Sechelt - Egg Yolk Jelly

Tangfish · Post by **Tangfish** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 11:05 pm

More coming eventually, but here's the video of a nice big egg yolk jelly and Zen Diver in the background snapping shots:

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Tom Nic · Post by **Tom Nic** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 10:48 am

Nice! Was this a night dive? How deep were you? Where were you? He / She / It is HUGE!

Details, please, Maestro! :rr:

thelawgoddess · Post by **thelawgoddess** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 12:50 pm

cool vid, calvin! mark and i showed up at some point and i tried to take a few pics, but i didn't get anything that good.
tomnic, it wasn't a night dive; just dreary weather like we've been having here. and she *was* huge!
here's the best pic i got:

Tom Nic · Post by **Tom Nic** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 12:53 pm

Yeah, there were a ton of divers in the vid as well...

Tangfish · Post by **Tangfish** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 12:54 pm

I believe we were in about 45' of water. It was a daytime dive, we were at the Sechelt inlet, diving with Porpoise Bay Charters. Hey Kaia (or anyone who was there) can you tell me the name of Sunday's dive sites?

thelawgoddess · Post by **thelawgoddess** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 1:02 pm

Calvin Tang wrote:I believe we were in about 45' of water. It was a daytime dive, we were at the Sechelt inlet, diving with Porpoise Bay Charters. Hey Kaia (or anyone who was there) can you tell me the name of Sunday's dive sites?

i think the dive sites were:
- friday: ???
- saturday: STAG WALL, HMCS CHAUDIERE, TZOONIE NARROWS
- sunday: FOUR MILE SHOAL, SAKINAW ROCK

Grateful Diver · Post by **Grateful Diver** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 1:45 pm

Friday's dive was Snake Bay ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

thelawgoddess · Post by **thelawgoddess** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 1:52 pm

Grateful Diver wrote:Friday's dive was Snake Bay ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

thanks, bob!

- friday: SNAKE BAY
- saturday: STAG WALL, HMCS CHAUDIERE, TZOONIE NARROWS
- sunday: FOUR MILE SHOAL, SAKINAW ROCK

what an excellent trip, by the way. $\:D/$ mark and i would most definitely go again!

Diver_C · Post by **Diver_C** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 3:05 pm

How was the vis overall? Going up there this weekend. Thanks!

Rich

Tangfish · Post by **Tangfish** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 3:11 pm

Vis was pretty awesome. The first 20' or so was blurry due to the haliclime, but below that it was easily 50+.

Grateful Diver · Post by **Grateful Diver** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 5:56 pm

Here's my jellyfish shot from the trip ... not the same jelly, but I think it's a pretty nice shot ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

John Rawlings · Post by **John Rawlings** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 5:57 pm

GREAT shot, Bob! Looks like something from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"!

- John

Jan K · Post by **Jan K** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 6:10 pm

Bob, that is a winner ! Beautiful shot.

Maverick · Post by **Maverick** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 7:30 pm

cool photo, what kind if strobe do you have?

Grateful Diver · Post by **Grateful Diver** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 7:47 pm

Here's the rest of the photo show ... and a dive report ...

http://photoshow.comcast.net/watch/SK2Sd8uV

We drove up to Sechelt in a downpour on Friday ... and when we got there Kal told us that they'd had 50 knot winds the previous night. Given the weather, I was very worried that conditions would be blown out. But Kal was his usual irrepressible self and assured us it would be fine.

We headed out around 3 PM on Friday for our "shakedown" dive at Snake Bay. Heading into the bay I was still worried. The water had a decidedly brown cast to it and there was a lot of flotsam floating on the surface ... a testament to the previous evening's storm. We geared up and splashed.

The first minute or so confirmed my worst fears ... it was like diving in Italian salad dressing. The halocline made it difficult to see my dive buddy swimming down next to me ... and everything looked very brown and stirred up.

Then we hit the bottom ... of the halocline. At about 25 feet it was like swimming out from under a blanket. It was a bit on the dark side ... but the water was easily 50-foot vis. I came down with a serious case of happiness. We spent a good hour exploring the boulders and wall, and came up chilly ... the water at depth was 50 degrees, but it was 46 on the surface due to all the fresh-water runoff. The upside was that after sitting on the surface for 10 minutes (shivering) waiting for Kal to collect all the divers, we didn't really need to rinse our gear.

The next morning dawned dreary, blustery, and cold. A fresh dusting of snow blanketed the hillsides down to about maybe a hundred feet or so above the water. After a hearty breakfast of Ann's pancakes, we headed off. Today we got the full monty ... a wall, a wreck, and a drift dive.

