Photos from a Florida Warm Water Wimp in British Columbia -- God's Pocket, Sept. 2010

[Dr. Doug Ebersole]

I just returned last week from a fantastic trip to God’s Pocket (God's Pocket Diving Resort - Vancouver Island - Experience Cold Water Diving in British Columbia, Canada) Vancouver Island, British Columbia. As a Florida diver without a great deal of cold water diving experience I was a little concerned about the 46-48 degree water, but the beauty both underwater and topside more than compensated for it. Here are some photos:

Giant Octopus

Nudibranchs were everywhere

Gotta love the wolf eels

Beautiful Anemones

Lots of starfish

Some Topside:
Bald Eagle

Thanks to Bill and Annie, owners of God’s Pocket, for a fabulous week.

And the rest of the photos can be found here: debersole.com

Doug

 

[cooldives]

Great pictures - thanks for posting.

 

[jgoodstein]

did you go drysuit or super thick wetsuit? As a florida native.. not sure my body could handle those temps.

 

[TSandM]

Doug, glad you had a wonderful time! There are few places I have been that offer more fantastic opportunities for a photographer than Port Hardy. Although we had pretty awful weather during our trip in March, I still think it was one of the best trips we've ever done (so does Peter) and we want to go back.

 

[Dr. Doug Ebersole]

I was diving dry. As a "warm water wimp" myself, I was wearing long underwear and thick Fourth Element undergarments. That kept me toasty. The only problem was my 5mm wet gloves -- my hands were freezing by about 45 minutes. Next time I'm wearing dry gloves!

Lynne -- I agree. The multitude of colors and the sheer density of life in British Columbia was mind-boggling!

 

[joystershell]

What beautiful images. Thanks for sharing.

 

[rcoreytaylor]

Awesome! I'll be diving a bit further south in a week. We'll be diving the wreck of the HMCS Saskatchewan near Nanaimo.

Cheers!

 

[Larry C]

Nice, Doug. I like the CFWA pile of Ochre stars and Metridium anemones. Welcome to the chilly coast.

 

[Dr. Doug Ebersole]

Yeah, I just jumped right over you, Larry, and went on to BC. Actually several people from the trip dive the Monterey area quite a bit.

One of these days, I'll make it to your neck of the woods now that I'm no longer a cold water virgin!