Diving with Steller Sea Lions, Quadra Island, British Columbia

Wow! What and experience, I do not even know how to begin to describe what it feels like to dive with Steller Sea Lions!!  It was so thrilling, exciting, intimate, and FUN!!!  When I first saw this trip advertised back in January by Becky of Liquid Productions Inc., I immediately felt the desire to go on this once in a lifetime adventure but, responsibilities and other obligations quickly put the idea on the back burner.  However, it kept rumbling inside of me and two weeks before the trip was about the embark, I received an influx of funds that enabled me to decide to spend my 50th Birthday Diving with these amazing sea lions!

The journey to get to Quadra Island, British Columbia involved driving, three flights, and a boat ride all while lugging along my dive gear alone.. Once I finally arrive, Becky graciously greeted me and made me feel at home. Diving in the Northwest is all about the tides and making sure you are in the water at slack tide, therefore our first day of diving after my long journey would begin at 7:30  am.  I could not sleep due to the time change and arrived at the dive boat on a dreary morning to be simply exhausted.  I was trying to remain optimistic and even though it was cold and dreary, my first dive to Steep Wall was spectacular!  The colors along the walls were festooning in pinks, purple, yellows and orange.  There were so many species of sea stars, sea cucumbers, sea anemones, and small fish.  Becky had advised to drop down to about 70-80' along the wall to see these enormous tube worms that were fluffy and colored in vibrant hues of blue and red, they were impressive.  This was a drift dive and it was so relaxing, the just the perfect entry to diving this area.  Our next dive was on a wreck called the Columbia...

The Columbia sits in about 110' of water and was sunk in 1996 as an artificial reef.  Prior to its demise it was a destroyer that served in the Royal Canadian Navy from 1959-1974.  The wreck is marked by three buoys which makes for easy and selective access to different parts of the wreck.  We decided on the stern section which comes up to about 70'.  As I descended, it was cold and dark but the visibility was still at least 30-40'.  There was not a lot of growth on the wreck and it was very easy to navigate.  I did not travel far when I saw the gun turrets and inside one of the turrets was a Greenling.  I also noticed that the wreck was not completely stripped and I could easily see lots of artifacts, including lights.  I sure wish I was prepared for artifact recovery.  I unfortunately terminated this dive after about 30 minutes due to the cold however, upon ascent along the mooring buoy I could not help to notice the abundance of marine line on the buoy line itself.  It was covered in kelp, tube worms, nudibranchs, and sea anemones.  I would have loved to spend time with my camera hanging around the mooring buoy line!

Mooring Buoy over the Columbia Wreck

The next day and 3 days after we did two dives a day at Vivian Island and Mitlenatch Island with the Steller Sea Lions.  We had plans to dive the Calipano and the Gulf Stream Wrecks but, given the fun we had with the sea lions we all decided to skip the other wrecks and hang with the sea lions.  My first time in the water with these amazing animals was on my birthday.  I have to admit seeing how large they are and how big their teeth were I was a little anxious about jumping in the water with them.  The also make loud barking and burping noises that seems ferocious...The water depths in the areas of the sea lions were about 20-40' so you could spend great amounts of time underwater with them.  As I settled on the bottom awaiting for them to come, I couldn't help to notice even here on these rocky islands the underwater world was so colorful and abundant.  I would take photos and video waiting for the sea lions to come and play.  When they would come into the area, they would come in quick, swim all around you and then leave, a few minutes later,  they would come back and get a little closer.  They are not shy about coming right up to your face, nibbling on your fins, arms, or head.  They are best described as puppy dogs that simply want to swim around,  play, and use you as  a chew toy.  I had quite a hard time trying to shoot video or photos of them since they move so quickly and I also was so preoccupied with just observing them.  On our way  back to the dock from my birthday dives we ran into a school of Orca Whales and Pacific White-Sided Dolphins.  I truly felt blessed to have spent my birthday with  Steller Sea Lions, Orcas, Dolphins, and lots of Bald Eagles too.  All of my new dive friends  were saying that my birthday brought us such good luck and an amazing day!  We topped off my birthday with a gourmet meal overlooking one of the quaint harbors of Quadra Island.

Orcas!

It turns out after we saw the Orcas they headed over to the sea lions for a meal.  We were afraid that the sea lions would be leary of us and of entering the water the next day but, they were not.  It is interesting to see how nature plays out.  As the days went on, I felt more and more comfortable with the sea lions and we actually started to name some of the larger ones.  I think they became accustomed to us divers too as they were not fearful of us.

I have complied some of my photos into a slide show and while looking at them I realizes that I did not take as many photos as I typically do because I was so enthralled with the sea lions, I just felt like putting the camera down and living in the moment.  I was also fortunate to be diving with a group from all over the US and Canada that were all strangers to myself, and each other and yet, we all meshed and had a great time together.  In addition to diving together we enjoyed great barbecues and bonfires at night with Leon being the master chef and fire master!

I would have to say that the experience I had diving around Quadra Island with the Stellar Sea Lions is a definite highlight of all my diving experiences and I would highly recommend that all divers try to experience this once in their diving life...I also cannot say enough thanks to Becky Schott for organizing this trip (Becky worked tirelessly to make sure everyone was happy and content) and to Pacific Pro Dive and Marine Adventures for their top notch dive boat and staff.  This trip was out of the box for me, as I traveled a great distance alone but, something inside of me guided me to persevere.  Always take a risk and follow your dreams, life is meant to be lived!!!

I will eventually share some underwater and above water video, but for now please enjoy the still shots.  I am planning on doing my first dive of the 2016 NJ Wreck diving season next week..can't wait!