Nice dive today in Maple Bay, but it was really cold in the water. Also, not a lot of critters out... probably too cold for them either.

Had a great dive today on the Chemainus dry docks near the Kinsman boat ramp. A bit of a swim to get into position for the dive due to very high tide, but then a really great dive. We must do it again, although a scooter would be nice.

The new neck seal worked perfectly and I was nice and dry for the whole 70min dive. A little chilly near the end though.

Chemainus Dry Docks Video 

No dive today. Geared up and entered the water and immediately had a full suit flood start. Made it back to the truck without too much soaking and discovered there was a 1in tear in my neck seal. So much for diving today.

I will have to cut and install a new neck seal this coming week.

After the fun with gear week, I elected to dive the 2003 'teaching' suit to see how the new p-valve worked. I also decided to dive with just the video camera in the new holder to play with video some more.

Overall a very nice dive. Vis was pretty good, and the camera worked very well. I like the new holder a lot. The only negative was the exhaust valve on the suit decided to leak (a lot) so my left arm was very wet. There was also a leak in the suit near the right backside, so I was soaked to the skin in that very specific area.

The valve leak is annoying, but it's an old valve that has been tinkered with a few times, so proabably I'll just replace it with a new one I have. The body leak is much more annoying, if only because I sent the suit out a while ago for a full leak test and "no leaks were found". I'm not very happy about that. Next week I'll try to find the suit leak and fix it.

Maple Bay Video 

During the week I had to make some gear repairs and adjustments.

The most significant gear issue arose after the dive of Nov 15. Arriving back at the truck after the dive, I noticed some mist in the inside of the camera housing. Once home and after rinsing the housing, it became aparent that the TTL bulkhead had come loose and leaked at the surface. After rising the inside of the housing thoroughly and inspecting the TTL circuitry for damage (there was none), I was able to tighten the TTL bulkhead fitting so that it should not leak. It will have to be checked periodically, but now I know.

During the week I also took the time to assemble a more appropriate mount for the MUVI video camera. A chuck of aluminum bar that was part of an earlier camera mount, plus a loc-line base and a bit of duct tape and it looks good. I will be testing video only (with the Sola light on the loc-line) on this week's upcoming dive. I bought a spool of 7/32in bungee to make safety lines and such, so the housing system is ready to go.

Finally this week I patched my two teaching suits. The 2003 TLS350 was leak tested a while ago and showed the p-valve was suspect. I finally bit the bullet and replaced it with a new Halcyon p-valve. I did need to trim the old hole a bit but otherwise the installation was uneventful. I'm diving the suit this coming dive to see if it's now dry. The 2009 TLS350 teaching suit got some tears in the turbo-soles, so I used aquaseal to patch them this week as well. It's without seals at the moment (zips in the 2003 suit) so I won't be testing it for a while.

Another great dive at Maple Bay.

I had a small problem with the TTL fitting on my camera housing coming loose, which caused a small leak at the end of the dive. Fortunately the camera is OK as should the housing after some maintenance.

I also took my MUVI HD video camera along for the dive. It's much like a go-pro but about half the cost, and came with a 200ft underwater housing. I wasn't super happy with my jury-rigged mount system, so will have to get something better for the next trial.

Maple Bay Video 

Maple Bay Video (vimeo) 

Nice dive today at Madrona on single tank. Surface swim to the buoy then down to the wall to see the denizens of the deep. I gave out haloween chips after the dive.

Madrona Video 

Madrona Video (vimeo) 

A great day for a dive at Tyee, using my Prism Topaz rebreather.

Tyee Video 

Tyee Video (vimeo) 

Went to Maple Bay today for another nice dive.

Maple Bay Video 

Maple Bay Video (vimeo) 

Went to Maple Bay today for a nice dive.

Maple Bay Video 

These two dives are written up with video and photos on the page West Coast Wreck Diving - Gulf Stream & Capilano - Oct 2015

Altough it's windy and rainy this Thanksgiving weekend, Greg, James, Darron & Leon came from the Fernie area to dive this week with local divers, today including Steve and myself. Today was the obligatory checkout dive at Tyee.

After gearing up we headed in; I was swimming while everyone else had a Cuda DPV. We headed from Tyee to Dolphin and back with me swimming and everyone else buzzing me. After a nice dive we headed in.

It was still a bit windy and a whole lot more rainy but overall an excellent day.

Tyee - Dolphin Video 

With obligations in the afternoon, we decided to blow bubbles at Maple Bay again today. There was a bit of difficulty reaching Maple Bay as a controlled burn in a field got a bit out of control, and the smoke caused them to close the road about 1km from Maple Bay. We had to backtrack to Lakes Rd and use the road from Duncan, but we got there in the end.

The dive was uneventful but fun.

With another super low tide today, we decided to dive Maple Bay again, but this time I took my rebreather so we could search for the large anchor that's somewhere off the wall. We didn't find it today, but perhaps on the next dive. Still, a great dive.

Maple Bay Video 

With wind warnings and charity runs for the Parksville area, we decided to go to Maple Bay instead of Tyee today. Weather was a bit blustery, but still warm and high tide made for a great entry. In the quick switch from rebreather to open circuit, I managed to forget my regulator, but Meredith had a spare only a short distance away... so I was able to dive. Overall a very nice dive, with decent visibility and some nice aquatic life including a buffalo sculpin, the usual pletora of crabs, and a white pipe fish in the shallows.

