Pacific Marine Imaging: 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