The ferry pulled away from the dock at Tsawwassen at 10:00 am.  The day was sunny and beautiful with hardly a breath of wind to stir the water.  What a way to begin Camp & Dive 99.  After a quick crossing to Galiano Island we left the Queen of Nanaimo and drove 8 kilometres to the provincial campsite at Montague Harbour.

We didn’t have camping reservations, but it was Monday, the end of the long weekend, so people would be leaving.  What a surprise as we toured the small campsite and found it completely full.  Not only that, the walk-in campsite was also full.  Thankfully there was a big field for overflow camping and soon our tents joined the others already there.  Montague Park is beautiful and tranquil, set among large old trees.  Eagles soar overhead and the ocean is beside you.  Before even a single dive we were all relaxed and content.

Diving on Galiano Island is an experience beyond words.  At the southern end of the island is Active Pass and at the north, Porlier Pass.  Underwater both are covered with every type of marine life imaginable.  In between are many other excellent dive sites with walls, caves and a variety of life.

Our first dive was at 8:00 Monday evening at Spanish Hills, near the north end of the island.  Six of us descended into an underwater world of beauty and colour.  Slowly we swam through kelp forests and then descended the steep wall where we saw immense sea urchins, plumose anemones, sea stars, brittle stars, sunflower stars, nudibranchs and many, many types of fish.  Visibility was pretty good and everyone had a great dive.  Even though this was not an area of high current, marine life and colour were everywhere.

Monday night we were treated to a beautiful light show as thunder pealed and dry lightning flashed all around us.  It continued Tuesday morning as we started our day by moving our campsite.  Tim and Diane had reserved two walk-in sites, so our tents and gear were taken up the hill into the old forest where we set up our camp.

Our first dive of the day was in the afternoon at Active Pass.  Again it was a hot sunny day even though thunder heads circled just off shore and all day thunder continued to rumble in the background.  At slack tide we rolled into the water off the aluminum skiff belonging to Aaron of Leadfoot Diving.  Active Pass is a delight.  Visibility varied up to 40 feet.  The steep jumble of immense underwater rock slabs formed a maze of small caverns which were full of fish, including some of the largest ling cod I have ever seen.  Most impressive though was the carpet of life.  Everything seemed to be covered with sponges, hydra-corals anemones and other organisms.  The predominant colour was a  bright white.  That was the first thing that struck me as Krys and I sank into the water.  It was like diving among snow drifts.  Yes, there were lots of other colours - blues and purples and greens and reds - but the background was white.  The white soft bodied organisms framed everything else, making the other brightly coloured creatures stand out and be easy to see.

At one point in the dive I looked down to see Krys only 12 inches from an immense cabezon.  They were face to face, but Krys had not seen the big headed cabezon staring at her.  With a flash of my light I got her attention and pointed to the fish she was about to bump in to.  As Krys saw it she just about jumped out of her drysuit, and then stopped to admire this huge fish whose natural camouflage made it blend perfectly into its surroundings.

The clear water made the dive even more enjoyable.  I watched a small shark slowly glide by ahead of us, only to quickly turn and flee as it sensed our presence.  As we were finishing our dive we rose into another beautiful kelp forest, a perfect place to explore for a few minutes as we did our safety stop.  But it was not to be.  We had no sooner arrived than the wake of a BC ferry hit us and set us rolling madly around in the water.  For a couple of minutes it was all we could do just to hold a constant 15 foot depth. We surfaced into bright sunlight and within seconds Aaron had his boat beside us and was taking our weights and tanks so we could climb aboard.  Thunder still rumbled around us.  Once everyone was aboard we headed back to Montague Harbour.  Aaron brought out cookies, loaf and iced tea for everyone.  This first dive with Aaron really impressed me.  He is very professional yet at the same time very friendly and open.  Everything is ready to go when he says it will be ready.  His dive briefing was concise yet covered everything.  And of course, cookies and iced tea help a lot.

Our next dive was that night back at Spanish Hills.  Seven people were going to do the night dive, but during the sunny, hot afternoon the divers one by one succumbed to the hot day and decided not to dive.  In the end, only Kelley, Mike and I dove.

I love night dives.  The darkness forces you to focus on only the spot where your light touches the bottom.  At Spanish Hills there is lots of kelp so we had the added pleasure of a night time stroll through the kelp on our way to and from the rock wall where we descended to 60 feet.  As during the previous day’s dive here we saw many fish and lots of life.  At one point we crossed over an area which was completely carpeted with brittle stars as far to either side as I could see.  They were toe to toe forming a pattern like a lace tablecltoth, all slowly moving across the bottom.  Again, we had an excellent dive.

The next morning, Wednesday, was my last on Galiano.  I had to catch the late afternoon ferry home.  First, however, I had an amazing dive with some very affectionate wolf eels.  Again it was Aaron who transported us to the dive site, this time near Porlier Pass.  This time, though, Aaron dove with us, guiding us to the home of the loveable wolf eels.  His partner, Christine, was on the aluminum skiff to pick us up when we surfaced.

For this dive all of us descended together and stayed in one large group as Aaron led us down 55 feet to the eels.  Here too we saw lots of life, including a very large basket star which we stopped to admire.  But this was not the goal of the dive so we soon moved on, continuing our descent.

My first warning that we were near the wolf eels came as a four and a half foot eel came madly dashing from her den towards me.  She slowed as she passed and I reached out to stroke her soft body.  Other hands shot out as all of us converged on her, and soon she was basking in the attention of seven divers.  What a loving little lady she was.  She loved to be held and have her tummy rubbed, and went from diver to diver seeking attention.  We were all happy to oblige her.

As I was watching everyone stroke the large male eel, I was suddenly aware of something right under my mask.  It was the female wolf eel, curling herself up in my lap and looking at me, her face only inches form mine.  I wrapped my left arm around her and with my right hand began to stroke her side and tummy.  She rolled over and snuggled into my arms just as if she were a little puppy.  What a strange experience.  Here I was, 60 feet underwater, with a four and a half foot eel curled up on my lap as I stroked it.  It was an experience I will never forget.  We came from different worlds, but for a few moments our worlds touched and we enjoyed each others company, forgetting how different we were.

Before we left we fed the eels an early lunch of sea urchins.  Then we left them to each other and continued our dive, looking at other fish and invertebrates.  For me the dive really ended as we left the wolf eels, our two worlds once again parting.

We surfaced into the sparkling sunlight of a beautiful day and soon were aboard the boat.  This was my last dive - I had to return to work.  I had only four dives at Galiano Island, but they were four unforgettable dives.  I will forever remember forests of kelp, a sparkling white carpet of sponges and hydra-corals and a loving wolf eel curled up in my arms.

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