Discovery Passage over Memorial Day Weekend
Posted: Fri May 31, 2019 8:59 pm
Howdy Folks!
ScubaJess, StphnMartin, VJW and I had a great trip up to Vancouver Island for diving last weekend. We went thru Abyssal Charters up in Campbell River, a city about halfway up the east coast of Vancouver Island. From there we took the boat out to sites at Quadra Island, Steep Island and one of the main destinations of interest to me, Seymour Narrows. We got in 8 dives over 3 days. Plus Jess and I also did Deception Pass on the way up there.
This whole area is known for huge tidal currents, and it all peaks thru Seymour Narrows. I was hoping to compare the Narrows there to other high current sites in our area... Deception Pass, Dodd's Narrows (which we did last year), Race Rocks (did it a couple years ago), Sechelt Rapids (did it once ages ago, pre-camera) and Nakwakto Rapids (once, ages ago, pre-camera).
Seymour narrows was bigger than I imagined it. It is about the size of Tacoma Narrows, maybe a little narrower and longer. Current rips significantly faster than deception pass, up to 15 knots.
Tides were amenable for us to do the Narrows each of the 3 days we were there. Our guide, though super-familiar with the sites closer to CR, wasn't super familiar with the best spots to dive in the Narrows, so it was a bit exploratory. It was exciting but we found there are definitely some spots in it more covered in life than others. Life ranged from something similar to snowfall in Port Hardy (or less), to stuff that goes beyond Deception Pass. I found a sweet spot on day 2 and went back there again on day 3. Steph and Val had less luck.
This was our third trip to CR, and we had the best viz by far. Viz was amazing, with the exception of one dive at Steep Island (a massive wall of tubeworms and snakelocks and candystripe).
As a part of the trip, we also got to meet Eiko Jones, an amazing underwater photographer from the region. He's famous for his tadpole shots in national geographic among other things. He's now working on a new film about salmon in Campbell River. Cool guy, and we got to go out for indian food with him. Very fun!
Here were some of my snaps:
Other highlights I didn't get photos of were sea angels(!!!), humpbacks, bald eagles, seals, pigeon guillemots, moss head warbonnets, nipple sponges, cockerell's dorids, bi color nudis and more! (Stephen and Val will have to tell you more!)
Earl from Abyssal diving puts together some great dive packages, and he really knows his currents which is critical up there. Check him out! Tell him we sent you. Hope you had a great weekend!
ScubaJess, StphnMartin, VJW and I had a great trip up to Vancouver Island for diving last weekend. We went thru Abyssal Charters up in Campbell River, a city about halfway up the east coast of Vancouver Island. From there we took the boat out to sites at Quadra Island, Steep Island and one of the main destinations of interest to me, Seymour Narrows. We got in 8 dives over 3 days. Plus Jess and I also did Deception Pass on the way up there.
This whole area is known for huge tidal currents, and it all peaks thru Seymour Narrows. I was hoping to compare the Narrows there to other high current sites in our area... Deception Pass, Dodd's Narrows (which we did last year), Race Rocks (did it a couple years ago), Sechelt Rapids (did it once ages ago, pre-camera) and Nakwakto Rapids (once, ages ago, pre-camera).
Seymour narrows was bigger than I imagined it. It is about the size of Tacoma Narrows, maybe a little narrower and longer. Current rips significantly faster than deception pass, up to 15 knots.
Tides were amenable for us to do the Narrows each of the 3 days we were there. Our guide, though super-familiar with the sites closer to CR, wasn't super familiar with the best spots to dive in the Narrows, so it was a bit exploratory. It was exciting but we found there are definitely some spots in it more covered in life than others. Life ranged from something similar to snowfall in Port Hardy (or less), to stuff that goes beyond Deception Pass. I found a sweet spot on day 2 and went back there again on day 3. Steph and Val had less luck.
This was our third trip to CR, and we had the best viz by far. Viz was amazing, with the exception of one dive at Steep Island (a massive wall of tubeworms and snakelocks and candystripe).
As a part of the trip, we also got to meet Eiko Jones, an amazing underwater photographer from the region. He's famous for his tadpole shots in national geographic among other things. He's now working on a new film about salmon in Campbell River. Cool guy, and we got to go out for indian food with him. Very fun!
Here were some of my snaps:
- Selfie with Scuba Jess in the raging current of a kelp canopy
- The narrows!
- This huge male seal lion greeted me in the Narrows. This was a "test shot" I hadn't even really set up my strobes yet :)
- We saw a few Lion's Maine Jellies
- A couple smaller or female sealions came by to check us out as well. This one was apparently biting at my fins when I wasn't looking!
- A typical scene off Quadra Island. Lots of sponges and neon strawberry anemones
- Proliferating anemones in the narrows!
- The narrows!
- The narrows!
Earl from Abyssal diving puts together some great dive packages, and he really knows his currents which is critical up there. Check him out! Tell him we sent you. Hope you had a great weekend!
It was great fun diving with you guys! It's color overload up there! I can't wait to go back! 
