Jason Kolba and I headed out to Tuwanek because we had not been out that way in a long long time. Also, BC ferries had their cheap ferry deal going on, so it was good to take advantage of that too. I always forgot how much those ferry rides could add up!
The day wasn't the best, a bit cloudy and drizzly. When we arrived, I was quite surprised to see about 4 cars already there. It was a full house, and we had to park further away. I didn't quite catch where the divers were from, but I think it was a club or shop trip.
We geared up and decided to try the North island first. Our original plan was to circumnavigate the island if the visibility was good. When we descended and started out, we quickly realized that we wouldn't be doing that. The visibility was really not that great at all, certainly not what was expected at Tuwanek. It was maybe 30' or so, which was better than back in Vancouver at least. The dive was pretty good apart from that small disappointment. We found the wolf eels at the back of the island, and then turned around and came back. The shallows were quite nice, with a lot of aquatic plants waving in the current.
After some lunch, and a bit of rain, we decided to do the south island and see if we could find the octopus that could be over there. On the swim out, I had a small problem with the o-ring in my low pressure inflator. I ended up having to get out of the water and do a quick repair at the truck. The experience and equipment courses I had were paying off! With that fixed, Jason and I swam out to the white marker buoy and descended. Again, the visibility was pretty bad, but at about 60 feet it cleared up immensely. The vis actually was better than on the first dive. We didn't find the octopus that was sometimes near the marker buoy chain, but we did come across a skate! I had never seen this relative of the ray before, and neither had Jason. It was a really great find. We also came across some large clouds of baby shrimp larvae that were quite impressive.
All in all, the wolf eels and the skate made the trip one to remember! Here is a bit of video:
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