British Columbia Canada September

This two-week trip gave us a fantastic opportunity to compare North-East Atlantic and North-East Pacific marine life.

We flew into Seattle and travelled by road and ferry to Victoria on the southern tip of Vancouver Island. Dives at Ogden Point and Race Rocks gave us a great introduction with octopus, wolf eels and sealions as the main attractions. Victoria proved a pleasant city and we discovered an excellent brew pub to slake our thirst!

This was followed by a drive to Cambpell River with a pleasant stops at a vineyard, seashore and boat museum. Another ferry for the quick crossing to Quadra Island in the middle of Discovery Channel. Four days diving here covered the current swept walls and our attention turned to the stunning invertebrate life. We also sampled sea kayaking.

Back on the main island we snorkelled down Campbell River observing the large chinook salmon swimming upstream to breed and then travelled to the northern tip of the island at Port Hardy, through apparently endless forests. A wet boat ride took us to the quiet of Clam Cove on Nigei Island where we spent a week in solitude. Diving in the Browning Passage and site further afield, including the renowned Nakwakto Rapids on the mainland, reputedly the fastest moving navigable channel in the world with currents up to 20 knots. It was a pussycat of a dive when we were there with all of 30mins slack water. Orcas, sealions, bald eagles, heron and deer were all observed topside, but we didn't get any closer to the bears than droppings and footprints in the sand. Underwater was a stunning variety of marine life and many new species, a few of which follow. Just click on the thumbnails to see the full size picture.

DynaMike's dive boat at Quadra Island

The view from my kayak

The floating cabins at Clam Cove

Giant kelp

Bull kelp

Sunshine through the kelp

Female wolf eel being friendly! (its not really an eel of course but that's what they call it)

Ooh that feels so good

Handsome male wolf eel with his lunch

California sea lion (distinguishing lump on head)

Wary octopus

Giant Pacific octopus

Ratfish - a chimaera. Most species occur in very deep water

Lingcod - neither a ling nor a cod. One of the greenlings which occur only in the Pacific

Lingcod - grow up to 1.5m

Kelp greenling - male

and female - one of the commonest fishes around

Red Irish lord - one of the largest sculpins

Small sculpins are very common

Grunt sculpin - a bizzare little fish that is happier walking than swimming

Buffalo sculpin - looks intelligent doesn't it?

Copper rockfish on a plumose anemone wall.

Vermillion rockfish. Rockfish are a common food fish and in the scorpionfish family

China rockfish on a vertical 'white' wall

Giant barnacle - common everywhere

Leaf barnacles - a striking feature of the Nakwakto Rapids

Tiny cancer crab in an old barnacle

Proliferating or brooding anemone carries its babies around its column

Snakelocks anemone, Pacific style, note shrimp around the column as always

Jewel anemones get everywhere!

Cup coral - a Balanophyllia species and rather like ours. very common

Serpulid tube worms

Opalescent nudibranch

Sea lemons who lunch - who'd be a sponge anyway!

Orange peel nudibranch - you can't miss this one!

Nudibranch Arminia a sea pen eater (shame on it)

Orange sea pens, common on soft seabeds

Vermillion star

Sunflower stars - fast moving predators and big as dustbin lids

Basket star

Puget Sound king crab - the biggest crab around

Baby king crab with pointed carapace

Burrowing sea cucumber

Preparing to snorkel with salmon in Campbell River

Crayfish eating dead salmon

Trout in Campbell River (no I didn't get any decent pictures of the salmon!)

Orca - before the film ran out!

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Dynamikes dive boat at Quadra Island