should have something to post in a day or two....Curt's stuff will be popping up soon on the ADM website as well as on Curt Bowen"s Photography site - http://curtbowen.smugmug.com/ I'll be writing the main article for the magazine and both of us will have photos accompanying the article.

The weather was a "trifle" bizarre - you never knew what it would be like from hour to hour, or sometimes even minute to minute! We were treated on various days and nights to superb blue skies and sun, hurricane force winds, rain, hail, sleet and snow! One day we had to chip away at the ice to be able to use our gear, which had frozen to the boat during the night! The winds were problems on some days, but when we dived on Browning Wall and other sites in the pass the vis was really good and I had a field day with wide-angle photography. We were at a truly magical place!

We couldn't have hoped for a better team - special thanks to Bric, Lynne, Peter, Kathy, Larry, Bob and Cheng for joining us on this trip....your joy of living and friendship made this a wonderful time for Curt and I. Your heartiness and ability to go with the flow regarding the conditions represented the PNW well!

- John

PS - a special quote from Curt: "I'm Curt Bowen....I don't know my asshole from a hole in the ground, which is a pretty big problem for a cave diver!"

[LCF]

We just got home, having made the civilized decision to stay in Nanaimo last night.

I'll be working on a trip report, as soon as Peter gets his photos sorted.

The weather didn't cooperate with giving us the best trip ever, but the tastes I got of diving that far north will have me back in the area sooner rather than later!

[Bric Martin]

PS - a special quote from Curt: "I'm Curt Bowen....I don't know my asshole from a hole in the ground, which is a pretty big problem for a cave diver!"

This is concerning....

[Grateful Diver]

Interesting trip ... there were times I didn't know if we had gone up there to dive or ski.

Couple quotes from Paul, the crew who was helping on the boat ...

"The storm's up north, this is just a gale"

"That ain't snow ... it's ice"

Both of those quotes were on our way back in from a dive site to the lodge, while we were getting hammered with waves, spray, and wind-driven ice pellets.

Couple more Curt Bowen quote ...

"This is my Armadillo. It's frozen to the table. I'll be diving it in an hour."

"In over 10,000 dives this is the first time I've ever had to de-ice my gear before I could dive it".

Another new experience for me ... I had to drop in the water and wait a minute or so for the ice to melt out from around my light switch before I could turn my light on.

Here's a picture of Lynne's rig on Wednesday morning. It started out calm enough, but we still only managed the morning dive before the winds picked up to gale force once again ...



But honestly, if I had to get stuck in a cabin in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of people, I couldn't think of better people to be stuck with ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[John Rawlings]

The elements were definitely a challenge on this trip!

Before the trip folks were wondering about the visibility....when the weather enabled us to hit Browning Wall the vis was pretty darned good! Here's a shot that I took of Curt on our first dive on Browning Wall. Click on it to expand for better viewing....

[enchantmentdivi]

Sooooooooooooo totally jealous!

[Joshua Smith]

Awesome. I really wish I could have been there with y'all.

[John Rawlings]

There's always the next trip....rest assured that I'll be going back. Curt wants to come back as well, and hit Nakwakto.

[Grateful Diver]

I'll post a few pics ... starting with the ride out.

Here's Port Hardy ... it's about a 90-minute boat ride from here to the Hideaway ...



Along the way we met some of the locals ...





Sadly, that was our only good weather day. After that, things got interesting. Still, we got in 10 dives ... and vis was generally very good. Despite that, I didn't get any shots that I'm crazy about, but here are a few of the ones I wasn't too disappointed with ...



















... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[Jan K]

Bob, I would be "crazy about them" if they were mine. What beautiful colors, Love those Hoodies. And the Octo. And the Orange peel. And the Berthellas. Basket stars ... Please share some more ....

[Grateful Diver]

I'll leave it to Peter and Bric and Kathy to post some more shots ... they all got some nice ones.

