West Coast Shootout # 8 - The Barkley Sound Adventure Part 2

Day Two: The Awesome Encounter

We awoke on the second day to a beautiful sunny morning: blue skies and no wind. This would be a perfect day to explore Barkley Sound.

  

     

Images courtesy of Kelli Meredith

Our first dive was at Tyler Rock. This pinnacle at the intersection of the Alberni Inlet and Trevor channel is one of the places where you can see six gill sharks, or so we where told. The top of the pinnacle sits in about 45 ft. (14 m.) of water. One interesting note about diving in this area is that there is no way to judge the currents. When diving at a place like Race Rocks or Browning Wall you depend on the current markers to tell you when slack tide is and what direction the water is flowing; Barkley Sound however is quite different. The sound is only affected by the open ocean currents, which at its highest point only runs at about 1 knot (we dove 5 different sites over two days at different time and experienced no current whatsoever at any of the spots, the only time we felt any was at Tyler Rock on the surface). This pinnacle has a distinct point and then drops down quite sharply to a depth of about 150 ft. (50 m.) on all sides. The bottom slopes further beyond this point to depths reaching 300 ft. (100 m.)  This site is suitable for just about anyone: there is enough life here to keep underwater photographers happy for hours and the depth and topography is perfect for tech and recreational divers as well.  Tyler Rock was home to numerous species of rockfish and greenlings, however this place was infested with Spotted Ratfish! For those of us in the group that had never seen one, it was an exhilarating experience. These strange little creatures seemed were curious about us, and many of them swam right to us. One of the most interesting attributes of ratfish is the way they swim: they flap their fins as they glide through the water almost resembling a bird rather than a fish.

              The second dive of the day was at a small group of islands known as Baeria Rocks, which are an ecological reserve. Above water these little islands are a sea bird nesting area and below the water, home to an extensive range of marine life. We decided to dive off the north end of the largest island; having no idea what we where about to encounter was very exciting for all of us. We hoped for an encounter with a six gill however what we found was just plain AWESOME! We entered the water to find very poor visibility in the top 20 ft. (7 m.) but once we descended below that it opened right up to almost 40 ft. (12 m.) The walls and rocks that made up the island were covered in invertebrate life: anemones, hydroids, and hydrocorals covered the majority of the substrate, and huge purple sea urchins dotted the rocks. Just after entering the water we spotted a Giant Pacific Octopus huddled behind a rock staring at us. Having an opportunity as a diver to interact with one of these magnificent creatures is truly a memorable experience. For almost the entire dive, this octopus was the star of the show, crawling across the bottom, changing colour, and every once in a while reaching out to feel what we were. Once the octopus had jetted off into the depths we returned our attention the surrounding area to check out more of what this dive site had to. This is a site that needs to be explored more. The topography and depths are fascinating and the diversity of the marine life is worth multiple dives.

             Our last dive of the day we returned to Tyler Rock, the theory was that if we went back later in the day we might catch a glimpse of the elusive six gill. Unfortunately luck was not on our side, more ratfish and rockfish and a great encounter with a beautiful wolf eel but no six gill. The great thing about the trip was that our spirits where high from all the creatures we had seen but our hope of encountering a six gill shark the next day was not fading like the sun. We headed back to camp for some much needed food and libation. Tomorrow would bring a truly great surprise and even more photographic opportunities.

Tyler Rock Underwater Images

  

       

Baeria Rocks Underwater Images

 

     

