Scuba Encounters

I had 3 dives in Mexico during our visit and had several unique and exciting animal encounters to share. The first dive at Land's End was also my first dive since 2011 but any apprehension I might have had quickly evaporated when my guide Julio dug around in the sand and produced tiny sea urchins which puffer fish would swim up and take right from your fingertips. They were very gentle but certainly had tough little teeth in there for crushing and grinding up urchin shells and spines.

It can be pretty difficult to give wildlife the space it deserves while also getting a decent photograph, but I decided to err on the side of caution with this moray eel and accept that my wide-angle lens would have to be pretty generously cropped for any photo to share. Still, this was my first wild eel and I was very excited to see one.

When we did a dive at the La Paz sea lion colony this one individual was very intrigued by bubbles and rings that our guide was blowing while lying almost on the bottom and came down to investigate and be patted. At this exact moment, Kathryn was actually snorkeling in a different spot and spent 20 minutes cuddling a juvenile sea lion, but unfortunately we only had the one underwater camera so that moment can't be shared with the rest of you :(

Darth Vader and an Octopus Swim into a Bar... Stop me if you've heard this one...

Here's a joke. Darth Vader and an Octopus Swim into a Bar... Stop me if you've heard this one...
And that's pretty much the joke because that's what Geordie and I ran into at SEA STAR WARS at the Vancouver Aquarium.  Every once in a while this venue pulls something quite clever from underneath the fat seal. This featured a custom made Scuba Darth Vadar suit complete with  light saber. It was really well done.  Lots of Death sea star puns and goodness.  It was narrated by Princee Leia.   Below Darth Vadar menaces us underwater.

Mr Vadar's spotter was of course a storm trooper. Whose skill in spotting exceeds his marksmenship.  Fantastic costumes all around.  A real crowd pleaser.

And there is Octavius a great big Pacific Gian Octopus (now deceased) using the Force to combat Scuba Darth Vadar.  Seems like a better plot than episode 1.  Octavius got too big for his regular tank so they plopped him into the great big one.  The white on his head is from bumping into the rocks and glass.  Octopussies are really curious and was really keen on Darth Vadar. 

Scuba at Warbonnet

One day during the August long weekend Geordie and I did our first Vancouver Island Scuba Trip.  To be specific, a fairly North Vancouver Island trip.  We got up early in the chilly and foggy August morning to drive to Port McNeill.  We joined 2 snorkelers and our 2 dive buddies at Fun Sun Divers. The skies cleared half way through our 2nd dive.
I'm still a nervous diver but I think that is partly due to so many layers that I get constricted and lose mobility so I end up fighting myself.  Also with all the layers I need more weights than I can comfortably carry to begin with.  Layers are necessary as I get cold easily. The 2nd dive I got rid of some layers keeping just regular clothes and my 200g weight mountain gear and had a much better, more relaxed and longer dive despite the same amount of weight.  I need more dive experience to get the balance right as well as more comfortable being so far down (only 47 feet max depth but still....)

The picture below is at Warbonnet which was a great spot full of basket sea stars, fish and chitons that look like oily rainbows. 

Got Crabs?

 More from our St. Patrick's Day scuba shore clean up as it is the only one we have had with an underwater camera. Crab time. The fellow below is the most edible Dunganess Crab. This guy was large. Certainly eating size. I spotted him having a showdown down with a large prawn or something of that nature. I had to lift off some kelp to get this photo and to point him out to Geordie. I poked him. Then he got shirty about it so we left him be as he was having fun wrapping himself about my hand and trying to take my thumb off.  Yay gloves. There were some people crabbing off the near by dock but not where this prime yummy fellow was hanging out.

 I believe the crab below is a spider crab. Not 100% on the ID though. Arthropod fans feel free to correct. There were lots about and this guy was strangely amenable to having a camera shoved into his face during his mid afternoon stroll. He seemed big to me. His pincers are disturbingly clear of that stuff growing on him.

 A lovely picture of a red rock crab. This pretty one was amongst some rocks and very happy to be admired. The purple colour on his legs is stunning. We gently admired him and let him go back to his siesta. Don't know if these guys are delicious or not. His colours make me think maybe not. It would be hard to eat something so charmingly lavender.

Nudibranch and Friends

 Dive 2 of the Belcarra Park Off Shore Clean-up was an explore dive.  The group must have done a good job as we dove part of the site where a lot of trash came out of and it looked good to us!  We took our crash cam with us. Its good to 35 feet but I think its only good in slight mist. This dive was its death knell despite staying no deeper than 30 feet. Still we got some neat photos and footage of all things aquatic and crabby and squishy. Speaking of squishy I have no idea what the creature below is. A tiny jelly fish maybe. Attached to the delicate bell are two diaphnous streamers. The whole thing was no longer then my finger.

