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British Columbia on the Nautilus Explorer |
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Overview This was a 6 day trip on the Nautilus Explorer - a brand new liveaboard operating in British Columbia, Canada. The trip left from Vancouver bound for the Port Hardy region with dives at Hornby Island and the wreck of the Columbia on the first day. We then did 3 days of diving at the north end of Vancouver Island and then got another day of diving near Telegraph Cove on the way back south. The trip was organized by Optiquatics and featured a photo seminar with free film, processing and photography advice. Yes, the water here is really cold but the diving is terrific and the very nice boat featured a hot cocoa machine! The Crew The boat is owned and operated by Mike and Mary Ann Lever. They are truly two of the nicest people I've met in my dive travels and very knowledgeable about the local conditions as well. Their enthusiasm was contagious and the efficient manner in which the boat was operated made life easy for the rest of us. Divemaster Rick was a bit prickly at first but proved friendly enough once we got to know him. He was also extremely knowledgable about the local marine life. Backup skipper Doug and Divemaster Jillian were also pleasant and efficient. Food was unimaginative but hearty and plentiful. Vegetarians were happily accommodated. Jen, our cook, was on her first cruise and still learning her way around the galley and the food improved markedly as the trip went on. One particularly memorable meal was the beach barbecue which was terrific fun. You haven't lived until you've seen a bonfire started with diesel fuel and 36% Nitrox! (not as dangerous as it sounds...) Anyway there's nothing like hot dogs, potato salad and other fixings eaten on a beach in a peaceful bay with beautiful forest behind you to really put you in a vacationing mood. The Boat The Nautilus Explorer is a brand new boat built to Mike's specifications for diving in British Columbia. His years of experience show. Aside from it's enormous size (115 feet) the first thing you notice is the rear deck which houses a 36 foot skiff called the Inde. The skiff is launched and retrieved via a winch system. All of the diving is done from the skiff which features individual dive benches with storage, nice dive ladders and 2 huge outboards plus a third jet-outboard for propless maneuvering when divers are in the water. This is a really cool system. You set your gear up once and it stays in place for the whole trip yet you have all of the advantages of diving from a smaller boat. Nitrox, Air and Argon are all filled with whips from the main boat. The Nautilus Explorer herself features 2 large camera tables, plus additional tables on the upper deck which our photography intensive group quickly commandeered for more workspaces. Power is 110 and there were plenty of outlets for our various and sundry chargers. There was also a rinse tank for cameras and plenty of space to hang drysuits. A "wet" head or 2 would have been nice as with the current layout is it necessary to remove your drysuit and retire to your cabin to use the facilities. A warm shower would also have been welcome and is planned, but currently not functional. The upper deck also features a hot tub. The salon is huge and can accommodate 24 or 26 people for a slide show or dive briefing. It also has 2 large TVs for underwater video presentations. Meals were served in the forward galley area and this was also expansive. One of the tables here is setup as a light table and this one and the table next to it were commandeered for slide evaluation by our photography mad group. Even with this there was still plenty of room to eat. Cabins were huge, well ventilated and well designed. The bunks were several feet off the deck and provided lots of space underneath for gear and luggage. The plumbing in one of the suites upstairs proved to be recalcitrant but this was swiftly dealt with. Cabins on boats don't get much better than this, nor more comfortable. The calm seas of the inland waterway combined with the stability of the large steel boat made for a comfortable experience indeed. Diving Operations Diving in BC is done at the discretion of the "Gods of Slack". While the inland passageways are generally free of large waves they are subject to amazing tidal currents which can run in excess of 15 knots. Diving commences just before the slack where the tide turns and finishes just afterwards. This means that dive schedules vary and that all dives are limited to 50 minutes from the time the gates are opened. As a result it's important to be organized and ready to jump into the water exactly