Previous 25| Dive # 300 | Date: August 7, 1998. | Location: Ansell Point |
| Purpose: night | Access: shore | Weather: clear |
| Water Temp: 51 F | Visibility: 30' | PSI Used: 2000 psi air |
| Max depth: 90 feet | Time: 52 minutes | Total Hours: 162:14 |
| Comments: Wolf-eel didn't want to visit. Lots of seapens, glowing green in the night. A feather star, swimming upwards, arms moving in pairs. Lings and greenlings, moving slowly and warily. A baby sailfin, in a crevice. Karli found a dive machete (aka an overly large knife). | ||
| Dive # 299 | Date: August 4, 1998. | Location: Bedwell Bay |
| Purpose: wreck | Access: shore | Weather: sunny |
| Water Temp: 55 F | Visibility: 5' | PSI Used: 1000 psi air |
| Max depth: 53 feet | Time: 32 minutes | Total Hours: 161:22 |
| Comments: Wreck is supposed to be difficult to find, but we took our 330 compass bearing and headed out. Caught a glimpse of something and turned in the murky water, and found the wreck shortly after. An interesting dive - the VT-100 caught fire and sank, and the hull is twisted and damaged. A fair amount of life, however - all kinds of nudibranchs and rockfish, and beautiful schools of perch. Some anemones, too. But the vis was *less than desirable* - not worth a second dive. | ||
| Dive # 298 | Date: August 2, 1998. | Location: Whytecliff Cut |
| Purpose: | Access: shore | Weather: sunny |
| Water Temp: 53 F | Visibility: 30' | PSI Used: 1100 psi air |
| Max depth: 79 feet | Time: 32 minutes | Total Hours: 160:50 |
| Comments: Did the Daymarker, hoping to play with the seals who had visited on the first dive! But no luck underwater. Some rockfish and perch, and a couple of lings. A field of white plumose anemone, looking rather like whipped cream when viewed from below. Pretty! | ||
| Dive # 297 | Date: August 2, 1998. | Location: Whytecliff Cut |
| Purpose: scuba review | Access: shore | Weather: perfect |
| Water Temp: 53 F | Visibility: 30' | PSI Used: 1000 psi air |
| Max depth: 64 feet | Time: 28 minutes | Total Hours: 160:18 |
| Comments: Encountered a pretty strong current part way along, so we turned back fairly quick and headed in the opposite direction. Nearly laughed myself to death watching a couple of kelp greenlings chasing after the thousands of shrimp that were decorating the rocks. A warbonnet in a crack, yellowtail, black, copper, and quillback rockfish too. And seals on the surface. | ||
| Dive # 296 | Date: July 29, 1998. | Location: Whytecliff Cut |
| Purpose: night | Access: shore | Weather: clear |
| Water Temp: 53 F | Visibility: 30' | PSI Used: 1600 psi air |
| Max depth: 99 feet | Time: 50 minutes | Total Hours: 159:50 |
| Comments: | ||
| Dive # 295 | Date: July 25, 1998. | Location: Heffley Lake |
| Purpose: altitude | Access: shore | Weather: hot |
| Water Temp: 73 F | Visibility: 50' | PSI Used: 400 psi air |
| Max depth: 20 feet | Time: 20 minutes | Total Hours: 159:00 |
| Comments: First and probably last lake dive - not much to see there. Did find an earring and my uncle's glasses, though. although they were crusted in green junk and slime! Snails, that's about it. And a MAJOR thermocline just at 17 feet. Was diving in a shorty wetsuit, and was plenty warm enough until I went below - and my head and hands nearly froze straight off! So stayed above the cold water. Altitude 3300 feet. Nice vis. | ||
| Dive # 294 | Date: July 19, 1998. | Location: Kelvin Grove |
| Purpose: | Access: shore | Weather: clearing |
| Water Temp: 53 F | Visibility: 30' | PSI Used: 1100 psi air |
| Max depth: 65 feet | Time: 35 minutes | Total Hours: 158:40 |
| Comments: Couple of kelp greenlings, a painted greenling, and a grunt sculpin (always my favorite) in a sponge with just his pointy nose poking out. Lots of flounders and seastars, some anemones, and shrimp hopping everywhere. The odd baby scallop too! The octopus again, but further back in his den, guess he'd had enough of divers saying hello to him. Lots of little sculpins as we started back up the sandy slope. A butterfly crab, a decorator crab, and the usual dungeness. | ||
| Dive # 293 | Date: July 19, 1998. | Location: Kelvin Grove |
