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

Whites Manufacturing Fusion Photo shoot

Whites Manufacturing contracted me to shoot a number of images for their upcoming Fusion suit release at DEMA this November. The days we chose to do the shooting ended up being perfect for showcasing these suits with blue skies and sunny weather. The shoot took place in various locations, but what made it a unique experience was to have my friends as models. As an underwater photographer by trade, having the opportunity to interact with models above water while trying to uphold the vision and direction laid out by Whites, was truly a challenge for me. The suits I was photographing are lightweight, colourful suits marketed to men and women as perfect travel suits. 


Scott

  

Ogden Point Reef Balls Project

Update on the Ogden Point Reef Balls


Over the last few months the reef balls have become home to a huge amount of marine life. The structures themselves are now so covered in growth that most of the reef balls are indistinguishable from the rest of the substrate. 

One of the new methods to monitor and catalog the growth on the reef ball has been to install a numbered tag to each one. This will allow Valerie and others to identify each reef ball and watch the changes to the growth over time. Once all the reef balls are tagged, a map will be made that shows positioning, depths, and distances. With 92 reef balls now in place assistance is required to help Val and her team install these tags. About one third of the reef balls have been tagged to date. Anyone interested in helping us out please contact Val either by email or on facebook.

Contact Valerie Mucciarelli: SERG Projects or facebook

As for the dive itself the visibility at the reef balls was probably the worst I've seen in a very long time. The amount of particulate, overcast sky and current made for one of the most difficult underwater photo dives I've ever been on. Anyone who has ever dove around Vancouver Island knows that during certain times of the year you can jump in the water and the conditions can be so bad its like diving at night. This was one of those days! I'm always up for a challenge and working in those conditions really provided me with an opportunity to be more creative and think outside the box when I wanted to take an image. There are so many factors that come into play and having the mind set to make the best of a poor situation will help at the very least produce one or two images that are usable. 

     

Ogden Point Reef Balls - Images

Ogden Point Reef Balls Blog - Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5
Please if you have an opportunity to check out the reef balls or haven't been for a dive on them for a while please go check them out.

Thanks,

Scott