A very nice dive at Maple Bay, mostly due to the very low tide again today. Visibility was variable from around 5 ft. in the shallows to maybe 10 ft. on the wall. I did see a really nice green pipe fish in the shallows. Also, the drysuit neck seal did not leak at all. Overall a very nice dive.

Maple Bay Video 

With the return of a high tide scheduled for around noon, it was time to take the rebreather out to Tyee once again. After gearing up, headed out in rather poor vis. It opened up a bit at 20fsw, and even more at 80fsw. I headed over to see the wolf eels at grandpa's den, and found two rather large inhabitants. I then headed over to Dolphin wall, and had a great time between 100fsw and 80fsw, followed by a return to Tyee. Vis back at Tyee was even worse at 70fsw, mostly due to millions of very tiny fish babies (about 1/4inch) swimming about. I had a look in on the Tyee wolf eels, then headed back in. Overall an excellent dive, except I managed to wrinkle my drysuit neck seal, and so found myself almost totally flooded from about the 30 minute mark.

Tyee - Dolphin Video 

Nice evening dive at Maple Bay. Saw a really nice 18in dogfish at the start of the dive near the salmon heads and again near the end of the dive on the wall. Visibility was too turbid to get any video of it though.

Nice dive at Maple Bay today.

A great day of diving on Steve & Shirley's new dive boat, moored on the Rivtow Lion.

Dive 1... On the Rivtow Lion.

Dive 2... Off the aft of the Rivtow Lion towards shore and the reef wall.

Awesome rebreather dive from Tyee to Dolphin and back today. Visibility was great below 50fsw and not terrible above.

Tyee wolf eel Video 

Dove Maple Bay again today, again due to the very low tides at this time of year. Today's low tide was the lowest I've ever seen at Maple Bay! However, the viz was very good during the dive although there were again lots of turbidity. Overall an excellent dive.

Dove Maple Bay again today, partly due ot the week off diving, plus the really low tides and crappy vis due to ebbing tides. Overall a very nice dive as Maple Bay is probably the best "very low tide" dive site in the area. Decent vis but lots of particulates in the water. The new suit again performed flawlessly.

Very nice dive at Maple Bay today. Testing a fix to the new drysuit which turned out very well. Saw a variety of life on the wall today in 10-15 ft visibility.

Tried out my brand new DUI drysuit today with a nice rebreather dive from Tyee to Dolphin and back. After gearing up and finding the suit to be an almost perfect fit (the legs are maybe 2in too long), headed out to the cut. Visibility was total crap above 50-60fsw, and it was pretty much a night dive below that. Even at 80fsw and deeper there was a lot of particulates in the water. Still, had a very nice dive to Dolphin and back.

After the dive I discovered a small issue with the new suit which will need fixing before another dive. Other than that one issue, the suit performed flawlessly, and having a smaller suit (L-S instead of an XL-S) gave me much better control over buoyancy and trim during all phases of the dive. Overall a pretty good dive.

Dove Tyee today with TL Kokot on open circuit. Had a fun dive; saw the wolf eels and several rockfish. The male wolf eel is back in the den again.

Tyee Video (wolf eels) 

A great dive to the right of Tyee today. Visibility was not bad past 40fsw, but still not as good as past weeks.

One strange thing. This is the second time in a couple of weeks at Tyee where I've seen a pugeot sound king crab totally gutted. As you can see in the photo, it looks intact, but the bottom of the shell is hinged behind the crab and the insides are completely gone. Very, very weird.

Tyee Video 

Dove Elliot Point today. Visibility wasn't the greatest, 'pea soup' from shore to 30fsw, then 5-10 ft at best. Not much to photograph when the vis is that bad, but still a fun dive.

Planned on diving Madrona today, but the weather was looking rather nasty so headed to Tyee instead. When we arrived it had become calm and sunny, but we elected to dive Tyee as we were there. Headed to the right to see the other walls and were not disappointed. Overall a great dive. As with the video from two weeks ago, today's video shows the wolf eels nursing the brood of eggs, almost ready to hatch.

Tyee Video 

A very good dive today at Maple Bay. Great weather even if the visibility wasn't the greatest. Lots of smaller critters to photograph. The video shows mostly a Plainfish Midshipman (a very weird looking fish) and then a small (about 1.5in) free-swimming worm. Both were taken in the shallows just under the main dock.

Maple Bay Video 

Another great dive from Tyee to Dolphin and back. The video shows the wolf eels nursing a brood of eggs.

Tyee - Dolphin Video 

Yay! Headed out to China Creek near Port Alberni today for a nice rebreather dive on the wreck and the wall. Started out about mid-way between both, headed down and right to the wreck. Toured around the wreck both on deck and near the keel, then headed back over to the wall to photograph the creatures there. Finally headed back to the exit and home. An awesome dive!

China Creek Video 

Very good dive at Maple Bay today. Vis wasn't the best, but still lots of smaller life to see and photograph.

A great dive from Tyee to Dolphin and back.

Tyee - Dolphin Video 

Great dive at Tyee today. Headed right past the main wall for 25 minutes, exploring various other walls along the way. Returned to the beginning and headed out. Overall an excellent dive.

Tyee Video 

Another nice rebreather dive at Madrona Point.

A really nice rebreather dive from Tyee to the wall at Dolphin and back. Lots of other divers in the water today, including an OW class from NDO. Saw a really cool fight between two male lingcod at the 20ft stop, right beside the OW class. It must be mating season!

Tyee - Dolphin Video      Tyee - Dolphin Lingcod Video