The original plan was to dive out of Vancouver, but we figured being out at the island, we might as well sneak some dives in now, it's supposed to be some of the best!
We grabbed some coffees on the way to the dive shop and showed up to get our gear together. There was a girl from Sault Ste Marie who'd been diving in Thailand, she'd be coming with us. An older couple, and the boat driver's girlfriend. She became the leader by default, 'cause only she had been diving on the sites we were headed for.
The draw of Race Rocks was that it's known as the mating grounds for both Elephant Seals and Sea Lions. Often, the water is so full of them that you can barely swim without brushing through them. Unfortunately, we're here in the low season so our chances are pretty slim. We did however see a big ol' Elephant Seal clambering around on shore as we pulled up to the dive site.
He was easily 3000 pounds. There were some Steller's Sea Lions and some Harbour Seals as well, but none of them deigned to hop in with us, they were quite content to bask in the rainy grey day.
That didn't stop us from having an excellent dive however! Alex and I had both opted for dry suits, not wanting to get into the 7mm wetsuits everyone else was wearing. After diving Iceland last year, we both wanted to stay as warm as possible. I got given the sheep-wool undersuit for my dry suit...apparently it mysteriously appeared in the shop one day, and they've never let it go. It was the warmest i've been in a dry suit, and for that I was profoundly grateful.
Having done only one dive in Canada, and that one in Lake Simcoe (strictly for a dry suit course, don't ever dive in Simcoe if you don't have to) I was keen to see what British Columbia, the self proclaimed "Most Beautiful Place On Earth" had to offer beneath its seas. It was very cool, and not exactly what I expected.
A lot of it reminded me of Iceland, the haphazard rocks strewn about, the filter-feeder types clinging to every rock, but what surprised me was the long stringy kelp, as thick around as a gas-pump hose on the surface, but thin as a pen on the bottom...yet strong enough to anchor the boat to. The mushroom-like filter-feeders that blanketed parts of the ocean floor, and the Sunflower Sea Stars, starfish with dozens of arms, sometimes as many as twenty-four that were everywhere, in every size, and every colour.
Lots of fish came to say hello, including one particularly large Ling Cod, with fluorescent blue spots across his back. Got right up beside him before he decided it wasn't the best idea for the two of us to hang out.
The dives were both reasonably comfortable, in spite of the 10-12 degree water, our dry suits kept us snug and heated and the coldest we were was up on the boat, in the gray spray of the open ocean during our surface interval. The girl from the Soo hadn't gone on the first dive, she'd gotten nervous once in the water and come back aboard the ship, so she finally mustered the confidence to follow through on this dive, this time.
About twenty five minutes in, I felt a tug on my fin, and there she was, frantically gesturing upward. I looked around, the rest of the group was still nearby, and there didn't seem to be a problem, but she was in a panic. She held up her air gauge to me, reading 900 PSI (which for reference, is just below 1/3 of a tank, and usually means time to go back) and frantically pointed up, up, up. I gestured that the two of us would go up. Coming up from 70 feet is not something to do lightly, and it's always prudent to do a two minute safety stop at about 3 metres down, to let your body decompress. I kept signaling to her, stop here, stop here, and gesturing two minutes, pointing to my wrist as though I was wearing a watch. She wasn't having it, and burst straight up to the surface. Her reg came out immediately and her mask came off, and she was breathing heavily...but nothing seemed to be wrong. The first dive she'd had trouble with her leg...she'd twisted it earlier and wasn't comfortable swimming (why she would then try to dive, I don't know) but this time she just seemed to be overcome by a general panic. She was worried she wouldn't have enough air left, she was afraid she couldn't breathe, etc.
This was a general panic attack. She didn't feel comfortable, she didn't feel safe, and most of the danger she was in would've been created by her own panicked actions. This is why they tell you "Stay Calm" in a dangerous situation. That sounds like common sense, but when you're in that state of emergency...it isn't. It doesn't process. You just want out of where you're uncomfortable and back to where you are.
Like Chef says in Apocalypse Now, "Never get out of the boat." Absolutely goddamn right.
We piled her back into the boat without incident, and tried to encourage her to take a refresher course under more comfortable circumstances in warmer water some other time. It didn't seem like she ever wanted to deal with diving again, which was a shame. Fall off the bike, first thing you do is get back on. But I guess it's not for everyone.
After a day of diving, we reconnected with James and Kirstie, who'd spent the day checking out local bakeries and spying out new rain jackets. Kirstie is a baker by trade, and had a professional interest in some of the island's bakeries she'd heard of. We all had Mexican food and then drove back to Esquimalt base to drop off the youngest Hogg.
It was something of a sad parting, but we all felt fulfilled by the time we'd managed to spend together. Last year I drove all the way east, and ran into James as he was living in Halifax, and this year, driving all the way west, I managed to run into him yet again. It was nice. One coast or another, there's always a Hogg. We said goodbye in the relative quiet of the naval base parking lot. But not before James consented to a quick interview in his room in the barracks.
After that there wasn't much to do but head for the ferry terminal. Kirstie was going on to Mayne Island to meet up with her family, while Alex and I had plans to head back to the mainland and catch some Z's. I was looking forward to being stationary for a few days, to catch up on my writing, my laundry, and my planning for Japan...which unbelievably is only three days away. It's only just now starting to hit me that the trip i'd planned for, is just about to begin. This adventure has really grown wildly out of control - but in the best way. Tomorrow I plan to interview Alex at his work, so he can talk a bit about what he defines success as...and whether it's brought him happiness. Until then, I sleep in a bed I can call my own...for at least three days.
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