March 5, 2022

Dive #529 - Finn Beach - 21 January 2022 (Dive 4 of 2022)

Back again to look for lumpsuckers, but without Bel the Lumpsucker Whisperer, we only found 3 (I know, dissapointing, right? ;-) ). One was very, very pregnant. It looked uncomfortable. I also found 2 little red octos.

We wandered way far right.

Posted on March 5, 2022 06:28 AM by leftcoaster leftcoaster | 36 observations | 0 comments | Leave a comment

Dive #528 - Dophin Beach - 16 January 2022 (Dive 3 of 2022)

I got lost this dive... I think I went too far right to start. I'm still not sure if we ended up on the correct wall or not. At the time, I thought we did. Now I don't think we did. This site has portals, I swear...

Highlight was finding a Cockrell's Dorid! A sea lion did a drive by. A feather star latched itself onto Erin that I only spotted in the shallows; I swam it back out deeper. Found a big cabezon with eggs.

Posted on March 5, 2022 05:59 AM by leftcoaster leftcoaster | 28 observations | 0 comments | Leave a comment

January 28, 2022

Dive #527 - Finn Beach - 14 January 2022 (Dive 2 of 2022)

TEN (10) LUMPSUCKERS!!! Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I'd find double-digit lumpsuckers on one dive. Plus two little red octos.

Did I mention TEN (10) LUMPSUCKERS?!?!

Posted on January 28, 2022 06:15 AM by leftcoaster leftcoaster | 38 observations | 0 comments | Leave a comment

January 24, 2022

Dive #526 - The Jib - 2 January 2022 (Dive 1 of 2022)

Uneventful dive without many highlights other than a quick drive-by visit from 3 sea lions. The story today was 1st dive of 2022, snow, peaceful calm, and brilliant viz!

Posted on January 24, 2022 05:20 AM by leftcoaster leftcoaster | 22 observations | 0 comments | Leave a comment

Dive #525 - Maple Bay - 22 December 2021

Brilliant night dive at Maple Bay tonight! Red octos galore (10+) - at one point I was taking a photo of one, knocked a bottle, and another one jetted out in front of me! Other highlights include a padded sculpin, J getting scared out of her wits by a dead lion's mane jelly that suddenly appeared in her face out of the darkness, cockscombs, gunnels, cute buried/digging red rock crabs, batwing sea slugs, sparkling shrimp, pregnant red rocks and graceful crabs, and a friendly pacific cod. And I finally saw a grunt sculpin actually in a giant acorn barnacle shell! Another highlight came in the last 10 minutes in the sand on the left side of the pier, where we found 5 showy snailfish - including one out swimming! They're pretty rare up our way, so it was nice to find them and get J excited about something I found (usually it's the opposite!)

Posted on January 24, 2022 04:53 AM by leftcoaster leftcoaster | 70 observations | 0 comments | Leave a comment

Dive #524 - Cottam Point - 19 December 2021

We braved the hill down and got in the water, only for me to forget that I left my fins in the car. There was some swearing on my part! The dive was good, although a little sad - we found the GPO mom deceased in her den. Hopefully the eggs hatched successfully. I had fun taking macro photos of scallop eyes. Highlight was seeing the Chonky Pink Star - it's HUGE!

Getting out was a challenge - waves and current had picked up and we had to time our exit over slippery rocks.

Posted on January 24, 2022 04:51 AM by leftcoaster leftcoaster | 15 observations | 0 comments | Leave a comment

Dive #523 - Campbell River - Argonaut Wharf - 12 December 2021

Second dive of the day, and it was a little disappointing... the charter took us to Argonaut, which can be accessed as a shore dive. Oh well, I still had never been before. Definite highlight on this dive was a leopard flatworm (!!!) and the abundance of nudis: Heath's, barnacle, common grey, monterey, red-fingered, Nanaimo, Triopha modesta, Adalaria proxima, cadlinas, rainbow, thick-horned, giant white, berthella chacei. Also a few cute little grunt sculpins. And an orange cup coral mystery - right next to orange was a yellow version?!?

Posted on January 24, 2022 04:49 AM by leftcoaster leftcoaster | 64 observations | 0 comments | Leave a comment

Dive #522 - Campbell River - Grouse Island (Outside) - 12 December 2021

The first thing I noticed at this site was the colour: orange, pink, red, purple all over the bottom - sponges encrusting the rocks and strawberry anemone carpets, without bare rock in sight. The beautiful aqua-coloured water, bluer than the emerald green I'm used to.

The other dive group found octos and wolf eels, but J and I were interested in less obvious things. Found a few Red Irish Lords, which blended into the surroundings beautifully. One was guarding eggs! Aggregated nipple sponge, rigid finger sponges, northern staghorn bryozoan, semisuberites cribrosa, and a giant acorn barnacle in the act of shedding its foot were highlights. Jill found 6 PSKC juveniles at the end of the dive.

Posted on January 24, 2022 04:39 AM by leftcoaster leftcoaster | 48 observations | 0 comments | Leave a comment

January 4, 2022

Dive #521- Madrona (Big Wall) - 9 December 2021

A nice night dive with all the usual suspects on the Big Wall. Highlight was a young GPO was out hunting for snacks that didn't mind us watching and taking photos, and a pair of fighting kelp crabs that were trying to pin each other's arms with their pinchers.

Posted on January 4, 2022 07:43 AM by leftcoaster leftcoaster | 47 observations | 0 comments | Leave a comment

Dive #520 - Keel Cove - 14 November 2021

Stunning viz! 30 minutes of orca singing! Pretty sure it was the residents, because two sea lions came up to us and they didn't look freaked out.

7 grunt sculpins on the sailboat wreck.

Jill and I collected a lot of golf balls.

Viz was so good we checked out some new rocks deeper than the sailboat and to the right a little.

A new-to-me worm.

Posted on January 4, 2022 07:40 AM by leftcoaster leftcoaster | 26 observations | 0 comments | Leave a comment