Discovery Passage

[Uncle Pug]

Located on the east side of Vancouver Island BC just north of the Straits of Georgia lies Discovery Passage with some of the highest tidal flows in the world and the fastest currents through Seymour Narrows.

Shane and I just returned from three days diving there with www.abyssal.com. Earl and his wife Deb, our hosts, were both chiefs in a previous life so the food was as fantastic as the diving.

Since all dives (other than the wreck Columbia) must be done at slack water the 6 hour surface intervals are spent back at the lodge... eating, hot tubbing and snoozing

Many of the dives involve walls resplendent with life and punctuated with ledges, crevices and undercuts while other dives are over boulder fields covered with urchins and lavender algae.

Shane and I want to go back. Now if we can get a few Scuba Boarders to join us that would just be peachy!

 

[MechDiver]

Know what you mean. I have dove Skoocumchuck (sp) with Bryce Christie and it is the same. Extraordinary dive! I think BC has the best coldwater diving anywhere.

When you going back?

Phil

 

[Uncle Pug]

MechDiver once bubbled...
When you going back?

Perhaps a three or four day mid-week trip the first week in February and then a weekend trip sometime later in spring.

Shane and I were over at Sechelt last February with a group from Scuba Board but we didn't get up to the Skoocumchuck... bummer since it was an excellent window of opportunity right then too.

We want to do Agememnon Channel sometime as well.

 

[DiverBuoy]

What did you don for your dives? Considering temperature, depth, environment, conditions etc...

 

[Uncle Pug]

DiverBuoy once bubbled...
Considering temperature, depth, environment, conditions etc...

We were all diving drysuits. Shane and I also use drygloves. Water temp was 48F but the air temp was low 30s at the time.
The way these dives are done a person could do them with a 7mm wetsuit since you come back to the lodge between dives... but... drysuits are really the ticket.

If you have the rigs and the gas you can dive as deep as you want here but most of the profiles are <120'.

We did 6 dives, all using EAN32:

96' for 39 min (Whiskey Point) and 92' for 48 min (Copper Cliffs) on the first day.

111' for 46 min & 104' for 47 min (back to back on the Columbia) and 91' for 31 min (Steep Island wall night dive) on the second day.

104' for 55 min (Row and be Damned) on the third day.

Since most of the dives are drift dives with little swimming required it is easy to get cold! We were pre-purging our dysuits with argon before the dives but still got a bit chilly on a few... especially on the last dive.

 

[MechDiver]

Pug,

Did they have argon available or did you have to take your own?

And I will second you, it's divable in a wetsuit, but there are few things worse than putting on a cold, wet, heavy wetsuit. Yuk!

Phil

 

[Uncle Pug]

They have argon available and will fill argon suit bottles. However we carry a 72 in the back of the truck with argon and just use that to purge our suits before the dive. The little bit of nitrox we add during the dive doesn't take away much.

They also have He on hand but I don't know what the cost is. When we go back we will each take a set of doubles with some 21/35 and a 50% deco bottle.

A wetsuit diver could use warm water back at the lodge before getting into the suit. It is a couple blocks from the boat dock and we leave all of our gear on the boat except for the suits. We wear them up to the lodge and change in the drying room.

 

[scuba_guy]

we put on 2 trips to Quadra every Sept. AWSOME diving!! your more then welcome to join us if ya want to. we use Dynamikes on the island. we also end the weekend with the salmon run snorkling down the Campbell river.. lots of fun, and a good way to rinse off most of your dive gear.