We received some lovely pictures from Diane Reid recently – click any of the thumbnails below to see bigger version.

We’ve been having great visibility lately, so why not make a date for some diving.

We’ve got a couple of divers in from [...]]]> Wow. It’s almost the end of January – time flies

We received some lovely pictures from Diane Reid recently – click any of the thumbnails below to see bigger version.

We’ve been having great visibility lately, so why not make a date for some diving.

We’ve got a couple of divers in from the interior of BC looking to do some mid-week dives out of Nanaimo (this week – Jan 23-27). If you’re interested, call Jan right now ! !   604-329-3486

This weekend:

Howe Sound – room for divers on Saturday

Nanaimo – room for divers on Sunday.

Diane sent along a few more photos from her recent dive with us .  Great visibility and a great photographer works magic.  Thanks Diane.

Click any of the photos for a larger version.

We first told you about The Dragon’s Den at the beginning of June.  At that time, Jan wrote:

We found a GREAT new site we are planning to dive again on Sunday this weekend – we are calling it the “Dragon’s Den”.

Beautiful wall with nice cavernous overhang at 65’ full of life [...]]]>

We first told you about The Dragon’s Den at the beginning of June.  At that time, Jan wrote:

We found a GREAT new site we are planning to dive again on Sunday this weekend – we are calling it the “Dragon’s Den”.

Beautiful wall with nice cavernous overhang at 65’ full of life including plumous anenomes hanging upside down inside the cavern…

Last weekend diver Stuart T. got the picture featured here. And diver Robert Roy got some great pictures in the den, he’s posted them here on his Facebook page. (While you’re on Facebook, pay a visit to the Sea Dragon page.)

In all, four divers got pictures of our Dragon’s Den mascot last weekend, and in so doing, won themselves a Sea Dragon t-shirt.

Here’s an ode to the little critter courtesy Tony Hill:

Behold…A denizen of the deep…feared by all but the bravest of divers…mythical in status…yet so deeply misunderstood….
I feel a James Cameron movie plot comming on…

We have room for divers this weekend, July 2-3:

Howe Sound: room both days

Nanaimo: room on Saturday afternoon and on Sunday morning.

Call Jan to book at 604-329-3486.

More Dragon photos below – click on the image for a larger version.

These were taken in Howe Sound at Hutt Wall and Reefmaster.

Thanks Chris !

Click any of the pictures for a larger one

Last week Wes, Howie, Doug & Greg cut the very first diver access hole in the Annapolis!

Pics below courtesy Deirdre at the ARSBC.  Just click any of them for a larger version.

Jan did while on a trip to Mexico in June, and here’s the proof.

Jan meets a whale shark, up close and  personal like.

Click any of the picture below to see large versions.

Says the brave Ms. Breckman:

Although this is not BC diving, I was [...]]]> Sometimes you just have to say yes.

Jan did while on a trip to Mexico in June, and here’s the proof.

Jan meets a whale shark, up close and  personal like.

Click any of the picture below to see large versions.

Says the brave Ms. Breckman:

Although this is not BC diving, I was in Mexico the second week of June and had the once in a lifetime experience of snorkelling with the whale sharks. What an incredible rush to drop down gently into the water with them, look through your mask underwater at these magnificent creatures, and just gasp in utter amazement!!

The photos were taken on May 7 during dives at Cowan Point and Bird Islet. Viz was generally pretty good, except for the layer the small jellies (2.5-3 cm) were [...]]]> Last weekend diver Dan Clements got some great photos on his dive, and has been kind enough to share them with us.  Says Dan:

The photos were taken on May 7 during dives at Cowan Point and Bird Islet. Viz was generally pretty good, except for the layer the small jellies (2.5-3 cm) were hanging around in. Kevin and Jan are great at taking us to really nice locations.

Dan’s also the author of a book called Critters, Creatures, and Kelp. It’s about marine and plant life in Puget Sound, focusing on Edmonds Underwater Park just north of Seattle, and features more of his underwater photographs.

Proceeds from book sales are used to fund maintenance and improvements at the Park.

The web site is www.critterscreaturesandkelp.com.

Thanks Bob to the gang from the Emerald Sea Dive Club !

Here’s Bob’s note:

It was a perfect day for diving aboard the roomy “Topline” – Sea Dragon’s new charter boat.

Sunny weather, [...]]]>

These pictures are courtesy Bob Bailey from Washington State, who also sent along his impression of  last weekend’s diving.

Thanks Bob to the gang from the Emerald Sea Dive Club !

Here’s Bob’s note:

It was a perfect day for diving aboard the roomy “Topline” – Sea Dragon’s new charter boat.

Sunny weather, mountains gleaming with new snow, and calm seas gave promise to a good day.

The boat pulled up to our first dive site – Cowan Point – and we dropped into surprisingly good 30 to 40 foot visibility. As we made our way down the wall, cloud sponges started appearing at about 80 feet. At 100 feet they were getting shapely and interesting. At 120 feet we found a large one that sheltered a red fur crab, snapped off a quick picture, and started making our way back up the slope, letting a gentle current carry us along. Small, sandy shelves provided a foothold for sea pens and tube-dwelling anemones, making me wonder if we would see dendronotid or tritonia nudibranchs … but not on this dive.

We paused when Cheng found a tiny grunt sculpin nestled in the arms of a red sea star, taking pictures and watching its herky-jerky antics as it appeared to be seeking a comfortable perch among what must’ve appeared to it as giant cushions. Further on we came across a beautiful, and quite large painted anemone.

While I was taking pictures of it, Cheng discovered a beautiful janolus fusca nudibranch with a tiny flabellina “dive buddy”. A short while later, perched on a rock, we discovered a small but colorful juvenile Puget Sound king crab. By then we had worked our way up quite shallow, and so we did our safety stop and ascended in a sheltered cove to find the boat waiting nearby to pick us up.

After a leisurely surface interval we did our second dive at Worlcombe Island. Once again the wall structure proved to be both interesting and full of life.

Colorful patches of pale zoanthids and orange cup corals punctuated a variety of different colored sea stars and green sea urchins. Yellow-margin dorids were abundant on this dive, along with the occasional janolus fusca.

Toward the end of the dive I found a grunt sculpin peeking out from an abandoned giant barnacle shell. Nearby another grunt sculpin was flittering about seeking its own shelter. We did this dive as a series of switchbacks up the wall, and surfaced to find ourselves not 30 feet from where we had descended. It was another fine dive with surprisingly good visibility and a delightful variety of creatures to see.

Overall it was a memorable day in Howe Sound.