I've always enjoyed diving Stagg Wall ... but this dive was exceptional. Below the halocline, the water was crystalline as we descended down to our planned depth of 100 feet. Cloud sponges started appearing at around 80 feet, but they were downright anemic compared to the ones that beckoned just a bit deeper, glistening pale and pearly as I shined my light down the wall. OK, so perhaps a short jaunt a bit further down won't hurt. I signaled Cheng, pointed to the ghostly silhouette of a large sponge about 10 feet down the wall, and signaled that I wanted a picture. She signaled back OK, but chose to remain on watch where she was. Easing down the wall I found a fur crab nestled inside the sponge. I looked at my depth guage ... 113. Sweeping my beam below me, I spotted a large fur crab sitting on top of another sponge. OK ... pushing my better judgment a bit further than normal I looked at Cheng, signaled that I was going down to the next sponge, and went. Hurriedly snapping the shot, I eased back up to where she waited. Only then did I dare to look at my gauge ... 128 fsw. So much for the dive plan ... and on EAN32 I was pushing the PPO2 levels just a bit. We did a slow ascent up the wall ... finding an assortment of crabs, nudibranchs, and other cool stuff to take pictures of along the way. I found a couple of vases full of caviar at one point ... and a spindly looking crab with legs that just seemed way too long at another. Finally we ascended back into the Italian dressing, and spent a good 10 minutes "decompressing" in the green zone between 20 and 10 feet. Upon reaching the surface, we were not surprised to learn we were the last ones to be back on the boat.

Our next dive was the Chaudierre. This time, Cheng was diving with Valerie ... I was tripling up with Doug Steding and Jason Cunningham. But it turned out to be one of "those" dives. We descended down the stern line ... the shallowest entry, as the upper surface of the ship is only at a depth of 55 feet. As soon as we got down, Doug got my attention and signaled that he was out of argon. I gave him a shot of air from my inflator hose, but he signaled that he wanted to ascend back up the line ... and that Jason and I were to continue our dive. We watched him ascend, and when he stopped for his safety stop, we turned to continue our dive. As we dropped over the side of the ship, I went to check my depth only to realize that my gauges were not on my wrists ... they were still clipped off to my left shoulder D-ring. Since I couldn't see to release them, I signaled Jason and asked him to unclip the wrist strap on the dive computer. As he was doing so, I inadvertently managed to hit him in the eyes with my HID beam ... and in the process my compass slipped away and made an uncontrolled ascent to the surface. OK ... strike two. Not wanting to wait to see what was going to happen next, I decided that this dive wasn't meant to be, and gave Jason the thumb. We headed back to the line and made a slow, 5 minute ascent to the surface. The whole way up, all I could think about was that I hope someone on the boat saw my compass. It turned out that it came up so close that Kal had just tossed a bleach bottle in the water next to it. Once we were on the boat, he unhooked, drove over to where the bleach bottle was, and retrieved both the bottle and my compass. So the dive was a loss, but if I had to miss one ... this was the one to miss. I've done the Chaudierre several times already anyway.

Third dive was Tzoonie Narrows. This has always been a favorite of mine ... but today wasn't anything real special. Well ... except for Calvin's big egg yolk jelly, which I'm sorry to say I didn't see. Once again Doug was diving with Cheng and I ... and vis wasn't the greatest. At one point, I looked up after taking a picture and realized that somehow I had managed to lose Cheng. doug was right there, and we were drifting along slowly in the current. I could see a bunch of lights behind us, and signalled Doug to stop and wait for a minute to see if Cheng was among them. One team drifted by, then another ... but not Cheng. So I signaled Doug to head up. This just was not my day. We had only managed to ascend from about 40 feet to about 30 when Cheng came swimming up to us. Apparently she had noticed the big jelly, but Doug and I hadn't ... so she stopped with about a half-dozen other divers. We drifted just far enough ahead that we could not identify which light was hers ... but since the two of us were a bit away from the "crowd", she knew where we were the whole time. At any rate, we continued the dive.

After the dive, it was a long two-hour ride back to Porpoise Bay. Ann welcomed us with one of her famous roast beef dinners ... accompanied by liberal doses of picture sharing, story telling, and Kokanee. Before we knew, it was 10 PM and I was turning into a pumpkin. Time to crash and do it all again tomorrow.

(to be continued)

Grateful Diver · Post by **Grateful Diver** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 7:48 pm

Maverick wrote:cool photo, what kind if strobe do you have?

I wasn't using a strobe ... just the internal flash on the camera ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Grateful Diver · Post by **Grateful Diver** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 8:01 pm

Trip report Part II

Sunday we woke up to ... surprise ... more rain. We wanted an earlier start so that we had a shot at the 2:30 PM ferry out of Langdale ... so Ann had her eggs benedict breakfast ready for us at 7:30 AM. After breakfast, we kind've rushed out, got our stuff on the boats and headed out.

We had planned to do Carlson's Point ... but since I had mentioned to Kal that I wouldn't mind doing a site I hadn't done before he asked if we'd be interested in a pinnacle called Four Mile Shoal. YES! The shoal is a shallow shelf that comes up to a depth of about 20 feet ... and covers a fairly large area of perhaps a hundred yards in any direction. On one side it hits sand at about 45 feet ... and on the other it falls off into the abyss. This place was spectacular. The upper part of the shoal is completely covered in brittle stars. At times it looked like the ground was moving, there were so many of them. The sand in the shallow end of the shoal is covered with tube-dwelling anemones ... the preferred food for dendronotis iris nudibranchs ... and I think every team got to see at least one or more of those lovely creatures. Cheng and I found one that was creeping up on a meal, and after taking my pictures, I left Cheng on watch ... she was rewarded after a few minutes with the lightning strike that these lovely slugs are known for when in pursuit of their meal. We also found wolf eels, golden dironas, flabellinas, and a bunch of other critters that were known and unknown to me. This was a very memorable dive, and I didn't want to end it (but I had to).

