BC Spearing Trip: Round 3 (2008)

[Amphibious]

I just "invested" a large sum of money in new toys for this trip. I am such a gear slut


Lee has to promise to make his heaven in a bowl chowder

[Erik]

What you buy, Gearpig?

[cdavis]

I'm 6' 1" and 155 lbs, as in skinny, and get cold easy. I have a 3 mil Elios, but that won't be near enough. I don't care what it looks like, pink will be just fine if it keeps me warm enough to dive.

Connor

[feign]

Originally Posted by Amphibious

I just "invested" a large sum of money in new toys for this trip. I am such a gear slut


Lee has to promise to make his heaven in a bowl chowder

Sure Colin, as long as you promise to share your sleeping bag again

What did you buy to make us jealous? I bet it can't beat the pistol pneumatics. Eric F, you need to come and show off your weapons.

[Fondueset]

Got ya covered! I'm 6'1 160-165! You can wear one of my 5 mil tops (Colin - your not alone, brother) with my 1.5 mil titanium vest and 6 mil bottoms. If thats not enough we'll switch out and you can use my 6 mil top too. (assuming I make it - if I don't I'll send you the suit to use) I'll bring some raw coconut oil too - (not for Colin's sleeping bag!) - it really helps you stay warm.

[cdavis]

Chris, you are a scholar and a gentleman, Thank you! I'm planning to experiment with the kidney kicking oils and maybe get one of those kidney heating pads too. Need as much help as I can get.

I will probably be heading your way with Jon in July. Looking forward to it.

Ok, now to plan how to get there.

Connor

[Amphibious]

lee, you scare me, I'm locking my tent zipper :P

Is lars onboard? need the TC07 crew in full

oh, nothing special, just a few toys, but we will have wireless internet from the campsite to keep DB informed on the This trip

[Fondueset]

Thats mid-June Connor - and you'll need to borrow a suit then too!

You can email me direct at cm@michiganfreediving.com

[feign]

I talked to Lars tonight. He wants to come and is going to start arranging his schedule. We need to hear from a few more....

[laminar]

Hi guys,

I'm going to be in Ontario for those dates exactly.

If anyone wants to come for a visit for a day or two the week of August 3-7th, I'll be around and diving locally. I'd love to see any of you, even for a couple of hours so I can lay bets on who will eat the most swamp donkey.

Sorry I can't make it...

Pete

[tylerz]

Umm, just seeing all this for the first time... sorry for the delay and lack of feedback! Been a crazy period in the life of underwater sea urchin feasting, lots of competition with eels and otters these days, so I have been preoccupied.

Anyhow, it sounds like you guys have a plan, but whether for this year or another trip I thought I would share my delayed response to the queries. First off, the closure to finfish in the area of Tahsis/Nootka Sound is a very specific closure. There would not be much excitement to fish in the locations specified anyhow, so it does not have a significant impact on any spearfishing adventure to the areas. The only discouraging part for myself in a minor way, is the end of the Tahsis Inlet towards Tahsis is where sometimes I used to get flounder. No big deal.

I have been diving on the open west coast not much more than 6 times. Each area giving very different experiences and none so far striking me as the eureka of spearfishing. They are always wonderful diving experiences just for the exploration, the experiences, the unknown, and the wilderness. Giovanni and I did a trip to the North end of Nootka Island and after a while came across a location with some of the black rockfish freeswimming by us, which I took a couple of. The lingcod were too small and as usual the greenling were in plenty everywhere. There is big fishing in and around the area though for lingcod and halibut so they have to be there. We did not explore for very long as we tried our hand at fishing first and used a significant amount of time up. Given a more intensive coverage with a dedicated skipper, or dedicated alternations of skippers, I am certain some prime spots would be found.

Besides the fishing interests, the area is incredible for viewing otters, whales, and the open west coast atmosphere. There are trails running down the whole coast of Nootka Island which are incredible and similar to the West Coast Trail, with one beach having falls pouring down onto the sandy beach. There are cabins that can be rented at the south end from the First Nations inhabitants, which I believe are fairly cheap. Or there is a surf camp operation that operates mid-way through the trail and has cabins.

If we were really adventurous there is just tons of coastline to explore north or south of Nootka, and maybe some way to camp and have a daily pickup and drop at new locations by a boat operator. However, with a good number of people and organized well it may not cost much more than what has been paid for the TC boat. The more I am saying this, the more excited I am getting about the concept. Going where nobody has dove before, camping where nobody has camped before, safety of daily boat attendance, and the west coast. MMMMMmmmm.

Anyhow, if you guys have any other information or perspective you wish about the west coast, let me know and I will try to assist, now that I am aware of the talk.

Cheers,

Ty

[feign]

SOLD!

Tyler,

Listening to your brainstorm about that area has me very interested in considering a change in local. Your knowledge of the area would be very useful. While you admit lacking the knowledge of prime spearfishing locations, this is not much different than heading out to TC, as we are contemplating exploring for new sites there as well. My limited impression is that the fishing pressure may not be as high in that area as in Broughton Strait (TC).

Are you available during the proposed dates? What are your thoughts about what type of boat/operator? Do you know any in that area?

lee

[Erik]

Thanks for the info Tyler!

[Fondueset]

Assuming I'm able to pull this together - I'm up for anything so long as its not signficantly more $$ than TC. I'm partial to having shore diving at least available at hand but have no prob diving from boats - I just like to spend max time u/w.

[iceselkie]

OK dudes, I'm hoping to get some time off mid-june to get out there, unless I somehow do some weekending?? Will see. Aug 9th doesn't work for me, I'm going to Shambhala Shambhala Music Festival