when you are told. Otherwise you'll lose bottom time while you tarry on the surface. Also, it's very important to carefully listen to the dive briefings as otherwise you might end up swimming right into a dangerous current, or worse into an area not affected by currents at all and thus really dull. Dive briefings were excellent and accurate and Mike did a great job of making sure that we were put into the water in the right place at the right time to maximize dive times. Dives here are unguided but if you are interested in seeing specific things the divemaster will be happy to join you and point them out. Rick proved good at finding Wolf Eels but had less success finding Giant Pacific Octopus. This wasn't for lack of trying. We found lots of empty dens with piles of crab carcasses but nobody was home. Oh well... As our trip was organized by Optiquatics we had free film, free E6 processing, free photo advice and lots of demo gear to try out. If you haven't done a trip with them before I highly recommend it. I learned a lot about photography and had a great time doing it. Kudos to Joe Wysocki and Andy Sallmon for making a great trip even that much better. Rumor has it they'll be on this boat again next year for a trip to Alaska... The Diving In a word the diving was "terrific". The walls on the passages near Port Hardy are absolutely covered with brightly covered encrusting life. Visibility was generally around 40-60 feet and the water varied from about 44-49 degrees F. Huge fields of Metridiums, Gersemia soft corals, Epiactis anemones, sponges and other wonders filled the eyes everywhere we looked. Browning Wall and Hussar Point were particularly stunning in this regard. Aquarium lived up to its name with large schools of Puget Sound Rockfish and also featured a nice wall. Hunt Rock was a really terrific dive and one that I look forward to doing again someday. It is a pinnacle coming up from deep water to about 20 feet from the surface. It is famous for Wolf Eels but also has some spectacular walls and cuts with large schools of Black Rockfish swimming in the Neriocystis kelp in the shallow spots. There were large fields of Epiactis anemones here too. Another nice dive was the wreck of the Themis. The wreck itself is pretty broken up but the large piles of broken up plating offer lots of cover for Wolf Eels, of which we saw many. The diving near Telegraph Cove was equally spectacular. Perhaps my favorite dive was called Plumper Rock. The walls here were more diverse than those near Port Hardy. Mixed in with the Gersemia and Metridiums were several types of Hydrocoral, lots of encrusting sponges, Crimson Anemones and other wonders. Pearse Island had similarly spectacular dives. Our dives on the first day on our way north were less successful but still nice and with the potential for much more. Our first dive had been at Hornby Island where we looked for Sixgill Sharks. Apparently they aren't around much this late in the season and we didn't see any. We also did two dives on the wreck of the Columbia which is a former 366 foot destroyer from the Canadian Navy. It is an artificial reef and sister ship of the Yukon which was recently intentionally sunk near San Diego. This would have been a nice dive save for the rather poor visibility (20 feet or so) which made it hard to appreciate the size of the ship. We did see a Cabezon which was close to 3 feet long which was pretty amazing. Keeping Warm Finally I want to get in a word about staying warm in cold water. Being cold underwater isn't so much a factor of the water temperature as it is a sign of inappropriate exposure protection. A good drysuit with warm undergarments will keep you plenty warm in these conditions. You wouldn't go skiing in Bermuda Shorts right? It's the same thing with diving. Cold water diving is at least as good as warm water diving and maybe better. Don't miss out on the fun by being scared of the cold. Investing in a nice drysuit will open up whole vistas of amazing diving in uncrowded, unspoiled places. Try it and you may never go back to warm water again! Logistics One of the nice things about diving British Columbia is how easy it is to get there. The Nautilus Explorer docks in Vancouver no more than 20 minutes from a major airport and unlike diving in the South Pacific you're going to Canada so you needn't worry about language barriers, wars or crime. Diving here is a terrific bargain too. Rates on the Nautilus Explorer run just over $150 US a day. Many liveaboards in warm water will charge over twice that for boats that aren't as nice as this one. Overall I had a great trip and highly recommend the Nautilus Explorer. I'll be back soon. British Columbia Photo Gallery Happy Diving, Clinton |