Sunshine Coast by Marc

Sunshine Coast, 1998
Author: Marc

Posted by Marc on October 12, 1998 at 10:35:27:

Last Saturday I did two dives north of Vancouver, on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia. The geography is beautiful. The area is an amazing confluence of straits, islands, inlets, rivers and bays.

We dove in Sechelt inlet, a long salt-water inlet off the Straits of Georgia. It curls almost 360 degrees aound a penisula inland of Vancouver island, east of the Straits. It is joined by countless other inlets, narrows and islands. The above-water views are incredible, with thick forests extending virtually down to the waterline.

We dove on a sunken Canadian sub-chaser (named the Chaudierre) and in a narrow spot between sides of the channel (Twizoonie narrows). Now, it's hard to separate memories of diving experiences from the weather encountered. That day, it was raining pretty heavily. The sky was cludy and dark, even on the surface, at high noon. (I was the only person crazy enough to actually be a paying customer on that bleary day!) The first dive was over 100' deep on the Chaudierre, and I didn't have a light with me. There is an inversion layer the first 25-30 feet, where the water is murky (5 - 10' visibility), and when I got down to the subchaser, it was so dark I couldn't read my thermometer. When I got back up to 60' I could see that it was 50 degrees, and all I know is that it was colder deeper. The wreck was interesting, though, and visibilty at depth was 50-60.

The second dive, we drifted through a narrow spot in a channel, with thousands of jellyfish, at 1-1/2 knots or so. The water was shallower (45') and warmer (53degrees). VisibiIity was about 40. It was a lot of fun, zooming through the narrows with the current, with thousands of jellyfish being carried with us. We tried to pry a giant octopus from under a rock. I couldn't see how long he was, but the suction cups on his tentacles were about the size of a finger-tip (big, in other words).

I give high marks to the Diving Locker in Sechelt. They ran a good, safe, enjoyable dive.

Marc