I am definitely psyched to go.
In terms of location, I have a few ideas.
In the telegraph area, we never touched the God's Pocket area, which is reputed to be the best by far. So if we do the general area again, I definitely want to hit God's Pocket.
The real disadvantage to the telegraph/God's Pocket area is the cold water. You have to realize that in most of BC, the water temp in summer (June/July/August) is usually 17-21C on the surface. Compare this to the telegraph/God's Pocket area which is 10-12C -- a huge and dramatic difference.
I would categorize the possible areas as follows:
1. Northern Vancouver Island
Can be broken down into Telegraph area, God's Pocket area, and then over on the west coast, Tahsis, which has world class sites such as Mozino Point and Espinosa (and also much warmer water than the North East coast).
2. South Island: Victoria/Nanaimo/Saanich Inlet
High quality dives sites, but much closer to civilization. Some incredible sites like Race Rocks, but many sites are marine protected. This area also includes the southern Gulf Islands, which are surrounded by incredible sites, but generally they are far enough apart that you need a boat to jump from one site to another.
3. Cambell River (East central island)
Apparently very good -- I haven't dove there though.
4. Mainland: Sunshine coast
This area offers large possibilities, including four world class sites
- Agamemnon's channel
- Fearney Bluffs abyss
- Skookumchuck narrows
- Sarah point
The water is also relatively warm, and the visibility is enormous. However, good camp sites are limited, the main one being Mermaid's cove, which isn't really close to any of the above dive sites. Sarah point is only accessible by boat or by monster truck (literally).
5. Mainland: Sechelt Inlet
- A long inlet far from the open ocean means calm water with big vis. Dive sites are numerous, and there are some extremely remote camp sites only accessible by boat, including Nine Mile Point, which is surrounded by world class dive sites. This area has several famous shipwrecks as well. The water temperature is warm.
6. Inland: Indiam Arm
- Indiam Arm is another inlet which stretches WAY inland. The northern section of the inlet is extremely remote and unpopulated. Once again the inlet means calm water with big vis. There are some incredible world class sites in this area, and there are also several campsites, some of which are on islands only accessible by boat or kayak. The water here is very warm.
The choice of site comes down to the following questions:
1. What sort of balance between incredible marine life (sightseeing), and abundant fish (spearing) ?
2. What sort of water temperature ?
3. Camping or staying at Inns ?
4. If camping, then is it luxury camping at a full facility site (i.e. Jim Doe style), or is it remote minimalist camping?
5. Would we be renting a boat most days ?
6. Would we be renting kayaks ?
If we could agree upon the answers to the above four questions the site would present itself automatically. It may even be that last year's site (Telegraph) is the best solution to the situation, I'm not sure, it depends on what people want.
I also want to do some spearo action footage. Hopefully our trusty captain is still about.
