Hornby Island Sea Lions 2020-01
Posted: Sat Feb 01, 2020 11:52 pm
Earlier this month, I headed up to BC to dive with the steller sea lions at Hornby.
Getting there was as much an adventure as being there. My trip started Sunday, and my original plan was to catch a Saturday Nanaimo ferry to give myself some slack. All Saturday ferries were canceled because of high winds. Then it started to snow. The drive up to Tsawwassen wasn't bad. The roads weren't very icy. But 5.8 kms from the ferry terminal, traffic on the highway came to a dead halt because of a bad traffic accident. During the two hours it took to move half a kilometer, I had missed the last ferry that would allow me to catch the day's last ferry to Hornby. I managed to get off the highway, turn around, drive through Vancouver to catch the other ferry to Nanaimo, and grab a hotel for the night. Then I had to get up at 5 AM, drive in the dark through snow on the one highway lane that wasn't totally iced over, and catch the first ferry to Hornby so that I could get to the inn in time for the first dive.
That first day went very well. Dozens of sea lions swarmed over all of us. As soon as I descended on the first dive, one had its mouth on my arm. I had forgotten how aggressively curious they are. It had been ~11 years since I last dove with them. Got my fins nipped, my hood tugged on. One grabbed a fiber optic cable from my strobe and stretched it out, but I was able to get him to drop it before he broke it in two. They also like to play with the sea stars and sea cucumbers. Being a more experienced diver, I felt like I was flinching a lot less than that first time and not getting the same adrenaline rush after the first 15 minutes. Two very fun dives overall.
And then it snowed six inches overnight. And then the winds picked up. We managed to get out for 1 dive on the second day, but I left my cap on my lens. So I just spent the dive playing with the sea lions, which was a lot of fun and something I don't regret. Trying to line up strobes and framing can be really distracting. It's nice to not do that once in a while. And then it snowed more.
Winds once again allowed for only 1 dive on my third and final day. But the clouds had cleared. The sun was shining. And the sea lions stayed on the rocks sunning themselves. We had an 80 minute dive and only 1 sea lion got within 3 feet of me, which was as I was ending the dive. Got a great picture of him though!
Despite the freezing temperatures above the water throughout the trip and water temperatures between 43 and 47F, I didn't actually get that cold. Being able to change into undergarments in a heated room and short boat rides with very little wind (when we were out) helped immensely. The dives are all at the same site just around the corner from the inn, and you're spending the whole dives at 15-35 ft. There was some mild current on most dives. And the reef is covered in green sea urchins. So it could be difficult at times trying to put some distance between yourself and the sea lions while not letting the current push you too far from the anchor line and not poking holes in your drysuit.
Getting good pictures was also very hard. I wish I had been able to try more adjustments and take more pictures on the second and third days. I think my camera's autofocus had issues with their speed and dark bodies. A lot of what would have been good shots were ruined by bad focus. I was shooting with my 15mm fisheye + 1.4x teleconverter the whole time. I stuck around ISO 640-800 and f/8-11, but when you're at depth on a cloudy morning, backgrounds are still coming up near black. The afternoon and switching to the other side of the rocks provided better lighting, however. A lot of the other people said that they wanted to try more shots near the surface next time to get better lighting/backgrounds. I think next time, I might try a couple different lens setups.
Getting there was as much an adventure as being there. My trip started Sunday, and my original plan was to catch a Saturday Nanaimo ferry to give myself some slack. All Saturday ferries were canceled because of high winds. Then it started to snow. The drive up to Tsawwassen wasn't bad. The roads weren't very icy. But 5.8 kms from the ferry terminal, traffic on the highway came to a dead halt because of a bad traffic accident. During the two hours it took to move half a kilometer, I had missed the last ferry that would allow me to catch the day's last ferry to Hornby. I managed to get off the highway, turn around, drive through Vancouver to catch the other ferry to Nanaimo, and grab a hotel for the night. Then I had to get up at 5 AM, drive in the dark through snow on the one highway lane that wasn't totally iced over, and catch the first ferry to Hornby so that I could get to the inn in time for the first dive.
That first day went very well. Dozens of sea lions swarmed over all of us. As soon as I descended on the first dive, one had its mouth on my arm. I had forgotten how aggressively curious they are. It had been ~11 years since I last dove with them. Got my fins nipped, my hood tugged on. One grabbed a fiber optic cable from my strobe and stretched it out, but I was able to get him to drop it before he broke it in two. They also like to play with the sea stars and sea cucumbers. Being a more experienced diver, I felt like I was flinching a lot less than that first time and not getting the same adrenaline rush after the first 15 minutes. Two very fun dives overall.
And then it snowed six inches overnight. And then the winds picked up. We managed to get out for 1 dive on the second day, but I left my cap on my lens. So I just spent the dive playing with the sea lions, which was a lot of fun and something I don't regret. Trying to line up strobes and framing can be really distracting. It's nice to not do that once in a while. And then it snowed more.
Winds once again allowed for only 1 dive on my third and final day. But the clouds had cleared. The sun was shining. And the sea lions stayed on the rocks sunning themselves. We had an 80 minute dive and only 1 sea lion got within 3 feet of me, which was as I was ending the dive. Got a great picture of him though!
Despite the freezing temperatures above the water throughout the trip and water temperatures between 43 and 47F, I didn't actually get that cold. Being able to change into undergarments in a heated room and short boat rides with very little wind (when we were out) helped immensely. The dives are all at the same site just around the corner from the inn, and you're spending the whole dives at 15-35 ft. There was some mild current on most dives. And the reef is covered in green sea urchins. So it could be difficult at times trying to put some distance between yourself and the sea lions while not letting the current push you too far from the anchor line and not poking holes in your drysuit.
Getting good pictures was also very hard. I wish I had been able to try more adjustments and take more pictures on the second and third days. I think my camera's autofocus had issues with their speed and dark bodies. A lot of what would have been good shots were ruined by bad focus. I was shooting with my 15mm fisheye + 1.4x teleconverter the whole time. I stuck around ISO 640-800 and f/8-11, but when you're at depth on a cloudy morning, backgrounds are still coming up near black. The afternoon and switching to the other side of the rocks provided better lighting, however. A lot of the other people said that they wanted to try more shots near the surface next time to get better lighting/backgrounds. I think next time, I might try a couple different lens setups.