Where was everyone yesterday?

[Daryl Morse]

My buddy and I met at the shop yesterday morning to pick up equipment and get the tanks filled. We heard the vis at the local sites (especially Porteau Cove), was bad, but we decided to give it a shot anyway.

We went to Whytecliff with plans to dive The Cut. I don't remember ever seeing fewer divers on a Saturday morning. The vis was pretty bad, but we used lights so we had no problem staying in contact. Once we got down to around 50-60 fsw, it started clearing up as we went deeper to a max of around 100 fsw. Due to the vis in shallower depths, it was really dark! With lights off, we could see the luminescence of the sea pens. Because of the darkness, we focussed on things up-close which added a different dimension to the dives.

Anyway, in spite of the conditions it was a great experience. I added two more night dives to my log! Too bad so many of you missed out.

 

[scubandrea]

I was there!
I was with an Open Water course this weekend. Whytecliff yesterday, and Porteau today. Whytecliff was unbelievably bad!!! I'm glad to hear it cleared up at depth, but it certainly didn't in the bay!! Was it worth going out? I was thinking with 8" vis, I might take next weekend off!
Porteau today was much better. We must have had at least a foot of vis. Went for a tour and two in our group were bitten by lingcod!!! A couple of times we found ourselves on top of them before we or the fish knew we were face to face. When one lingcod saw me he looked as surprised as I did. Couldn't see the midsection of the Grant Hall from the bow, or much else for that matter.
Any day diving is a good day diving...but man the vis was bad!

 

[SeanQ]

I've heard of the algae getting so thick in the Saanich Inlet that it blocks out all the light and dies, creating spectacular vis conditions in the middle of summer. I wonder if that will happen this year if the vis is really bad already. I haven't been in the inlet this year but I will have to go check it out.

Andrea: How did your students react to the lingcod attacks?

 

[scubandrea]

Andrea: How did your students react to the lingcod attacks?

Well the instructor has a new hole in her dry glove, and a student has a bit of swelling near his ankle. Apparently the lingcod just kept coming back for more. I would really like to emphasize that they weren't out trying to antagonize the poor (but vicious!) fish. It's just that neither the fish nor the divers knew the other was there until they were within inches! I would say to sum up the fun, a whole bunch of extra air was consumed!!! I guess they were excited to see some of these big fish, but luckily we did see them because there wasn't much else to see!!!

 

[Hyper-limits]

I've heard of the algae getting so thick in the Saanich Inlet that it blocks out all the light and dies, creating spectacular vis conditions in the middle of summer. I wonder if that will happen this year if the vis is really bad already. I haven't been in the inlet this year but I will have to go check it out.

I've done 4 dives in the inlet so far this year and it's been pretty good. 2 at Willis and 2 at Henderson. Last week the viz was about 30-40 feet, nothing to complain about.
Hopefully this summer will be better than last year.

 

[Daryl Morse]

I was there!
I was with an Open Water course this weekend. Whytecliff yesterday, and Porteau today. Whytecliff was unbelievably bad!!! I'm glad to hear it cleared up at depth, but it certainly didn't in the bay!! Was it worth going out? I was thinking with 8" vis, I might take next weekend off!
Porteau today was much better. We must have had at least a foot of vis. Went for a tour and two in our group were bitten by lingcod!!! A couple of times we found ourselves on top of them before we or the fish knew we were face to face. When one lingcod saw me he looked as surprised as I did. Couldn't see the midsection of the Grant Hall from the bow, or much else for that matter.
Any day diving is a good day diving...but man the vis was bad!

We didn't even look at the bay so I can't compare the two. The Cut was pretty bad, but cleared up well enough at depth. Had it not been okay below 60 fsw, we probably wouldn't have done a second dive. As it was, I thought it was kinda cool doing a night dive during the day. I'm waiting for my buddy to give me a link to the photos he took. If they turned out, there will be some good ones. A ling cod guarding an egg mass (it didn't bite us), a crab with another crab in its claws, a sponge with a fish inside, etc. Definitely worth going out, at least in my books.

Sorry to hear about your encounters with the ling cod. I guess in bad vis, you come across each other without much warning. Hope your student wasn't put off by the experience. I must admit, for student dives, the vis must have made things pretty difficult.

 

[scubandrea]

Sorry to hear about your encounters with the ling cod. I guess in bad vis, you come across each other without much warning. Hope your student wasn't put off by the experience. I must admit, for student dives, the vis must have made things pretty difficult.

Glad you enjoyed your diving. I'll have to see if I'm taking next weekend off diving in light of (or in dark of) the current vis.

I think the students all found the lingcod exciting. Also, isn't the "worst vis you've ever seen" standard for OW certification dives? All things considered, it went very well.

 

[nessum]

I was out with an OW class at whytecliff Saturday & Porteau on Sunday.
The viz Whytecliff was definitely worse.
Andrea, one of my students was pretty fearful of fish & got pretty spooked when she heard another class had been attacked by killer lingcod. Fortunately we didn't encounter any on our tours.
I talked to a diver that went out to the Nakaya & he claimed the viz didn't really open up out there until about 90ft and he couldn't find the toilet of the bow because of the viz so I guess it didn't clear up much.

I promised the students that the viz is usually much better and they're all still quite keen on this whole diving thing. It didn't put them off, which is the important thing.

 

[SeanQ]

Hopefully this summer will be better than last year.

Also, isn't the "worst vis you've ever seen" standard for OW certification dives?

My first dive was in the inlet during the middle of summer. I felt like I was diving in soup. Very cold, very salty and very nasty soup. Those were the days...

 

[gchapman]

My buddy and I met at the shop yesterday morning to pick up equipment and get the tanks filled. We heard the vis at the local sites (especially Porteau Cove), was bad, but we decided to give it a shot anyway.

Bah... after getting all these new dive toys, I'm now sick in bed.