Port Hardey British Columbia North America's best

[Hullsner]

I recently went to Port Hardey on a dive vacation. My father and I stayed on an all inclusive Island (Malie Island Dive Resort) This place is as close as you can get to Alaska without actually going there. Emmediatly after getting on the boat to go to the Island we took our first dive. Browning Wall one of the most famous dive sites in the North West. The wall was jam-packed with diverse organisms so many that it was hard to tell one sponge from another. After the dive we proceeded to go to the Resort to relax have some dinner prepared by Cecilia (a wonderful cook). After dinner it was time for another dive. That night I was exhausted but the next morniing we decided to wake up at 5:00 a.m. to go Halibut fishing before the first dive. not even 1/2 mile away from the resort my I caught a 58 pound halibut. It was huge. The rest of the week we continued to dive and it was awsome. The cold water required dry-suites. With the cold and the extreme situations we were exhausted by the last day.

More or less all I have to say is if you want an awsome dive experience go to Port Hardey.

 

[Manfred]

acording to most diving magazines you have discovered the best diving on the west coast.

I have been to the Port Hardy area a few times and it is now an annual trip.

Try some of the liveaboards in the area, you'll get fantastic diving and the roal treatment from the crew every time.

 

[etype]

I go up there often as i have best friends who live on Malcolm island just off Port Hardy. Your right the diving is awesome. I'm still waiting to meet a killer whale at 20 meters. There are literally hundreds, maybe thousands of them schooling to meet the sockeye salmon as they come in to spawn in Aug/Sept. Next time you go up there check out Beaver Creek (about 45 klm south) where they charter whalewatching tours. There are so many killer whales in Johnston strait it's like seeing the Buffalo on the plains....except killers are supremely classy and mannered animals.

 

[David Evans]

Actually, there are only about 200 or so resident orcas left in the Pacific Northwest.... and our government recently failed to recognize them as a unique species, thereby denying them protection under the Endangered Species act.

Their numbers are declining at a frightening rate, and scientists believe they will be gone from our waters within our lifetime.

There are two types of orcas that cruise around up here... the residents, which feed on salmon, and the transients, which feed primarily on seals.

The residents are extremely endangered, and very rare. I had the good fortune of snorkeling with a pod of 22 of them off of Quadra Island in BC last year - they are the most amazing animals I have ever seen.

I don't mean to bust your chops, but I find your analogy to buffalo both incredibly sad and frighteningly inaccurate.

Seeing an orca now is indeed about as common as seeing a wild buffalo: it is exceedingly rare.

 

[etype]

hmm...dave, i live here and my description of traffic jam quantities of whales is correct...it may be rare for you, but for myself it is not uncommon...and i was speaking of my experience in Johnston strait and Port Hardy...i was not speaking of Dave's experience. So no,...The residents here are not extremely endanagered or rare as you state...they are seen all the time, in some areas they have become too intimate, such is the case in Bella Bella and GoldRiver...it just appears that way to you because you travel here, experience them, and then go home. Dave they are still here even if you go home.

i'm sorry you don't like the buffalo anology...i understand the horrible associations with it...let me put it this way...your in Johnston strait in late aug - mid sept...it is maybe 2 klm wide....to your left 4 to 20 pods of 10 to 30 each, to your right the same, in front and behind...literally everywhere....it's like a schoolyard...indiviual youths are running back and forth...many are having sex in the shallows...in amongst this are numerous fishing boats, whale watching boats and etc. And the whales know they are being enjoyed..one of the most amazing things is how they will never ignore you unless you are outside of their protocol or customs regarding meeting people.

There are 200 'local' residents, aprox.90 southern residents that arrive here in late summer, and up to 200 offshore orcas that traverse Hectate strait....your lament for the 200 residents is probably apt...except the problem doesn't exist here, it exists in southern waters...orcas are protected in Canada, the same as the areas the congregate. The biggest threat to Orcas here is pollution and genetic damage...barring that...a situation exists where the population could increase into the thousands of PNW residents.

 

[Seasquatch]

you show em etype