Adventure #3

Ten Mile Point, Victoria BC

 

Date: Sunday March 27, 2011

Time: 8:30 am

Ten Mile Point is one of the best shore diving sites on Southern Vancouver Island. The tidal exchanges and current flow provide an adundance of food for the amazing amount of marine life that inhabits this area. The tidal exchange is favourable on March 27^th and should be an excellent day to dive this site. Thank you to everyone who came out for the last two shootouts and I am really looking forward to this one.

Read more at www.8arm.com

Spring has Sprung

Motivation to get in the water has never been a problem for me, and the only thing that usually stops me is bad weather, namely wind and snow. Unfortunately both of these conditions have been quite common over the last little while around Southern Vancouver Island. Now that the snow had disappeared, it was time to get back in the water. Chris and I headed to Ogden Point to find some Diamondback Nudibranchs, as we had seen them on the Stubby Squid dive last month but didn’t get any images due to the fact that I was too busy photographing the squid. This time however, we not only found the Diamondback Nudibranchs, but we also found several other species, and a number of juvenile Grunt Sculpin. We ended up counting eleven of these cute little creatures on the dive. These oddities of the ocean resemble a misshapen seahorse and walk around on their pectoral fins. Grunt Sculpin’s colouration and camouflage make them excellent photographic subjects and I was exstatic to see so many on one dive.

Scott

     

   

  

Read more about Pacific Marine Imaging at www.8arm.com

Off the Beaten Path

It was time for something new, a different challenge and a different dive site. Over the last month I have been searching everywhere for Stubby Squid eggs. Since my wonderful encounter last month at the Ogden Point Breakwater, these little critter’s eggs have been on my ‘must photograph list’. Chris and I decided to take a trip up to Maple Bay. This little town West of Duncan is right on the water and directly across from Salt Spring Island. Chris had driven through the area a number of months back and had seen a beach access that might lead to a good dive site. The entrance to the water was at the end of a very steep, moss-covered road, and the trek with dive gear on our back was definitely not for the faint of heart! Once we reached the water and dropped down, the bottom was a sheer drop off far beyond diveable depths. We were only 20 ft. (7 m.) from shore and swimming in about 95 ft. (30 m.) of water. The wall was on a 70⁰ slope and covered with crushed shells and sediment. The marine life was pretty sparse for most of the dive, and the majority of the life consisted of brittle stars, Black-eyed Goby’s, and a few Plumose Anemones. We did manage to find two Lingcod guarding clutches of eggs, however the rockfish population was almost zero. The highlight of this dive was the Stubby Squid eggs we discovered stuck to the underside of a rock. The eggs resembled little white Hershey’s Kisses and were still opaque so I was not able to see the size of the baby squids inside. I was using my wide-angle lens on the dive and did my best to capture a few images of these eggs and where they were nestled.

It was great to explore a new dive site and to find something that has been on my list to photograph for a long time. I hope to return to this site in the near future to try and photograph the squid as they hatch.

Scott

read more about Pacific Marine Imaging at www.8arm.com

Ogden Point at Night

I hooked up with a bunch of divers from Frank Whites Dive Shop for a night dive at the Ogden Point Breakwater. Ken, Chris, and I wanted to meet some new divers and hang out with some old friends. I have a long-standing relationship with the people from Frank Whites, and it’s where way back thousands of dive ago, I received my PADI Open Water Certificate and began my underwater adventures. Our goal on this dive was to get some images of Stubby Squid, but for me I also wanted to get another dive in on my Fusion Drysuit and the Si-Tech Neck Tite system I’m testing. The conditions on this evening were great: calm seas and good visibility. The only difficulty was the tide, as it was out quite far out, and anyone who has dove the breakwater at low tide knows that it can be hard on people and even harder on gear! We walked out to flag 2 and descended down to the sandy bottom. The soft sand around this area and beyond along the breakwater is the best place to find the Stubby Squid. It didn’t take long to find three of these creatures, each about the size of a pea. After spending some time capturing images of them, we moved on down the breakwater and came across a fourth pea sized squid along with one the size of a golf ball. What an amazing find! I give all the credit to Ken who spotted the big one while I had my lens trained on a juvenile Black Rockfish. Having the unprecedented opportunity to get some images of such a large Stubby Squid was truly a memorable experience.

During this dive I was also able to get some images of a number of other inhabitants of the breakwater, including a Red Irish Lord with a parasite on its eye, Grunt and Sailfin Sculpins, and of course the Disheveled Sea-mouse. This was a spectacular dive and one that I will not soon forget. Thank you to everyone from Frank Whites plus Ken and Chris for being awesome spotters and holding their lights just right so I could get some fantastic images.