Our final dive ... as is usual on Porpoise Bay week-ends ... was Sakinaw Rock (aka The Pinnacles). Because this is a shallow dive, the halocline and inclimate weather had pretty much blown out the vis ... Cheng and I never went below 40 feet on this one. But we still managed to spot three wolfies, two octopus, and a bunch of dendronotis rufus nudibranchs. After 45 minutes though, we just looked at each other and simultaneously hoisted our thumbs ... we were sated and ready to go home. We surfaced to a driving rain storm which completely rinsed our gear before we could manage to get out of it.

Arriving back at Porpoise Bay at around 1:15, we had about an hour to pack and make it to the ferry terminal. It was a rather hasty retreat ... but we all made it.

This was my third trip to Porpoise Bay this year ... and I think it was the best of them. Kal and Ann always provide more than my money's worth when I go up there.

One thing to note ... while we were there, Kal sold the place. He and Ann will be continuing operations through 2007, while they develop a new place further north in Egmont. My response to the news ... "Cool! New dive sites to explore!" I have never been up there when the conditions were right for Agamemnon Wall ... and the new place will put us much closer to that site.

.... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Pinkpadigal · Post by **Pinkpadigal** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 9:44 pm

Wow...I didn't realize that they were planning on selling. Are the moving the business, starting a new one and will the new owner continue to run it as a dive charter? I should stop asking...I am heading up to see them this weekend. I can get the answers from the man himself.

This is my 5th year heading north, always the same weekend every year. I don't think anyone can say anything negative about diving with Kal and Ann. They are awesome and they run a first-class operation.

Tom Nic · Post by **Tom Nic** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 9:25 am

Marvelous report and photos Bob! I look forward to hearing more.

Thanks for sharing the details of your dives, especially the ones that don't go exactly as planned. The example is helpful to all of us, and is one more step in mentally going through how to deal with situations that always arise in dives where things aren't happening exactly as you thought!

Zen Diver · Post by **Zen Diver** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 10:33 am

And here's where my photos are...

-Valerie

http://jellyfish.smugmug.com/gallery/2130099

Tom Nic · Post by **Tom Nic** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 11:23 am

Delightful pics Val! Love looking at them...

Need to get out some of my ID books... ooppss, don't have them! ](*,) Hey, Christmas is coming, right!?!?!

Time to send out mass emails to relatives dropping hints!!

Val, tell me about the salmon pic. It seems that salmon sightings are about as rare as any other fish for NW divers. My guess is that they are fast, and normally not in the water column that divers frequent. Yours is one of the only diving salmon pics I've seen, and it looks like a river spawner.

Sounder told about diving (I think it was 3 Tree N), looking UP at a school of baitfish, and seeing salmon swooping in and out of the bait ball. VERY cool, and not a common sight from what I can tell. I know that I need to discipline myself to stop and look UP from time to time as I'm diving. Who knows how much passes right above us that we never see? My buddy has told me of many things that were right behind or above me that I never saw...

Thanks for posting, we love it!

-Tom

Sounder · Post by **Sounder** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 11:39 am

We did see several chum salmon darting in and out of the bait ball. Last weekend, we witnessed it again on the Golden Gardens v-barge. Cool stuff.

thelawgoddess · Post by **thelawgoddess** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 12:31 pm

Zen Diver 2 wrote:And here's where my photos are...

-Valerie

http://jellyfish.smugmug.com/gallery/2130099

wow; you guys take such great pictures! i guess those skills (taking the photos themselves and finding the cool things to photograph) will come in time. i take a ton and only get a few that i really, really like. i haven't uploaded all of mine, but i uploaded some of them to FLICKR ...

Zen Diver · Post by **Zen Diver** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 12:45 pm

Tom Nic wrote:Delightful pics Val! Love looking at them...

Val, tell me about the salmon pic. It seems that salmon sightings are about as rare as any other fish for NW divers. My guess is that they are fast, and normally not in the water column that divers frequent. Yours is one of the only diving salmon pics I've seen, and it looks like a river spawner.

-Tom

It was sheer luck really. I'd just seen another (dead) salmon being devoured by several leather stars and had snapped several pics. A few kicks away I looked to my right and there, sitting on the bottom, was the chum. I couldn't believe my eyes. I swam slowly over, kept the camera on it and tried to pre-focus. I slowly settled down right beside it, still it wasn't moving. I snapped one pic and while I was trying to get the second it took off and disappeared. I was about 2-3 feet from it, the closest I've ever been to a salmon while diving; certainly I've never been close enough to even ID them before. It was a highlight of the trip for me.

-Valerie

Tangfish · Post by **Tangfish** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 12:53 pm

Here are my photos:

Slideshow or Index

also, here's a video of all those brittle stars:

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Thanks Bob, for putting together this trip. A great time was obviously had by all and Kal and Ann were terrific hosts.