God's Pocket, Hurst Island, BC Dives from April 23 to April 27, 2022

I enjoyed another excellent stay at God's Pocket, on Hurst Island, which is located off the NE end of Vancouver Island, BC. We had five very good days of diving though the weather was usually rainy and chilly with some hail and sleet! As always, the food was excellent as was the company. I did two of the three dives offered on the first day because I got too wet and cold in my "dry-ish" suit to want to do the third dive. Fortunately, with lots of zipper care, it was my only significant leaking during the week. The first dive was at Hoodi-Nudi Bay.

Above: Sea Pen

Above: Sea Anemone, TBD

Above: Nudibranch, TBD The second dive on our first day was at "Aquarium". Below: A new, for me, small fish TBD at Aquarium

Below: TBD Sea Anemone

Below: Metridium Anemone, nudibranch, tbd rockfish

Our second day of diving started with Browning Wall, reknowned for the density of invertebrate life on its vertical wall. Visibility was 20 to 50 ft for our entire trip, it was at least 40 ft plus for much of this dive. Below: Eli, one of Richard Salas' group of divers for this week, begins his descent at Browning Wall

Below: Incredibly colorful, dense, marine invertebrate life on Browning Wall.

Below: A couple of small, well camouflaged fish on a dense colony of Acorn Barnacles, can you find them?

Large (5 inches) nudibranch feeding on yellow sponge, below:

Above: Starting my way back up the wall. Below: Approaching the shallows at the top of the wall to make my safety stop. Though I stayed dry I'd begin to feel chilled at 30 minutes and be thoroughly chilled at 40 minutes.

My second dive was at "Snowball" so named for the tremendous white out from all the Clonal Plumrose Anemones covering practically everything. A beautiful, excellent, dive, I spent some time at the end swimming around in the kelp found in the shallows. Below: As I descended, I took this picture of our dive boat on the surface far above.

Below: China Rockfish

Below: Deep seascape. How many White Plumrose Anemones can you count?

Below: Ascending to the kelp in the shallows, I found a patient Red Irish Lord sculpin.

Below: Clonal Plumrose (Metridium) Sea Anemones colonizing kelp.

We started the third day of diving at Seven Tree Island, another wonderful dive site. I spent some time at the end of this dive (I was always forced up by getting cold before I ran low on nitrox) up in the shallows in the kelp and was rewarded with finding some Brooding Anemone. Below: partially opened Basket Sea Star

Below: Plumrose Anemones with an Opalescent Nudibranch

Below: Colorful Brooding Anemones on Kelp

Below: Male Kelp Greenling

Below: Streaming Bull Kelp at my safety stop

My second dive of the day (I only did the first and third, slack water, dives) was at Northwest Passage Wall.

Below: Beautiful Sea Anemone

More Brooding Anemone

Our fourth day of diving started with Eagle's Nest, we had good light and good visibility. Mike Williams found a GPO (Giant Pacific Octopus) out in the open on a ledge, parked in Giant Plumrose Anemones, where it remained, virtually motionless, comfortable in its camouflage, despite many firings of multiple strobes.

I was thrilled to come upon another large, healthy, Sunflower Star, which, sadly, were made locally extinct where I dive in California by the Sea Star wasting disease which struct in 2013. Below:

Mike Williams caught my attention and led me over to where Eli was photographing a GPO, Giant Pacific Octopus, he had found. I waited my turn then took several photos of the exposed, but well camouflaged and completely still GPO, surrounded by Giant Plumrose Anemones. Below, Eli photographing the GPO, right in front of his camera, not that you can distinguish it, nor could I, until I got right up to it myself:

Below, here are several photos of the well exposed, but very well camouflaged, GPO. In some photos you can make out one of his bright eyes.

Below: Nudibranchs devouring a yellow sponge.

On the surface waiting for pickup. (Below)

Our second dive of the morning was back at Browning Pass Wall. Below: Waiting for the order to stand up and start water entrys.

Below: Opalescent Nudibranch on yellow sponge

Our third and final dive of the day was in a bay right around the corner from God's Pocket, I've called it "Next Door". It is a really great site with lots of life and the largest beautiful, healthy, Sunflower Stars I've ever seen.

Below: A couple diffent Red Irish Lord sculpins.

To start our final day of diving we dived Seven Trees Island again, with sunshine and good visibility. Below: Black Rockfish with Plumrose Anemones

Below: Plumrose Anemones in sunlight!

Below: Surface for pickup by the dive boat with an elevator, Hurst Isle! Then back to God's Pocket for brunch followed by two afternoon dives.

Our first afternoon dive was back at Snowball.

Brooding Anemones on Kelp, below:

Our final dive of the trip was back at Aquarium. I missed a final chance to get a Wolf Eel photo on this trip when, suddenly swimming out between boulders came a big Wolf Eel, accompanied by the Wolf Eel whisperer, Mike Williams, whom I think found Wolf Eels on every dive. I was too surprised to get the shot! But a very enjoyable final dive. Below, a beautiful Basket Sea Star