Scott

  

A drift in something new

It’s been a few days since being in the water and the plan was to test my Fusion with the Si-Tech Neck Tite system, and to do some macro shooting at 10 Mile Point. My focus was to get some shots of a couple of different nudibranch species that are commonly found at 10 Mile, as well as maybe catching a glimpse of an octopus or two.  The visibility once we entered the water was low, only about 15-20 ft. (5-7 m.), and as we descended the visibility only got worse. The wall as usual was covered in life, once again confirming my opinion that this place is one of the best shore diving sites on southern Vancouver Island.  Even through the limited light and particulate, the base of the wall was clouded with juvenile rockfish along with a multitude of various shrimp species. By the end of the dive, I had not really photographed anything due to the current, and we had drifted around the corner into the small bay. To my surprise in the shallows of the small bay, we found two beautiful Shag-rug Nudibranchs and a Decorated War Bonnet. Pretty awesome for a dive that didn’t show a lot of promise till the end.

Scott 
 

  

10 Mile Point dive site - link

Sanctuaries and Biodiversity Part 2

On Sunday we headed out to UBC to check out the new Beaty Biodiversity Museum. The museum had contacted me late last year, and asked if I would be willing to provide them with some images for their exhibits. I was honoured and thrilled that they would ask me to help. The museum itself is located in the middle of UBC and is built under ground. The biological collections that make up the exhibits of the Beaty Biodiversity Museum were each started by different collectors, some as early as the 1910s. Over the decades, myriad researchers added to the collections, which has now grown to contain over 2 million specimens. The fish collection that my images are a part of is the third largest fish collection in Canada, containing over 800,000 alcohol-stored whole fishes, cleared and stained specimens that reveal internal bony structure, skeletal preparations, and X-ray images. The museum is also home to a fully intact and restored Blue Whale Skeleton, which was constructed here in Victoria. This is a truly magnificent museum and worth spending the time to see.

Scott

  

  

Sanctuaries and Biodiversity Part 1

I headed over to Vancouver this past weekend to check out the dive expo that was taking place at the Vancouver Aquarium, and to visit the new Beaty Biodiversity Museum at UBC.

On the Saturday, Kelli, Ken, and I went to the aquarium to check out the dive expo, but the real reason for the visit was to meet up with some old friends and possibly make some new ones. My goal was to talk with some of the photographers I knew and to meet with Dr. Chris Harvey Clark concerning his new project: the Marine Life Sanctuaries Society. Chris and Roy Mulder have created this initiative to help build awareness and to preserve areas around the coast of BC. I really believe in this project and would love to see more and more people get involved. If your interested in this great cause please click on the link below and contact Chris or Roy.

One of the coolest things at the aquarium was the 4D Planet Earth theatre experience. If you have never been to an interactive 4D film, definitely put it on your list of things to do.

Our evening after the expo was filled with good food, good drinks, and I was able to begin laying the groundwork for adventures in 2011.

Scott

All about the Squid

For our friend Mark’s last dive before he made his way back to England, we decided to head to Deep Cove. We had been hearing from other divers that they had seen Opalescent Squid there along with other areas in Saanich Inlet. These creatures are something that I’ve wanted to photograph for a while and was really hoping to see some on this particular dive.

Deep Cove is a popular dive site for many people because of the barge that is sunk in the marina.  This wreck is great for training and is a haven for rockfish, and is actually one of the best spots to photograph Brown Rockfish. These curious little fish blanket the whole area around the wreck, along with a multitude of other rockfish species, nudibranchs and invertebrates.

Mark and I had planned however, to bypass the wreck, and instead enter the water facing into Saanich Inlet since that is where the reports of the squid had been seen. Similar to our dive at Henderson Point, the visibility was quite low and there was a mild current flow down into the inlet. We swam out from the point hoping that the visibility would clear up as we ventured further out, but this was not the case at all, it was actually getting worse. However, much to my delight around the 30 ft. (10 m.) mark we came across a clutch of Opalescent Squid eggs! I only managed to capture a few images before the current picked up and dropped the visibility to almost nothing. We decided to cut the dive short and headed in realizing that we could barely see each other let alone a squid that might swim by. Hopefully I will be able to head out again soon to the Inlet to catch a glimpse of this elusive creature.

Scott

Neck Seal Test

Whites Manufacturing has asked me to take part in a diving trial to test out the new replaceable neck seal system from Si-Tech. This new system will help to make ripping a neck seal more of an inconvenience than the end to a day of diving. The system has been installed on my Fusion Dry suit and I will be blogging about my dives with this neck seal system and how it works. I have to admit that I’m pretty excited about to try out this new system soon!

Scott

Adventure Day

This Sunday I am head out for Pinnacle Scuba Adventures "Adventure Day." Elasmo-man Andy Murch, Extreme Diver Chris Vanderford, Aqua-model Ken McAlpine and myself are stoked for some adventure. We are going to explore some lesser known west coast dive sites. These sites include the current swept reef off of Beechy Head, the historic Wreck of the Swordfish just off of South Bedford Island, and the majestic O’Brian Point. I plan to take tons of great images and share them and the story on the blog when we get back!


Scott

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