Location: Pearse Island closeby Stubbs Island, Queen Charlotte Sound, British Columbia
Comments: Had a nice easy run up the coast from Steveston last night and arrived at Pearse Island first thing this morning. We had been hoping to see orcas (“black and whites” as we call them) on the way up but had to settle for a pod of pacific white-sided dolphins (“lags”) off the bow instead.
Yesterday was the peak tides and currents of this month’s moon cycle so I have had to be careful in my choice of dive sites. The current is a bit too strong to dive Plumper Rock or Stubb’s Island unfortunately. Our first scuba dive was on Walt’s Wall (named for our friend Walt Amidon of Scuba SET and Underwater Sports) and the visibility was good and the invertebrate life as prolific as ever with loads of anemones and other inverts as well as beautiful kelp diving.
Dive #2 was “off-slack” at Pearse Wall. The slipper cucumbers here are normally a huge hit but the very strong current was back-eddying the wrong way on the wall and the divers weren’t able to make it to the “hot” part of the dive site. Dive #3 was at the very aptly named Blowhole. Between 20 knot west winds and very strong currents, it’s easy to see why locals call this narrow little pass “Blowhole.” The site is beautiful with anemones and gersemia rubiformis (soft red coral) but the real feature is hundreds of basket stars including a canyon absolutely loaded with them. A lot of our divers really enjoyed the ride and challenge of the current while some guests (especially those diving British Columbia for the first time) were a little more dubious about the “fun” of the current at Blowhole!
–Captain Mike
Weather: Broken stratus clouds, 20 knots of wind from the west, air temperatures in the mid 60’s, 2 foot chop.
Water: 46 – 47°F. Visibility 20 – 30 feet and better deeper..
