Well, my husband and I FINALLY got up to Vancouver to dive, and I have to say, you guys keep your cards close to your chests!
Whytecliff Park is a stunningly beautiful setting, even when the skies are dark and the parking lot is so wet that there are creeks running down the stairs. We were fortunate that there were no waves, so the only threat the logs posed was the maze you had to thread to get to the water. The viz was beautiful in the bay, but unfortunately a bit worse on the wall, and there was no current to speak off all day.
We met a group of what turned out to be 19 divers altogether, doing anything from recreational profiles to whatever the guys on 18/45 did. Peter and I were on 25/25 and scootered out to the wall on the right of the bay to start -- which is COVERED in cloud sponges! I thought you had to go to Saanich Inlet or north to get cloud sponges, and here they were, with all the small critters that use them as condominiums. We found fur crabs and huge quillback rockfish, and a big Tiger rockfish who was gracious enough to stay around a while to be admired, before sticking his head in a hole and pretending that, if he couldn't see us, we couldn't see him.
We did a nice hour's dive, and passed a very cordial surface interval in the parking lot, while about half of the group decided to demonstrate sanity and repair to warm, dry places to drink.
We nut cases went back down, and this time, Peter and I headed for the little island. We dropped by its side, and went out to the end, and a little further to the wall there. We kicked south a bit, and turned because we were cold; we came back up onto the side of the island and did our deco there, and it was delightful.
The day ended at the Troller's Pub, which was warm and had good hot chocolate and various forms of calories to replace what we had shivered off.
Thank you very much to Todd Powell, the Vancouver UTD instructor, for helping to arrange a lovely day of diving, and for putting up with me and Peter for HOURS in the pub. I look forward to a bunch more trips of this kind, as our theme for 2010 is the West Coast, with an emphasis on Canada.
Whytecliff Park is a stunningly beautiful setting, even when the skies are dark and the parking lot is so wet that there are creeks running down the stairs. We were fortunate that there were no waves, so the only threat the logs posed was the maze you had to thread to get to the water. The viz was beautiful in the bay, but unfortunately a bit worse on the wall, and there was no current to speak off all day.
We met a group of what turned out to be 19 divers altogether, doing anything from recreational profiles to whatever the guys on 18/45 did. Peter and I were on 25/25 and scootered out to the wall on the right of the bay to start -- which is COVERED in cloud sponges! I thought you had to go to Saanich Inlet or north to get cloud sponges, and here they were, with all the small critters that use them as condominiums. We found fur crabs and huge quillback rockfish, and a big Tiger rockfish who was gracious enough to stay around a while to be admired, before sticking his head in a hole and pretending that, if he couldn't see us, we couldn't see him.
We did a nice hour's dive, and passed a very cordial surface interval in the parking lot, while about half of the group decided to demonstrate sanity and repair to warm, dry places to drink.
We nut cases went back down, and this time, Peter and I headed for the little island. We dropped by its side, and went out to the end, and a little further to the wall there. We kicked south a bit, and turned because we were cold; we came back up onto the side of the island and did our deco there, and it was delightful.
The day ended at the Troller's Pub, which was warm and had good hot chocolate and various forms of calories to replace what we had shivered off.
Thank you very much to Todd Powell, the Vancouver UTD instructor, for helping to arrange a lovely day of diving, and for putting up with me and Peter for HOURS in the pub. I look forward to a bunch more trips of this kind, as our theme for 2010 is the West Coast, with an emphasis on Canada.
