Monday, October 18, 2010

Egmont Dive Trip - 15/10/2010-17

I had visited Kal and Porpoise Bay Charters one time before, and I jumped at the chance to go again for more dives in the fabulous waters of the Egmont area. Many of the photos in the big green Pacific marine life book I had were taken in Egmont, as Kal explained later. The Chaudiere was also potentially on the list of dive sites, as was Agamemnon power lines and Skookumchuck rapids, all of which I'd heard a lot about. Another reason I wanted to go was to have a special location for my 200th dive.

The trip was arranged via IDC, and was planned for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. One dive on Friday, three on Saturday, and two on Sunday.

There were some logistical concerns for this trip. One was Nitrox. Kal needed to know before hand who wanted that. The ferry ride to Langdale was another, but not a big one, since traffic on a Friday afternoon to the Sunshine Coast would be light. Transporting scuba cylinders was a third, but I had the forms printed out already and gave some to Steve as well. Other than that, the only things to be concerned about was making sure to bring everything that you might need to make the trip enjoyable. There would be no trips back and forth to the community, so what you brought was what you had. Having a warm hat, gloves, and some waterproof clothing was a very good idea, just in case too. There was no need to bring sleeping bags or anything like that. The accommodations were great. More on that later.

It took about three hours to do the trip up. There were two vehicles, the IDC van and Mihai's. I drove up with Mihai and his wife Christina, and everyone else went in the van with Steve. There was Heather, Alison, Jim, Liam, Avi, Gord, and Dave. About half of our group were new divers, so it was an interesting mix of experience.

The drive up was great. It was a warm sunny fall day, and there were no delays. We arrived at the red government dock in Egmont around 3:30 and met Kal.

A Google map link.

Kal's boat:

From scuba 2010 october egmont

It didn't take long to get stuff onto the boat for the short ride to Kal's place. Kal's boat was very well set up. Benches lined both sides at a good comfortable height, without having to stand up from a full sitting position. Double cylinders fitted fine as well. Under each bench was a sturdy shelf, and 2 single cylinders could fit in the bottom space. The boat had a good bathroom, and was covered as well, but open on the sides. Thankfully it didn't rain all weekend, but that kept the sun off! There was a custom hot-air blower that Kal had put in for hand warming as well. He joked about the jet-engine sound the fan made when it was running. If I recall correctly, the boat could hold 16 divers, 8 per side. That would be pretty tight but it was possible. We got to spread out some so that was nice. There was no capacity to do fills on the boat, but all the dive sites were close to Kal's home base so that wasn't a big problem.

When we got to where we'd be staying, I was anxious to see the yurts. Kal had set them up as a cheaper alternative to building cabins. They were "tents" in a very loose sense. Sure they were made of treated cotton canvas, but they were warm and dry and very nice. No dirt floors here!

From scuba 2010 october egmont

From scuba 2010 october egmont

From scuba 2010 october egmont


We met Ann (the "big cheese" according to Kal), and Nanook and Nemo, who were the resident puppies. They were an instant hit. Nanook was on the dock waiting to greet us, and to see what new people the boat would be bringing to lavish attention upon him. Kal joked that if we saw two glowing red eyes in the dark, that it was just Nanook. He was a husky cross and had very interesting grey/white eyes.

We quickly got sorted and picked out our accommodations. There were five yurts if I recall correctly, two sets of yurt bathroom/shower combinations, and a four bedroom guest house behind the main house. There was a lot of room to spread out that's for sure! We would have to settle in later though, since we wanted to get out for a check-out dive before it got too late. Worse, we didn't want to miss dinner!

Kal took us out to Nemo's Leap, which I had dove on the previous trip. It was named because the dog Nemo had leaped off of the boat and swam to the shore on one occasion. I was diving with Mihai for the duration of the trip, but we trio-ed up with Dave on several dives including this one. Jim and Alison formed another team, Heather and Avi another, and Gord and Liam. Steve bounced around between those groups I think. The checkout dive went pretty well. Mihai, Dave and myself had a good time on the dive. It was getting dark, but the visibility was quite good, probably 20-30 feet. The bull kelp beds were very nice to see. There were a lot of great nudibranchs out as well. We kept it under 60 feet and just had a nice relaxing 45 minute tour around the broken rocks and interesting topography.

Again we were greeted by the dogs on the dock, and hung up our drysuits in Kal's other boat which was heated and dry. It was a good setup. All the dive gear stayed on the boat or near it. There were no drysuits allowed in the yurts! Dinner was a variety of hamburgers, smokies, chicken and veggie burgers. Desert was a home-made chocolate brownie with ice cream. All excellent! Some of us hit the hot tub that evening, too. Yes, there was a hot tub! I didn't recall the hot tub from the last time I had been out there, but we were only there for a day trip then. It was a welcome treat after a long drive and some time in the Pacific ocean! The stars were out in force, and the view skywards from the tub was great.

The next morning brought more clear sunny skies, and flat glass-like water. It would be like that all weekend, which made a huge difference. The plan was to head out to South Sutton Island for the first dive of the day. But first, a hearty pancake breakfast courtesy of Ann. That morning dive would be one of the most memorable for people, because at the end of the dive, a bull and a cow sea lion played around with almost everyone. Unfortunately Mihai and myself were in a different location, and missed out on the sea lion fun. But it was still a great dive.

South Sutton Alison being camera shy



South Sutton surfacing in kelp



The dive I was most looking forward to was the Chaudiere, a Restigouche-class Destroyer Escort 366-feet long and 2900 tons. It was sunk in 1992. The Chaudière was the first Destroyer Escort ship sunk by the ARSBC, purchased from the Department of National Defence for $1.07 ($1.00 plus GST). We got to go through the famous Skookumchuck narrows, but unfortunately the tides would be wrong so we'd not be able to dive them during the trip. It certainly gave a reason to go back! Kal was saying the water could rip through there at over 15 knots at times. We went through during a safe period, but it was still plenty fast. Kyakers were out on the standing waves set up near the rocks by shore. They looked to be having an exciting time!