I didn't get to see any of John's pics while I was there ... but the photos that Curt showed us just blew me away. That man's not a photographer ... he's an artist with a camera. His pics gave me a completely different perspective of things I saw, but didn't really "see" until I looked at them in his photographs.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[Bric Martin]

This was a great trip! The group of people on this trip could not have been better. Everyone was good natured and stayed in high spirits for the entire trip. Unless he could have controlled the weather John Rawlings could not have done a better job organizing this trip.

During this trip we saw just about any type of weather you could imagine. We saw everything from sunny to hurricane force winds with everything in between. As we started the week the weather was perfect!

We arrived at the Hideaway and did our first dive as the sun was setting. When we came up it was dark. It was a wall dive typical of the Browning Pass area. The walls in the pass are fairly vertical with many soft corals and invertibrates everywhere. The next 2 days we were blessed with good weather and full days of diving. The area is really beautiful.

On our 3rd day the weather changed. A storm blew in that blew around 50 knots. The water in the pass area was too rough to dive. The group made the best of it and we did a dive in clam cove, not one to remember. The water was very stirred up.

The next morning we awoke to a beautiful sunrise and frozen gear everywhere. This is what makes us Northwest Divers! Curt had to pry his gear loose from a table and thaw it by dipping it into the salt water. Your not in Florida anymore Dorothy!

During our next couple of days we got in a few spectacular dives. John De Boeck is an expert at getting divers in the water in the Browning Pass area. He did what he could to get us on the spectacular walls.

This is my second trip to the Browning Pass area and I can't wait to go again. The diving is truly world class. John De Boeck and the Browning Pass Hideaway are where I will stay again and again! I just hope to have a group as nice as this to travel with each time.

[Octoloco]

I'll just ditto everything already said. This was our first time to the Hide Away and it was an amazing trip! While the weather outside was challenging? at times, the diving was superb and John Deboek and his crew were wonderful. Great group.. I'd like to believe that the amount of diving offsets the intake of wonderful food, but that was not the case here. When we couldn't dive we ate! and visited, and ate some more! Fun trip. Thanks to everyone who went for making the trip a blast - but a special thanks to John Rawlings for putting this trip together. Here's a couple of shots -

They may be small, but they're fierce!

[Curt Bowen]

http://curtbowen.smugmug.com/Yucatan/Vi ... h7xYo-A-LB

[Curt Bowen]

[vimeo]<object width="411" height="231"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id= ... llscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id= ... llscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="411" height="231"></embed></object>[/vimeo]

[Curt Bowen]

Sorry for above, I am guessing html embed codes dont work here?

[Grateful Diver]

Sorry for above, I am guessing html embed codes dont work here?

Calvin? Spatman? Some help here ... Curt's stuff is way worth seeing ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[kat]

will you please copy and paste the address bar? you need to add the www's

[kat]

:geek:

[kat]

[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/10140459[/vimeo]

[kat]

ignore my directions, that was the case earlier, copy the address bar, paste to topic, highlight, then select vimeo.

[Curt Bowen]

[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/10137930[/vimeo]


60 knot winds visit us for a half a day on our Browning Pass Hideaway trip. We talked Capt John de Boeck into sticking our nose out of the protective cove the Hideaway is located in to see just how rough the conditions have become.

Thank goodness, we just stuck our nose out and not our necks........ Capt John, seemed to get a good laugh from our self induced pounding. LOL

[Curt Bowen]

[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/10146308[/vimeo]

PNW ADM Photojournalist John Rawlings discovers his KISS rebreather has been frozen during the night. Another awesome experience during our Browning Pass, BC Hideaway adventure.

[Curt Bowen]

Some of the images from the week

After John Rawlings and I complete the up-coming ADM Browning Pass editorial, we will post the link and more images for your enjoyment.

[LCF]

You can sure tell those videos were made of the objects of interest to a Florida diver . . . we take frozen gear pretty much in stride, here in the PNW Hurricane force winds, not so much!