During the two-hour boat ride to the lodge, Sam and Peter established a repoire and banter that would provide entertainment for our entire stay. Arriving at the lodge, we settled into our rooms, had a bite to eat, set up our diving gear on the boat, and spent some social time before turning in.
The next day was cloudy and cool, but the rain held off and we headed out for two sites I hadn't done on my previous trips to Barkley Sound ... Jen's Jewel and Mahk Reef. But the ride proved to be considerably longer than planned when we spotted whale spouts in front of us ... then alongside of us ... and then behind us. At one point, sitting in the middle of the channel with our engines turned off, we were surrounded by seven humpback whales. The diving would be delayed, but nobody was complaining. This was a bonus that would be repeated throughout our three days. Unfortunately, my camera was packed in a housing, and with a macro lens ... so I would be committing this part of the trip to memory. I need to buy another camera for topside use before my next trip in September.
We arrived at Jen's Jewel ... a pinnacle that comes up t a depth of maybe 25 fsw or so ... and dropped the anchor. Peeking over the side, I could clearly see the reef. Oh my ... this is going to be good. We got into our suits, I pressurized my tank ... and my wing immediately self-inflated ...
After a couple of attempts, I realized I wasn't going to be able to get it to stop, so I told Sam to go with the others and I'd stay on the boat and see what I could do. After about 10 minutes of making several attempts to repair it with inadequate tools aboard (I now know what else I need in my save-a-dive kit), I decided on the obvious ... leave the damn thing disconnected and manually inflate the wing as needed. So I got back into the rig, stepped off the boat, and went to join the others ... which proved surprisingly easy in vis that more resembled Bonaire than the Pacific Northwest. The reef was loaded with life and color ... and with a macro lens, I was limited to pictures of small stuff. But here's a couple keepers ...
The next dive site was Mahk Reef ... another stunningly gorgeous place, particularly in vis that was in the 75-80 foot range.
Near the end of this dive, Sam and I found a sleeping octo. Oh dear ... what to do when you've got a big animal and a macro lens ...
On the way back to the lodge, I asked Peter about diving off the dock at the lodge. He told me it's a nice site, and mentioned something about some tricolor nudibranchs he'd like to show me that are unique to the west coast of Vancouver Island. Oh my ... I'd spent some time a couple years ago looking for these up in Nootka Sound. And here they are ...
The next day I put the wide-angle lens on the camera, figuring if the vis is like the previous day, I'll take advantage of it. This day was planned to be a long one, as we were heading out to Christie's Reef and the wreck of the Vanlene, near the entrance to Imperial Eagle channel. Once again the day dawned cloudy ... and once again on the way out we sighted whales ... but this time we had places to get to, so we didn't spend much time watching them.
Christies was another beautiful reef ... a series of fingers with shallow depressions in between. We dropped the anchor in about 45 feet of water and headed down. Once again the vis was superb ... at least 80-90 feet. Here's a shot of Sam under the boat in 45 feet of water ...
After a beautiful tour of the reef and some hot soup on the boat, we headed around the corner ... about a 10-minute ride ... to the Vanlene. This is one of my favorite wrecks ... with structure from about 15 feet all the way down to over 100 feet in depth. Vis on this dive wasn't quite as good as the last ... only about 60-75 feet ... but the sun had finally broken through the clouds, and with sunlight filtering down through the kelp it was a surreal dive ...
After we returned to the lodge, the four of us did another dive off the dock while Peter filled cylinders and Kathy prepared dinner. Once again I concentrated on the small stuff ...
Our final day was limited to two dives, as we had a ferry to catch coming home. Both dives were on pinnacles where they've been seeing six-gills recently. Unfortunately, we didn't see any. But both dives were superb nonetheless. The first dive was Tyler Rocks ... once again the vis was fantastic. This shot was taken at a depth of about 60 fsw.
We found two wolfies out in the open. Current on this dive was the strongest we'd had for the entire trip, and at one point we decided to turn back toward the anchor and shelter in the lee of the pinnacle. Just before we turned, we found this wolfie out enjoying a Happy Meal ...
The second wolfie was much smaller and younger ... and not the least bit bothered by our presence ...
Our final dive was another "new to me" site ... Diplock. We anchored near the top of the reef, and as the boat was drifting over what the depth gauge said was 62 feet of water, we could easily see the bottom. Peter put his mask on his face, laid down on the swim platform and stuck his face in the water, and came up saying "Oh yeah, I know exactly where we are" ... and proceeded with the site briefing accordingly.
We found a small GPO clinging to the wall ...
... and I got Sam to pose in front of a sea pen for me ...
After the dive we headed back to the lodge, had lunch, packed our gear, and Peter tooks us out for a mid-water transfer to the local ferry, which would take us back to Port Alberni. Arriving at PA around 7 PM, we had a rather long trip home ... catching the Nanaimo ferry at 9:30, and getting stuck in construction traffic at midnight just east of Vancouver. After a long day, we got in around 2:30 AM ... which is closer to when I'm used to getting up than going to bed. But the trip was fantastic ... and it won't be eight years before I go back again.
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
