Hey, what a great trip. From what I am told it was the Swells’ second outing. Wow are they every organized already, I never noticed any new bumps or growing pains along the way. What makes a good dive trip: the people. guests and crew, the food and of course the diving.
The people.
I went as an add on with the Innerspace Kelowna group. Great group. Lynn made it easy for me to get to the boat, I hitched a ride with her and Darrell and we convoyed to the boat. Fast trip if you sleep the whole way. ha ha. My dive buddy was Don, and we had a philosophy: pay close attention to the dive briefing and never separate… ha ha ha or was it go with the flow and see ya at the safety stop. The group was a great mix of energy, stories and laugh.
The crew were great. Well what does one expect when infamous Captain Al is paired with Chris and B? That combo ensures that we are getting the experience and dedication we all want on a dive boat. Just remember that Chris is the story teller; get Captain Al saying some jokes and the night will be great. B has an aura of comfort and her food is amazing. Each meal and snack created a variety and abundance that I will take home with me and it will take many gym hours to work off. Claire was hostess and made the small dinning room feel like there was ample room and made us all feel like the family we became.
Engineer Larry was easy on the eyes and great to joke around with.
The Food
This was amazing, the amount offered and the variety. I remember one night being Italian meal and one Mexican meal and one Canadian holiday meal. Every lunch had a fabulous soup to warm us. Each meal had a low calorie option, however, I usually basked in the glory of all the options. Throughout the days there were snack option of fruit, and cookies. The Bar offered soft drinks and an assortment of drinks were offered with a cost.
The Diving
Three dives offered a day with a night offered during the trip. Anchoring areas were always great for scenery with deers, eagles, and potential for pelagics but was not our luck for those this week.
The water was about 5 degrees. The sites were as amazing. Browning Wall, Seven Tree, Hussar Point, Fantasy Island. What made the dives so great was that Al and Chris would tell it exactly the way it was. If the water was at the end of Ebb and switching to Flow, that is what they would say and exactly as it would occur. Their description of the sites and main features were so accurate that navigation was never a question.
The visibility was about 50-60 feet. some days close to 100. We (quite an experienced group) didn’t take long to start seeing behaviors in the crabs and our photographers loved the healthy, abundant and large plumose. The living walls of anenomies, crab variety, octopus, cup corals, and shell fish were evenly balanced with flabellinas, dorids and hulk size orange peels. The wolf eels were a bit shy this trip but they always make my dive trip.