West Coast Shootout # 8 - The Barkley Sound Adventure - Part 1 / Part 3

Scott

West Coast Shootout # 8 - The Barkley Sound Adventure Part 1

Day One: How to Rescue a Ratfish

       One of the things that makes the Pacific Northwest so amazing is the variety of areas that can be explored, both above and below the water line. For West Coast Shootout # 8, I wanted to put a trip together that inspired and amazed all that came among, but that also planted the seeds for future trips. This trip was as much about luck and gaining knowledge as it was about having a great time with some great friends. The plan was to bring a group of people out to Barkley Sound, dive in new spots, discover new species, and photograph as much life as we could. Working with Jessie from Pinnacle Dive Charters again, and giving him the challenge of a new area and longer trip was something he was really looking forward to. The group of divers assembled for this trip consisted of experienced northwest divers, including Andy Murch (elasmodiver.com), who was keen to get some shots of any species of shark or skate to add to his shark and ray field guide. Our initial goal was to photograph six gill sharks and maybe catch a glimpse of a longnose skate if we were lucky enough. Anything else we spotted on our dives was a bonus. This area is famous for its rich marine life, fishing and wilderness trekking. Barkley Sound and the Broken Group Islands comprise one of the three main recreational components in Pacific Rim National Park. Barkley Sound lies south of Ucluelet, and north of Bamfield on the west coast of Vancouver Island, covering an area of approximately 800 square kilometers that includes hundreds of islands, none of which is larger than 2 kilometers across. The plan was to launch Jessie’s boat from Port Alberni, motor up the Alberni Canal, and meet the rest of the group in Bamfield. We had decided, due to the time of year (late August), that we would camp in Bamfield to save some money and have a little fun. We stayed at Centennial Camp Site, which is located at the north end of Bamfield and has its own boat launch and dock, which made it perfect for us. I had left work early on the Friday to drive up to Port Alberni to meet Jessie and Shawn (our surface support for this trip), as we didn’t want to launch too late and have to arrive at camp in the dark. The rest of the divers drove up from Victoria and were to meet up in the early evening for a sunset dinner and get some rest before diving all day Saturday. Unfortunately, not all plans went accordingly! The boat loaded with Jessie, Shawn, and myself, arrived right on schedule at the dock. The three of us had the forethought to pack enough stuff to make it through the night just in case the rest of the group got stuck somewhere and could not get to us. As the night wore on, it was apparent that our friends were way over due, so we set up camp and found a pay phone to attempt to call them. For those who have never been to this area before take note: Bamfield is very remote, sparsely populated and cell phones do not work out here! So we decided to wait and hoped that we weren’t going to spend the weekend by ourselves, and that nothing had happened to our friends. However, by 11 pm they finally rolled into camp, none worse for the wear, just tired, hungry and a little grumpy from getting lost on along one of the many logging roads that eventually lead to Bamfield. Before we could relax we needed to unload the rest of the gear on the boat and do a little planning for the dives the next day.   We grabbed our lights and headed down to the boat. When we got to the dock we noticed a fish swimming around in circles at the bow of the boat. To our amazement it was a Ratfish! This particular one had gotten caught on the frayed end of our bowline that was floating in the water. Ratfish have a long barbed spike at the front of their dorsal fin that is used for defense and can inflict a nasty poisonous wound if handled incorrectly. This poor creature was completely disoriented and as it swam around the rope tightened more and more around its self. We all thought this was an amazing occurrence and not only would this be a great story to tell others, we got to see our first elasmobranch of the trip. What a great start to our shark diving weekend! After freeing the poor little ratfish, we organized all of our gear and headed to bed for what would prove to be an amazing day of diving.
Scott

    

    

Photos courtesy of Robert Flach

West Coast Shootout # 8 - The Barkley Sound Adventure - Part 2 / Part 3

West Shore Magazine

I am proud to announce that I have made the cover of a magazine. It has been a goal of mine to help local businesses promote the amazing biodiversity we have here in the Pacific Northwest. West Shore Magazine is a quarterly magazine used to help promote the Western Communities and Greater Victoria throughout BC. I was contacted by one of the writers to supply images for apiece he was writing about diving around Southern Vancouver Island. The images chosen were taken at one of the best dive sites on Vancouver Island: Race Rocks. Race Rocks is a marine protected area and is home to an amazing array of marine life including the very unique Basketstar featured in the images. I would like to thank not only everyone at West Shore Magazine, but Robert Flach, the diver featured in the images, as well as Jessie from Pinnacle Scuba Adventures. Working with these people created the opportunity too not only promotes west coast diving, but to reach a goal of mine by having my image on the cover of a magazine. 


Scott