Northwest Dive Club

Dove Barkley sound last week 4 days three dives a day.
Visibility ranged in some places to 100 foot, worst case about 50-60 foot. Water was 48-51 degrees down to 89ft, my deepest dive. Life is plentiful and diverse. We saw whales, sealions aplenty even while diving. Also saw a bear eating a seal on the beach of a tiny island. Not sure if it drifted up there and smelled it there. Then swam out to it? Maybe he stalked a sleeping seal and killed it( doubtful) or had it been injured and flopping around before the bear got to it.

We stayed in an off grid home for the week, with the owner taking us out on his dive specific boat. I was not completely prepared for the personality of the owner, his boat was good, the accomadations were fair to good, food was good to great. His knowledge of the best dive places was good. However he was more focused on his travel then our dive sites. The group wished to re-dive a site from earlier in the week, but he took us to a closer location which was a dissapointment to many of the 10 people on the trip.

I can say without question that this is the best dive area I have ever been to in the PNW waters. Visibility is just amazing. In one particular location I was at the deepest place I dove at 89 foot, I began coming up the wall and at 48 feet deep, I could still see the bottom clear enough to see starfish on the bottom without my light. Although the trip had its annoying moments, I would tough it out and do this again anytime!

Sounds great! Pics? I had to look it up...

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Barkl ... 125.274444

You didnt like Peter ? .. He is hilarious

Awesome to hear about the viz. A bunch of us from NWDC went there last spring... We didn't have such luck on the viz and sites. We were pretty stormed in. Still, a cool place.

I think Peter is limited on the sites he can travel to sometimes due to having fill tanks -- he doesn't want to be up all night in the dark filling tanks.. It seems he needs a better fill situation... And of course, he can be limited by conditions, etc.

-Eric

There can be many reasons why he would have chosen a closer site ... usually driven by either schedule or conditions. I've dived up there many times, and learned to trust his judgment when he defers to take us to a preferred site.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

I’ll discuss this off line. I’m not gonna get in a argument or cause bad feelings. There were some interesting events of which ten out of ten of us agreed on the situation.

The ferry ride from Duke point back to tsswassan was a long trip for the group to share opinions on this. All agree we would go again tomorrow! But that is not without a bit of learning curve to go with the interesting personality running the operation!

its always a good thing to get out and experience a new place to dive , the anticipation of a dive trip and wondering what the sites are going to be like..? is why we all dive , the thrill of getting to the resort , unpacking , and eagerness to get in the water as soon as possible ... You want to dive it all and see it all , so you can maximize your time there , and get the Dives that you paid scuba bucks for ... when im on a dive trip I want to see the best sites the resort has to offer and dive the crap outta them ... But what I have learned is that even though I want to dive a certain area, I have to take into factor that the other 8 divers who paid good money also have to agree on a site , and also take into factor All the divers skill levels .. Throw that into the mix of the boat owner , His knowledge of sites , currents , conditions .. the captain calls the shots ... His boat , His Liability for divers and safety , and to make sure everyone is diving being happy ..
I wanted to get out to the exposed stuff when we were up there last year , really Badly , but waves , Swell , and conditions all needed to line up .. it is a bummer when you Pay for a trip and the weather doesn't cooperate and everyone is stuck doing the safe sites ... I went up there for 1 thing and 1 thing only , cause it was guaranteed I was Going to film it and see it .. the tri color Nudi , and it was out in front of the house reef .. I didn't want to do any diving there , other than that House reef to see that Nudi ... And I got it and checked it off my bucket list !!
what am I trying to say here ? glad you went , and got to see the place and make some scuba memories ..

Good post, thanks for adding your thoughts!