Northwest Dive Club

Cold-Water Gorgonian Corals – Poseidon’s Candelabras

http://www.advanceddivermagazine.com/ar ... onian.html

Article by ADM Chief Staff Writer John Rawlings
Photos by John Rawlings and Calvin Tang
British Columbia, Canada, is blessed with several locations at which divers can reach such coral gardens. The primary species found there is Paragorgia pacifica, often commonly referred to as “Pink Candelabrum Gorgonian”

Fantastic article and pics!

Great article, and gorgeous photos! Cloud sponges, and these gorgonians, were a large part of the reason I went and got a technical cert. I need to prioritize getting up there and SEEING them this summer.

That was an awesome trip. Let's do it again soon. Maybe this Summer, when it'll be nicer out?

WOW, thank you for bringing this article to our attention! Amazing stuff.

Tangfish wrote:That was an awesome trip. Let's do it again soon. Maybe this Summer, when it'll be nicer out?

summer is salmon season up there...

Great stuff -- I may have missed it, but at what depth do these start at?

lundysd wrote:Great stuff -- I may have missed it, but at what depth do these start at?

the small ones started appearing in the 120-130' range, and they grew progressively larger down to 190'.

lundysd wrote:Great stuff -- I may have missed it, but at what depth do these start at?

You actually can start seeing a few isolated smaller specimens at around 90 FSW, if you are at the correct spot! Small, but still incredibly beautiful! Both Tom Nic and Spatman took some great photos of corals on this trip, all above 130 FSW. As you descend they become larger and appear in clusters. By the time you hit the bottom of the wall around 200 FSW there is a virtual forest of them.

There's great diving up there right now, with really good visibility. Summer (June - August) is problematic because, as Matt points out above, it is fishing season, and all of the rooms and rental houses in town are reserved by the fishermen at top prices. For diving Spring and Fall are thus the best times to go....Winter is delightful, too, but the weather then can be unpredictable.

Contact Scott and Jude Schooner for more information....they're great folks and can arrange lodging for individual divers and both small and large groups at really good "off-season" prices: http://www.tahtsadivecharters.com/

- John

spatman wrote:

lundysd wrote:Great stuff -- I may have missed it, but at what depth do these start at?

the small ones started appearing in the 120-130' range, and they grew progressively larger down to 190'.

My max depth was 131. Matt and I dove single 130's and slung AL 40's on the deeper dives. We purposely went deep at Mozino to find the Gorgonians then work our way up the wall. The first dive there was no current. One dive the current was ripping and we "aborted" our efforts at about 120 fsw and just came up the wall rather than spending time in the current looking for the corals. The last dive the current was manageable and we found some.



This one was the largest I found, and you can see it's pretty good sized even though the image isn't the best.



The images I took on my borrowed point and shoot are nowhere the quality of John and Calvin's, but they are more than enough for great memories that I will treasure. The corals are so beautiful, and have been seen by a relatively few people, so to see them with your own peepers is a special treat.

Oh, and speaking of cloud sponges, we saw them on almost every dive, usually starting in the 80 fsw range, along with TONS of delightful coldwater life. The corals are the stars of the show, but by NO MEANS all there is to see. I could dive there the rest of my life, never see a coral, and be happy as a clam!

If you ever get an opportunity to make it up to Nootka you should go for it!

i LOVE the red gorgonians... i wish i had some pictures of my dives on them way back when, but it was these dives that pushed my motor marine 2 past it's happy point back in the day.... Course melting it by accident whilst trying to help it dry out after the fact was not so good either :( coulda sold it at a Dali exhibition

I truly look forward to getting back up and diving them with 'the right equipment'. We did them in Sechelt on air, my buddy heard the wah-wah and thought i was dragging him into tox land so thumbed the dive at the same time my camera flooded... He was so perfectly set up for a nice shot too... what a shame (yes, i remember the dive)

These are gorgeous shots, guys. Really spectacular images with the article.

I've found some really good ones myself up at Sechelt Inlet; small ones started around 100', and by the time you were 150-180' down, they were positively enormous. It's a good reason to learn to suck helium if you want to see the really pretty ones. Or perhaps, they're prettier without helium

-C

My favorite gorgonian was one that was in the shape of a phoenix. I only got one decent shot of it (fourth photo in).

