Monday, March 19, 2018

GUE-BC Quadra Island 9-11/03/2018

Jim Dixon helped organize a GUE-BC trip to Quadra Island with Pacific Pro Dive. It was finally time to go! Here was the video compilation I put together, right off the bat.




It would be a two day weekend. Most of the group arrived Friday afternoon, but Vlad and myself arrived that evening. Two ferry rides certainly made for a longer day. But I knew it would be worth it.


Bridget found an Air BnB on Quadra which we all shared. We got to see it first hand on Friday evening. It was set up very well for a big group. The ocean view, deck and Patio were amazing. There was a wood stove and a hot tub too. Unfortunately the hot tub was on the fritz, so that was a bit disappointing. But the dining area overlooked the water and that made up for it a bit. I'd definitely stay again. 




On Saturday we were treated to eggs and sausages by Jim. Then it was off to the boat. There was no dock at the place so we couldn't get picked up at our door. We agreed next time to try and find a place with a private dock.

Here was a good picture of Ian getting on board.


Captain Chris was manning our boat that day. He joked that he'd try and get us back in on piece. I'd been out with Chris before so I knew we were good. There were four other divers on board, two re-breathers and two recreational.

The visibility was amazing. We had already been marvelling at it from the deck. We dove Row and Be Damned first. It was a huge area of strawberry anemone fields and boulders with kelp. Vlad got many great pictures.



Chris said that it would turn into a good drift dive, but that only happened about 15 minutes in. It worked well as it gave Ian and Vlad time to take more pictures. The drift portion was very fun. I couldn't believe the number of strawberry anemones. We came across an electrical box that I pretended to lift.


Ian and Vlad found a few Puget Sound King crabs.


There was also a strange worm, which was crawling across a rock. It was black with white bands. I had to email the Aquarium to see if they had any clue (we didn't get a picture). Another very unique find was a northern abalone (you didn't see those often). The boulders with remnants of kelp on them were very pretty.


There was also some kind of algae or sea-weed growing in fan-like formations.


We also started seeing many softball sized grey jelly balls, which turned out to be Grey Puffball Sponges. They were everywhere! Vlad got this picture of Ian taking a picture of one.


It was a fun and relaxing dive. A great start! We got some good pictures of the group on the boat in the sun.



The next dive was Copper Cliffs. You could really see the copper in the rock. It was blue green all over. Chris said they tried to mine it, but all the rock just fell in so they gave up.


Copper cliffs was a real drift dive from the start. Orange cup coral was everywhere, and there were more strawberry anemones. We saw more Puget sound King crabs, along with two very pretty red Irish Lord's. The visibility was just magic, and the feeling of flying was amazing.


You also never knew when you would be photo-bombed (by Vlad in this case).


Once back at the house we relaxed and helped Bridget and Tori prepare dinner. I remember sitting in the sun overlooking the bay and just being mesmerised by the sun on the water. It was very much like a fire at night. I made a hyper-lapse video of the sunset.


Francoise jumped off the deck as it was so nice out. He did it so quickly that no one had time to take a picture. So we made him jump again! Vlad got a great slow motion sequence.


It was a feast that evening. Spaghetti and moose meat balls (Ian had brought the moose), fruit salad, quinoa salad (Tori), garlic bread that Sylvain made, and Bridget's chocolate cake. It was truly as delicious as it sounded. Stuffed, we talked late into the night.


The clocks went back that evening so we had to get up earlier. The mist in the morning was awesome.


Jim made pancakes for us and we finished off the fruit salad. Francoise tried to get us to eat the rest of the cake but I think we were all too full still.

We also took a great group picture that final morning.


Bill was our Captain on Sunday and I was happy to see him again. It had been quite a few months. We went to Diane's Delight first which I had never dove before. We hunted for the reported wolf eels and octopus, but came up empty. We did find a very pretty clown nudibranch, along with the usual amazing visibility and life everywhere. It was a very pretty dive.


Vlad also noted some interesting rockfish behavior. This tiger rockfish and quillback seemed to have a very social relationship.


We also went past the other dive team. Here was a good shot of Francois followed by Jim in the background.


The highlight of the trip had to be the last dive at April Point. This was right outside where we stayed. Bill said he had only found the site 3 years ago, when the current turned and they decided to just go with it. The wall they found turned out to be amazing. A pinnacle beside the small island sloped off towards town, and you hit a wall at about 70 feet. Bills briefing was funny: "go that way and see nothing, go that way and also see nothing".  It was like the Goldilocks site. You'd only have fun if you got it just right!

Fortunately Bill got us in the water spot on. Even though Ian had a neck-seal failure and had to abort, Vlad and I were still able to get onto the wall. It helped that the current wasn't ripping either. I had done Browning wall before, and this was very similar. I was totally impressed! We came across more Puget sound King crab as well as two ling cod egg masses. We even passed the other dive team during the dive. Lots of fun drifting and lots of life.

Unfortunately, it came to an end too soon! Until next time!


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