| Purpose: | Access: shore | Weather: overcast |
| Water Temp: 53 F | Visibility: 30' | PSI Used: 800 psi air |
| Max depth: 84 feet | Time: 30 minutes | Total Hours: 158:05 |
| Comments: Lings - the big one in the crack with the brotulas, and lots of smaller ones as well. Kelp greenlings, rockfish, small sculpins everywhere. Feather stars, brittle stars, anemones, and two octopus, both hiding in the back of their dens. | ||
| Dive # 292 | Date: July 18, 1998. | Location: Kelvin Grove |
| Purpose: night | Access: shore | Weather: shore |
| Water Temp: 50 F | Visibility: 30' | PSI Used: 1800 psi air |
| Max depth: 123 feet | Time: 46 minutes | Total Hours: 157:35 |
| Comments: Three octopus on one dive! Wow! Never seen that many on the north wall before! A massive ling in a crack at 80 feet, the huge octopus in his den at 120' (very messy housekeeper, I might add!). Lots of sponges, sculpins, and rockfish. Vis was beautiful - clear green water everywhere. Another octopus under a rock at 60', with a baby sailfin sculpin in the front of his den!. A red jellyfish, tentacles streaming everywhere. And yet a third octopus, crawling out of his den at 50'. | ||
| Dive # 291 | Date: July 18, 1998. | Location: Porteau Cove |
| Purpose: OW #4 | Access: shore | Weather: sunny |
| Water Temp: 51 F | Visibility: 25' | PSI Used: 900 psi Nitrox 32 |
| Max depth: 50 feet | Time: 31 minutes | Total Hours: 156:49 |
| Comments: OW #4. Did the tour of the wrecks. Lots of lings, couple of jellyfish, and schools of perch - very cool, swimming through the middle of them. Lots of white plumose anemones, couple of vacated octopus dens, and pricklebacks dashing through the sand. Rockfish everywhere, greenlings swimming after them. | ||
| Dive # 290 | Date: July 18, 1998. | Location: Porteau Cove |
| Purpose: OW #3 | Access: shore | Weather: clearing |
| Water Temp: 51 F | Visibility: 25' | PSI Used: 900 psi Nitrox 32 |
| Max depth: 55 feet | Time: 29 minutes | Total Hours: 156:18 |
| Comments: OW #3. Swam out to the float, descended down. Followed the jungle gym out to the Granthall, where we met a couple of smaller lings hanging out *suntanning*. A big school of perch - swimming in the midst of them was like swimming in an aquarium, absolutely breathtaking with the sun streaming through the clear green water. Lots of rockfish too, peeking out of cracks and crevices. | ||
| Dive # 289 | Date: July 17, 1998. | Location: Whytecliff Park |
| Purpose: OW #2 | Access: shore | Weather: perfect |
| Water Temp: 55 F | Visibility: 30' | PSI Used: 400 psi air |
| Max depth: 35 feet | Time: 30 minutes | Total Hours: 155:49 |
| Comments: OW #2. Pretty dive - nice to be able to SEE in the bay for change! Sea cucumber, but none of the girls wanted to touch it until I pulled off my glove and showed them it was okay. Seastars, couple of greenlings, a painted greenling, and a wall of rockfish, coppers and quillbacks. And lots of crabs and flounders, scurrying off across the sand. | ||
| Dive # 288 | Date: July 17, 1998. | Location: Whytecliff Park |
| Purpose: OW #1 | Access: shore | Weather: sunny |
| Water Temp: 55 F | Visibility: 30' | PSI Used: 800 psi air |
| Max depth: 26 feet | Time: 28 minutes | Total Hours: 155:19 |
| Comments: OW #1. Park was busy - but not with divers for a change! We were the only ones in dive gear there - and what a difference! Good visibility while we did skills, better vis as we went for a tour. Lots of seastars and all kinds of fish. | ||
| Dive # 287 | Date: July 12, 1998. | Location: North Bowyer |
| Purpose: REEF survey | Access: boat | Weather: overcast |
| Water Temp: 53 F | Visibility: 30' | PSI Used: 2200 psi Nitrox 28 |
| Max depth: 87 feet | Time: 59 minutes | Total Hours: 154:51 |
| Comments: A gorgeous dive - with the exception of the hole in my drysuit which kept me QUITE damp! Lots of quillback and copper rockfish, as well as ronquils and gobies. A decorated warbonnet in a sponge. Smaller lings, lying on the rocks. A big crab hiding, a red jellyfish either eating or being eaten by a plumose anemone. Fields of fluffy white anemones dotted with the occasional orange one - spectacular! Found a lead fishing weight, and then picked up what looked like a tennis ball to me, and turned out to be a lead "cannonball" weight. | ||
