After one trip to the area with Seymour Inlet Lodge I'm hooked on the area and the charter operator. In a place like this you need people with solid local knowledge and Seymour Inlet Lodge has this. The diving in this area has a real wild feel to it and is unlike any other I have done in B.C. I am sure this area is on its way to becoming a diving hot spot.
Type:
Boat dive.
Location:
A boat dive about 5 min from Seymour Inlet Lodge.
Above Water:
Just one of the many tree covered islands in the area.
Underwater:
A small wall with boulders at the bottom, the wall and boulders are covered with all types of tunicates. There are stalked ones,
broad based ones and clear ones. There are also a good selection of fish
including schools of Black rockfish and lots of Sculpins. Seymour Inlet lodge uses this dive as one of their
warm-up dive sites, but in many places it could easily stand on its own as a great dive.
Warnings:
Current while not nearly as strong as other sites in the area can still be way more than you could swim against.
Type:
Boat dive.
Location:
An offshore Island near the mouth of Seymour Inlet just off of Bremner Beach.
Above Water:
A small rocky island, we did see a few sealions on the surface.
Underwater:
Surge is the order of the day here. The island is exposed to ocean swells so there is lots of movement underwater. In some areas the rock are relatively clean while in others they are covered with Cement tubeworms or Soft coral and Sponge. Look for surge channels
to explore and "ride". This is the first and only site where I have seen Stalked jellyfish. I also spend a
exhilarating 10 minutes riding in a surge channel with two Harbour seals. If your looking for wild diving both figuratively and literally this site might be it.
Warnings:
This site is totally exposed to wind and wave action, you should be comfortable in swells on the surface and surge below if you plan on diving here.
Type:
Boat drift dive.
Location:
A narrow channel between Seymour Inlet Lodge and the open sea.
Above Water:
A channel several hundred feet across.
Underwater:
A shallow wall bottoming around 45-50 feet that is covered with invertebrates. The real fun here is to go for a drift currents in the 2-3 knot range shortly after slack are possible. These currents make for a great ride and allow you to cover a large amount of distance. This is a dive to take in the wide angle perspective as you sail by a wall of Tubeworms, Brooding anemones and Sponge. A very fun experience especially on a sunny day with the bright rays streaming through schools of Rockfish. A great drift dive.
Warnings:
Current obviously but that's about it, just go with the flow and let the boat pick you up.
Type:
Boat drift dive.
Location:
Ok I wasn't paying attention its about 10 minutes by boat from Seymour Inlet Lodge.
Above Water:
Water, rock, trees.
Underwater:
A wall to say 50-60 feet ending in a bottom covered in large boulders. Invertebrates, invertebrates, invertebrates, ok fish too, they are all here. We saw
Nudibranch, juvenile Puget Sound king crab, Giant parchment tubeworms and tones of Brooding anemones. Its real hard to put into words what is there without just giving a dry list of species, just take say 100 species of
invertebrates and sprinkle over the bottom and add large schools of fish. Amazing stuff.
Warnings:
Current, don't get so distracted you forget to look at your gauges now and then.
Type:
Boat dive.
Location:
Not far from the Outer Narrows of Seymour Inlet
Above Water:
A low rock reef and kelp bed.
Underwater:
Gorgonian corals, that's why people come here, they are here and they are shallow (40-80 feet). This is the one and only time I
have seen gorgonians but even without them the dive would be great. The rock are covered with basket stars, more than I have ever seen and the Rockfish were
beautiful as they schooled on the edges of the kelp bed. Every dive has an image that stands out and for me this one had the gorgonians and a school of Black rockfish hovering in the emerald water under a canopy of kelp. A must do dive.
Warnings:
Some current and I think this site could be effected by wind but not when I was there.
Type:
Boat dive.
Location:
Ten minutes from Seymour Inlet Lodge in the center of Nakwakto Rapids (the fastest navigable water in the world).
Above Water:
A small island maybe 200-300 feet in diameter.
Underwater:
Ok this is it, why I came, why almost everyone comes here Turret Rock AKA Tremble Island, talk about adrenalin rush. The dive for me was
easier than its reputation made out (perhaps because of the professionalism of Seymour Inlet Lodge). People dive here to see
sub-tidal Gooseneck barnacles, beautiful red barnacles with mother of pearl shells that grow in huge clumps on one side of the island. They were amazing to see a big mass of colour. You should not overstay you visit with these beauties however since as the current increases you are at a real risk of being "blown off' the dive site ending you dive. As the current picks up you
continue around to the back side of the island to the backeddy created by the island, here you spend the rest of you dive (ours was 67 minutes). The backeddy is a mass of life big yellow Sulphur sponge, Parchment tubeworms and so
many brooding anemones that I think I got a bit carried away photographing them (or so my wife/divebuddy says). As we came to what was obviously the end of the dive we could look up from or position in the backeddy and see streams of white water on either side as the current increased and the backeddy's size decreased. On big tidal exchanges I assume your dive time would decrease.
Warnings:
Current and be sure to follow instructions so you don't get confused and wander off the main dive area and out into the channel where the current will pick up and sweep you away.
Type:
Boat drift dive.
Location:
As the name implies this is the narrows between Seymour Inlet and the sea.
Above Water:
A channel opening to the sea.
Underwater:
What can I say more great walls covered with invertebrates, look around you might find some of the
barnacle of the same type as found on Turret Rock. At this site I saw the biggest Red Irish lord I have ever seen. I also saw masses of skeleton shrimp covering clumps of sponge. Tunicates, Sponge, Soft coral and anemones all blanket the wall a great spot for photography.
Warnings:
Current .
Type:
Boat drift wall dive.
Location:
Well sort of around the corner and not far from Turret Rock.
Above Water:
A rock face leading down to the water
Underwater:
With a name like Cliffhanger you know its a wall. From the surface down to about 80 feet there is a wall with the biggest variety of invertebrates of all the dives I did in the area. Many in the group I was with picked this as their favourite dive. In the first 5 minutes of the dive we found a
juvenile Wolfeel, a bright red Mosshead warbonnet, a Decorator warbonnet and a Grunt sculpin. It is not however the fish life that make this dive its the invertebrates all kinds of them. I saw more species of tunicates than I knew existed
along with anemones sponges and all types of snails and nudibranchs. This is a great dive that is another must do in this area.
Warnings:
Current.