Oooooo yes, that is beaaauuuuutiful!!!!!

though i like the first shot... the eyes closed thing, like he's praying at the alter of the goddess gorgon

spatman wrote:

Tangfish wrote:That was an awesome trip. Let's do it again soon. Maybe this Summer, when it'll be nicer out?

summer is salmon season up there...

Calvin is right, summer weather is better than when they were here but Matt is even righter:-) Once the fishing starts accommodations get very pricey if you can find any and the boat traffic is unreal. The house that these guys stayed in books up pretty quickly in the summer but during the "off" (read "great diving") season it is easy to get hold of and the price is reasonable. Even John liked the place :biggrin: We don't suffer from the monster winds that can plague the outer coast during the winter and spring as we are 20 miles up the inlet and the viz usually doesn't get below 30-40'. Even during the rainy season the viz is good once you get a couple miles down the inlet. Please don't let the perception of us being a long way away keep you from checking out the diving in Nootka Sound as it takes about the same amount of time to get to Tahsis as it does Port Hardy, and the scenery is better!

Scott

ljjames wrote:Oooooo yes, that is beaaauuuuutiful!!!!!

though i like the first shot... the eyes closed thing, like he's praying at the alter of the goddess gorgon

"praying at the alter of the goddess gorgon"????? In terms of Greek mythology, I'm more a follower of Ares, myself!

Seriously, folks....if you can get some time off Spring diving is absolutely WONDERFUL up at Tahsis!

Josh and I will be heading up to Clayoquot Sound next month and will be diving out of the Tofino area. Clayoquot Sound is just south of Nootka Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island, so I wonder if we might find similar "coral gardens" and cloud sponges there as well....

- John

John Rawlings wrote:Josh and I will be heading up to Clayoquot Sound next month and will be diving out of the Tofino area. Clayoquot Sound is just south of Nootka Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island, so I wonder if we might find similar "coral gardens" and cloud sponges there as well....

- John

John, you suck

I have to go to Grand Cayman for 8 days and shoot photos in warm crystal clear water.

Curt Bowen wrote:

John Rawlings wrote:Josh and I will be heading up to Clayoquot Sound next month and will be diving out of the Tofino area. Clayoquot Sound is just south of Nootka Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island, so I wonder if we might find similar "coral gardens" and cloud sponges there as well....

- John

John, you suck

I have to go to Grand Cayman for 8 days and shoot photos in warm crystal clear water.

Phhht. I'd rather head North, to be honest.

Joshua Smith wrote:

Curt Bowen wrote:

John Rawlings wrote:Josh and I will be heading up to Clayoquot Sound next month and will be diving out of the Tofino area. Clayoquot Sound is just south of Nootka Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island, so I wonder if we might find similar "coral gardens" and cloud sponges there as well....

- John

John, you suck

I have to go to Grand Cayman for 8 days and shoot photos in warm crystal clear water.

Phhht. I'd rather head North, to be honest.

i would be conflicted, personally. the living embodiment of the duality of man. or at least of this particular diver.

spatman wrote:i would be conflicted, personally. the living embodiment of the duality of man. or at least of this particular diver.

Wow, dude. That's deep. I thought you said you didn't smoke those funny cigarrettes any more?

Joshua Smith wrote:

spatman wrote:i would be conflicted, personally. the living embodiment of the duality of man. or at least of this particular diver.

Wow, dude. That's deep. I thought you said you didn't smoke those funny cigarrettes any more?

yeah, i don't smoke them anymore. now i bake them into brownies instead.

Curt Bowen wrote:

John Rawlings wrote:Josh and I will be heading up to Clayoquot Sound next month and will be diving out of the Tofino area. Clayoquot Sound is just south of Nootka Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island, so I wonder if we might find similar "coral gardens" and cloud sponges there as well....

- John

John, you suck

I have to go to Grand Cayman for 8 days and shoot photos in warm crystal clear water.

I think that Curt's getting all weepy-eyed on us....

We're scheduled to head back up to Tahsis in October, and I'm looking forward to dropping down to those gorgeous corals once again! I'm also looking into heading up to Sechelt in the Fall to check out the corals that Camerone mentioned above....one can NEVER see too many corals, eh?

- John