Some new dives since last time.

[MarkH]

Here are the links to 2 places I've never been before until recently:
Albert Head (South side): http://victoriadiving.awardspace.com/albertheadsouth.html
And a popular Nanaimo site, Jesse Island: http://victoriadiving.awardspace.com/jesseisland.html

 

[Skookumchuck]

Nice dives, would it be possible to do the return trip at Jesse Island underwater or does it get to deep? You should try the socializing thing Mark, just keep in mind that the world is full fools and your dealing with the Grand High Poobah.

 

[ryanmacneil8448]

hey swankenstein im coming to victoria in the begining of august and was wondering if u were down for some shore dives?

 

[DiVe_DaWg]

I did Jesse Island as my final checkout dive in feb 06. Entry into dive log went something like this. All good with gear, amazing life and color, will never dive wet again. Brrr it was cold. On our way to Jesse, just out from the dock there is a old tugboat they sank called the rivtow lion.

http://www.oceanexplorersdiving.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=28&Itemid=52

 

[MarkH]

Nice dives, would it be possible to do the return trip at Jesse Island underwater or does it get to deep? You should try the socializing thing Mark, just keep in mind that the world is full fools and your dealing with the Grand High Poobah.

You could do it underwater, but it's over 60 feet deep so it would cut down on your air time at the actual dive. I did swim a bit of it underwater, but it's mostly just silty sand once you get away from the island. On the Vancouver Island side, the bottom is a slope of sand/gravel almost right away. As for the "socializing" thing, that was mostly a joke......mostly. Seriously though, I much prefer shore diving to boat diving. There's more room to get your stuff together on shore, no one stepping on your stuff, the beach doesn't move under you, you can go at your own pace where you want, etc..

 

[MarkH]

hey swankenstein im coming to victoria in the begining of august and was wondering if u were down for some shore dives?

I might be here for the first few days of August, then I'm gone for a month.

 

[ryanmacneil8448]

i'll be in vic august 2nd and 3rd if you are available for diving i'll even pay for the air

 

[TSandM]

Looks like you had some spectacular water clarity and ambient light. I really enjoyed Jesse Island when we did it this winter, especially the topography, so that we did our deco along the wall, and there were tons of things to look at.

I wonder why the ochre stars pile up like that? I haven't seen any other starfish do it, and we saw ochre star piles everywhere when we were up in Canada.

 

[MarkH]

hey swankenstein im coming to victoria in the begining of august and was wondering if u were down for some shore dives?

I might be free of the Man on Friday afternoon, but it's still too early to tell. Contact me closer to that date if you're still for it and I'll read the tea leaves.

 

[MarkH]

Looks like you had some spectacular water clarity and ambient light. I really enjoyed Jesse Island when we did it this winter, especially the topography, so that we did our deco along the wall, and there were tons of things to look at.

I wonder why the ochre stars pile up like that? I haven't seen any other starfish do it, and we saw ochre star piles everywhere when we were up in Canada.

I found that the best part of Jesse was the shallows around the caverns. Visibility was only around 15 feet, but when you're 15 feet deep, that's all you need. I find that ochre stars are very common in lower-salinity areas (like the Strait of Gerorgia). I remember at Whytecliff Park near Vancouver they used to cover the walls in the shallows. They're very rare around Victoria (Strait of Juan de Fuca side), though. You might see one occasionally, but nowhere near the numbers you get further North. When you went to Jesse Island did you do the deeper tip of the island or the end I did by the dock? I'm curious what the deeper areas are like on the other end of the island.