 This lovely creature is a nudibranch. There are over 3000 types in the ocean so I have no idea what kind it is. It is a gorgeous photo though. I love the light looking like its coming from within and tracing its 'spike'(?) tips. Nudibranchs are one of my favorite sea creatures and we have seen a few types so far. This is the only one we have photographed yet. Hopefully we will see lots more and I can get IDing them. In the mean time I am still stunned that such a pretty little creature exists.

 Speaking of glowy things, white plumose anenomes often look illuminated if the sun hits them right. This solitary one was all by him self on a rockpile. Geordie has seen one of the wrecks at Porteau Cove covered with the things. I have not seen that yet. I like anenomes too. Some are really big. This one was maybe about 2/3 of a foot high.

Saint Patrick's Day: Aquatic Hippie Edition

 On St. Patricks Day Geordie and I participated in an off shore clean up at Belcarra Park near Port Moody. Most of the dive parks and sites are pretty clean as divers tend to be good about grabbing stuff that does not belong as they go. We had a really good day for it. Some media even showed up. Geordie and I did not get a huge haul as the bay to the left of the docks there was pretty clean. The majority of trash came from the right side. Wierdest thing that came out was a bong.

 We geared up in dry suits and I had so many layers it was kind of difficult to suit up. Ended up with huge boots and fins and carried 41 pounds of weight for the first dive and 44 for the second! That's what I get for being prone to being cold and having to wear tons of layers. It's fine once you are in the water but hauling it down was less then fun.

 This is some of the junk that was brought up: bottles, snorkle and scuba gear, fishing and crabbing equipment, a large amount of sharp things, nets, balls and odds and ends. One group brought up 24 pounds of stuff and the outing as a whole netted over 95 pounds of garbage! So remember not to throw stuff in the water people!

Winter Drysuit Training

 Ah, the west coast in winter. As a snowboarder, just looking at that mountain of powder makes me say "I really want to see whats 50feet underwater by that yellow buoy!" So this weekend we got our first taste of wintery open water diving with dry suits. The water averaged 5-7 degrees and for added fun we each wore 40lbs of extra weight.

 Though entirely fashionable for day-to-day wear as you can see, the drysuit also has a bonus feature of locking a pocket of air around your body underwater which not only keeps you dry but helps keep you warm as well. Despite this, Kathryn got very chilled after her first dive and skipped the second one because the shivering would not stop, so its time to get a layer or two of thermal underwear for the next dip.

 Below, our instructor Paul emerges from the deep with George. In both dives we saw lingcod, crabs, anenomes, nudibranches (Kathryn loves these), decorator crabs, perch, sea cucumbers, and a plethora of unknown fishes. In the second wreck, there was an amazing tour through an intentionally sunken ship which is forming an artificial reef and covered in white plumous anenomes.

I know the internet is a fan of "pics or it didn't happen" but we don't yet have a camera which can stand going down to 50+ feet. The several atmospheres of extra pressure would crush anything we have. We're likely to get Kathryn a gopro once they have a proper underwater option and I am on the fence about an expensive housing for my DSRL setup since I really like the control it gives. We are quite taken with this sport and will likely have one or the other in place for more dives by the summer at the latest.

Scuba Skills

We have talked about doing Scuba diving for ages and a few months back there was a groupon for a discounted first lesson at a centre near us. We figured if we didn't do it when it was on sale, we'd just talk about it forever but never get around to it, so we seized the chance and signed on. There are 5 evenings of classes split between indoor quizzes and underwater skills with home study inbetween, so we've had a class every 2 weeks or so ever since and last night was our last confined water dive.

 We had started out not being able to tell our BCD from our ABT but after a few classes and doing our homework it has come together pretty nicely. We can setup a proper rig in a few minutes and know all the signals and practices to get started. Our first few times in the water Kathryn was nervous to get her face under and here she is neutrally buoyant and upside-down.

 Not that I was any sort of super-star. It certainly takes awhile to get used to breathing underwater and some of the skills you have to learn like mask removal are not much fun in practice, but will no doubt be lifesavers when we're out in the ocean for real.

We have had a total blast with scuba so far and if anyone else out there is considering it or has been meaning to try it, I would very heartily recommend it. It may be awhile before we have too many pictures as our camera is only designed to be 30 feet deep, but we'll see how quickly we take to it and if we invest in a proper underwater housing of some sort.