| Dive # 286 | Date: July 11, 1998. | Location: Ansell Point |
| Purpose: | Access: shore | Weather: overcast, windy |
| Water Temp: 53 F | Visibility: 20' | PSI Used: 1700 psi air |
| Max depth: 81 feet | Time: 48 minutes | Total Hours: 153:52 |
| Comments: Went looking for a couple of urchins to feed the eel (bad, I know, so slap me). Found a few bigger ones, and he was out like a shot to take them. Pulled my glove off so I could touch him - he feels like silk. A zillion lings again - I must have seen at least five in a 6-foot radius square. But they are everywhere.... and all the fishermen are further offshore.. LOL Lots of crabs, plumose anemones, rockfish, gobies, the piggy kelp greenlings, trying to share the wolf-eel's urchins. ROnquils and teeny-tiny sea stars. A school of baby tubesnouts andanother tiny fish that reminded me of baby rockfish as I did my safety stop. | ||
| Dive # 285 | Date: July 11, 1998. | Location: Ansell Point |
| Purpose: | Access: shore | Weather: overcast, windy |
| Water Temp: 53 F | Visibility: 20' | PSI Used: 1600 psi Nitrox 26 |
| Max depth: 82 feet | Time: 37 minutes | Total Hours: 153:04 |
| Comments: Wolf-eel was in his den at 50' - yay! He was upside down and staring at us - took me a minute to figure out WHY he looked so funny! But once he realized we were staying, he righted himself and came out to say hello. A kelp greenling was nearby too, hoping for handouts. Lots of lingcod today, everywhere you looked there was another one. Copper, quillback, and a single tiger rockfish too. And the mated pair of eels in their den at 80 feet. The male seems to want to come out and see what divers are up to, but is still very timid, and the female just hides. | ||
| Dive # 284 | Date: July 9, 1998. | Location: Ansell Point |
| Purpose: night | Access: shore | Weather: clear |
| Water Temp: 50 F | Visibility: 30' | PSI Used: 1500 psi air |
| Max depth: 90 feet | Time: 44 minutes | Total Hours: 152:27 |
| Comments: Wolf eel at 60 feet was gone - I really hope he was out hunting and not MIA. Pair at 80 were there, male looked out but wouldn't come out, seemed to want the urchin Carlos offered him but was afraid to take it. Lots of seapens - had fun convincing people to shine their lights away, though! A small octopus on the sand - Sean had him squirting as he hurried under his rock. | ||
| Dive # 283 | Date: July 7, 1998. | Location: Kelvin Grove |
| Purpose: night | Access: shore | Weather: clear |
| Water Temp: 51 F | Visibility: 40' | PSI Used: 900 psi air |
| Max depth: 53 feet | Time: 40 minutes | Total Hours: 151:43 |
| Comments: Lots of sailfin sculpins. An octopus in a crack, covered with a piece of kelp, but the shells scattered everywhere gave him away. A scalyhead sculpin, a sturgeon poacher, a great sculpin, and a big copper rockfish. Quillbacks too, hiding in the crevices. A spotfin sculpin, longfins, and tons of shrimp hopping all over. Swimming back across the sand sent crabs scurrying off in every direction. Plainfin midshipman in the sand and hovering just above the bottom. And perch, darting in for a quick glimpse before the fly away. Flounders too, everywhere. | ||
| Dive # 282 | Date: July 7, 1998. | Location: Kelvin Grove |
| Purpose: night | Access: shore | Weather: clear |
| Water Temp: 50 F | Visibility: 40' | PSI Used: 1400 psi air |
| Max depth: 126 feet | Time: 43 minutes | Total Hours: 151:03 |