For the Chaudiere, Dave, Mihai and myself were diving together again. The general plan was to descend on the midship line, go towards the bow to see the guns, then slowly ascend up the stern section to the stern line. The Chaudiere was quite deep, and we planned accordingly. The guns and superstructure were at 100 feet, and we spent a good portion of our bottom time there.

Chaudiere guns



Chaudiere near the guns



Working our way back up the stern, we came across Steve doing a bit of wreck penetration.

Chaudiere Steve entering



Chaudiere Steve exiting and waving



There were a lot of large and spectacular yellow frosted nudibranchs on the wreck, along with a variety of anemones and tunicates. I was surprised that there wasn't more life on it however. There were large sections of barren rust-covered metal. The ship was quite interesting, though, since it was on it's side. It gave quite a different perspective. I can just imagine how different it would be inside seeing staircases and ceilings all sideways.

Chaudiere stern panorama



After the Chaudiere, we had a second dive planned before heading back for dinner. We returned to Nemo's leap, in a bit of a different location. This ended up being a pretty fast drift dive, and it was a lot of fun. Again, there were a lot of nudibranchs and bull kelp. We kept it shallow, and had a nice relaxing time. Lots of nudibranchs were a common theme on this trip, that's for sure. Also, there was a lot of human evidence on the bottom here. We came across a barbecue, a circular saw blade, various bottles, and Jim found a teapot. I am pretty sure that it was the same brown teapot I saw in the spring!

Trashed Teapot

Back at the house, some of us decided to do a night dive under Kal's dock before dinner. I had eyed the water under the dock since day one; visibility looked great, and there were kelp beds and shallow rock walls rimming the area. Kal also said he'd be happy if we could recover a few of his vinyl gear covers that had blown into the water recently. Alas, we didn't find any of those, but the dive turned out to be pretty good. Myself, Dave, Gord, Avi and Liam suited up and hit the water. Liam had a problem with his light, and Heather was kind enough to lend him hers. Overall, we headed north out from the dock along the gravel bottom. It was pretty flat and shallow, but gave a good easy dive for Gord, Liam and Avi who hadn't had much experience with night diving. The best part of the dive was the huge schools of gleaming shiner perch. They flitted about in our light beams magically. Visibility went beyond where our lights extended adding to the experience. We did hit some rock piles and poked about there, but the current started to pick up so we headed back in.

However, it was a pretty tough deciding to do this dive. Heather and Steve had hit the hot tub. Dave and I both confessed to each other the next day that we almost did the same!

Dinner was again grand, with Ann doing some great steak, fish and veggie dishes. Desert was a raspberry cobbler; as good as it sounds. Alison had two helpings (I had to correct that, originally I put down three, but she had three "home made" buns the next day so I got confused)! It would be an early night, though, since the plan was to try for a "sunrise" dive. Steve wanted to see if it was similar to what he had experience elsewhere, where getting in the water before sunrise and spending your dive time during it would give insight into both night and dawn life. It certainly sounded like an intriguing idea, if early.

So at 7:40am the next day we were in the water descending on Swede's Reef, so named for the Swedish photographers who loved it so much. Mihai and I teamed up again, and found about 4 puget sound king crabs. We also found an octopus den, with the remains of a puget sound king crab at the door. Mihai saw the tentacles, but it was too far back for me to see. I did recover the carapace from the deceased crab, and it made a great souvenir! Kal said to rinse it in fresh water then coat it in a lacquer or other coating as quickly as possible. I used lacquer later, and it did a pretty good job. The shallow depth and the bright morning light made it amazing when we were swimming with a school of fish, too.

Swede's reef puget sound king crab



Swede's reef swimming with the fish



After heading back for an excellent eggs benedict breakfast, we were on our way to the final dive of the trip, the Agamemnon power lines. I had heard a lot about this dive, so was pretty excited when I heard we would do it. It turned out not to disappoint! This wall dive was incredible. The number and size of the cloud sponges was unbelievable. We wouldn't see any of the big gorgonian corals, but we did see some small specimens. I'd have to return to see those once I completed Tech 1. The visibility was very good, and the light was great, even at a hundred feet. I was pretty sad when we had to come up from this dive! However, it was just as good shallow, as it got even brighter. The rock topography here was great. Maybe not packed with as much life as a place like Browning Wall, but it was on par in terms of spectacular dive sites!

Agamemnon channel cloud sponge fly by



Agamemnon channel cloud sponge crab and panorama



Agamemnon channel small gorgonian coral



Overall, this was the best dive of the trip in my opinion. Everyone else said the sea lion experience, but since I didn't see that, this was it!

I've certainly left out a lot of details, but there was no way to pack all those memories into this post. A big thanks to Steve for organizing the trip, and the same to Kal and Ann for being such great hosts. I know many of us will be back! I can't wait myself.

Here is a short list of some of the life I saw: cloud sponge, chimney sponge, gorgonian coral, zoanthids, moon jelly, sea blubber, red fur crab, puget sound king crab, rhinocerous crab, rock scallop, leafy hornmouth, giant white dorid, yellow margin dorid, variable dendrontid, gold dirona, pearly nudibranch, frosted nudibranch, shag-rug nudibranch, spiny sea squirt, transparent sea squirt, longfin sculpin, cabezon, yelloweye rockfish, tiger rockfish, painted greenling.

I just got some pictures from David. I will continue to update this with more of his favorites as I get them!

From scuba 2010 october egmont


From scuba 2010 october egmont


From scuba 2010 october egmont

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