| Comments: Lots of fresh water on the surface, and quite warm - almost 70 degrees! But that only lasted for the top 15 feet... below that, crystal clear and cold! Started off swimming down to see the octopus - also saw the brotulas in their crack and a huge ling on the shelf just outside the crack - he slowly swam in when he saw us approaching. A school of small fish overhead too, as we descended. The octopus was unamused by us - or was it the super-bright light someone kept shining in his eyes? :-) A grunt in a sponge, a decorated warbonnet in a crack. The usual assortment of gobies and ronquils too, staring shyly out from under the rocks. A giant swimming nudibranch, which looked absolutely incredible when Becky got it up swimming in the light - the beautiful green water, a single light beam, and the opalescent nudibranch slowly swimming upwards...... Swimming shallower to do our safety stop revealed crabs everywhere, perch, small sculpins, and tubesnouts, and well as flounders and plainfin midshipmans. | ||
| Dive # 281 | Date: July 5, 1998. | Location: Cooper's Green |
| Purpose: OW #4 | Access: shore | Weather: sunny |
| Water Temp: 55 F | Visibility: 40' | PSI Used: 900 psi Nitrox 33 |
| Max depth: 63 feet | Time: 35 minutes | Total Hours: 150:20 |
| Comments: As we descended, there must have been 20 copper rockfish *sunning* themselves on a rock in about 40 feet of water. Kelp greenlings, darting off in every direction. And crabs, scurrying everywhere. Swam along and found the small female wolf-eel, wlthough she was uninterested in us and would not come out of her den for anything. A cabezon cruised slowly past as we started to ascend. Schools of pile perch, swimming just ahead of us. Kelp perch too, shimmering as they swam just overhead. And, of course, all the rockfish. Lots of seastars and small crabs. | ||
| Dive # 280 | Date: July 5, 1998. | Location: Cooper's Green |
| Purpose: OW #3 | Access: shore | Weather: clearing |
| Water Temp: 55 F | Visibility: 40' | PSI Used: 1100 psi Nitrox 33 |
| Max depth: 63 feet | Time: 26 minutes | Total Hours: 149:45 |
| Comments: Wow - amazing vis! Snorkelled out in the bay to finish skills, and could still see the flounders on the bottom 20 feet below us! Flounders were amusing - as Andy did his fin pivot, there must have been at least 7 just sitting in the sand staring at him. Kinda cool. Went over and swam around the island - saw lots of copper rockfish. Couldn't find the wolf eel (thanks to whoever was dragging their fins previously), but all the students did extremely well. | ||
| Dive # 279 | Date: July 4, 1998. | Location: Whytecliff |
| Purpose: OW #2 | Access: shore | Weather: cloudy |
| Water Temp: 55 F | Visibility: 10' | PSI Used: 700 psi Nitrox 30 |
| Max depth: 37 feet | Time: 28 minutes | Total Hours: 149:19 |
| Comments: More skills, broke through the thermocline on the tour at about 30 feet. | ||
| Dive # 278 | Date: July 4, 1998. | Location: Whytecliff |
| Purpose: OW #1 | Access: shore | Weather: cloudy |
| Water Temp: 55 F | Visibility: 5' | PSI Used: 500 psi Nitrox 30 |
| Max depth: 23 feet | Time: 25 minutes | Total Hours: 148:51 |
| Comments: Skills, coupled with a couple other classes stirring up the bottom. | ||
| Dive # 277 | Date: July 1, 1998. | Location: Whytecliff |
| Purpose: | Access: shore | Weather: sunny |
| Water Temp: 53 F | Visibility: 20' | PSI Used: 1200 psi Nitrox 27 |
| Max depth: 67 feet | Time: 33 minutes | Total Hours: 148:26 |
| Comments: Tons of people in the park - apparently *the* way to spend Canada Day! Couldn't get a parking spot up by the Cut, so opted to do the Daymarker from the bay. Little to no vis in the bay, but it cleared around 50 feet at the Daymarker. Saw the two plaques at the end, a HUGE ling, lots of rockfish and greenlings. Plumose anemone fields were gorgeous, although previous divers had apparently brushed over them as they swam through, and most were closed. Lots of divers. | ||
| Dive # 276 | Date: June 30, 1998. | Location: Ansell Point |
| Purpose: | Access: shore | Weather: clear |
| Water Temp: 53 F | Visibility: 30' | PSI Used: 1700 psi air |
| Max depth: 92 feet | Time: 40 minutes | Total Hours: 148:53 |
| Comments: Dropped down looking for all three wolf-eels. Found the one at 50' - he came out, did his usual greeting routine, and swam back into his den. Couldn't find the pair at 80, although we did find some seapens and some smaller lings. Couple of gunnels too, and a sailfin sculpin, Swimming back, said hello to the wolf-eel once again and made kissy-faces at him - ever try to do that underwater?? :-) | ||