Port Hardy BC Trip

Glad to hear you are a colour coordinated guy. You pros always dressing for the occasion.

I too dive colour coordinated. Black drysuit with black hood and gloves. Black mask but, bright yellow fins to match my alternate hose protector.

Hold it, I now have blue dry gloves...that just ruins to whole thing damn it! OOps Darn it!

My dry gloves are still floating around the gulf of St. Lawrence, but they were leaking after a fisherman caught me in the north east of Scotland and needed replacing.

Thing that worries me on this trip is I look too much like a sea lion with the black suit & Volo fins Maybe revert to Quattro's (circa 94).

You might get better Orca shots looking like a seal (Orcas wanting to give you a personal once over) if we are lucky enough to have a resident pod and they put us in with them. Conditions have to be right for that plus, wide-angle in the open makes for dark backgrounds.

They told me one time last year some transients cornered some whitesided's in the harbour on that picture you sent and they could see the dolphins being flipped out of the water. They cornered them up against the one wall apparently. Don't want to mess with transients.

I'll be as happy as a clam if we get Orcas. I love those surface shots with the mountains in the background and the blow with the dorsal out of the water. Beautiful!!

I think Deb would be proud of that shot Bob!!!

Me, I'm colour coordinated too.

Black Hydrotech drysuit

Black Hood

Black Sherwood stab

Black US Divers mask (+black silicone)

Black Northern Diver dry gloves

Black Sherwood regs (with black 2nd stages- Maximus & Blizzard)

Black Navy CD fins

You could say I like black......Difficult to see me on a night dive though!!!

Hi Mark,

I didn't want to gum up the Critique gallery with chit chat on Port Hardy. Where are you going Bear spotting? Vancouver itself is a large city but I'm sure there are outlying areas that might have a Bear or two. Just curious.

Wherever the salmon are at!

Where are you going Bear spotting?.

I was wondering the same thing....thinking hmmmmm, what kind of bears are they talking about. I think Mark mentioned it was before they head to the dive boat, so I was assuming it would be up at Port Hardy. But they are seen in North Vancouver backyards sometimes.

cj

We are going to book the Bear & Salmon tour at Port Hardy with Outdoor Experience http://www.outdoorexperience.ca/bearwatching.htm

This tour travels up into the mainland mountain fjords to view grizzly bears as they feed on the river estuary grasslands. This company uses a 27' Welded Aluminium Cruiser and a Zodiac to cruise through forest-studded islands, and often see black bears on the beach at low tides, harbour and Dahl’s porpoises, harbour seals, and many seabirds such as marbled murrelets and pigeon guillemots. The trip stops after one hour at a marine gas station, where you can stretch your legs and use the washrooms. Continuing on the journey we will enter the spectacular coastal fjord with its snow capped mountains, steep-sided cliffs, and aqua-blue waters. We run another hour to Bear Cove where we drift, paddle and motor quietly around the estuary to watch grizzly bears as they feed on the sedges and grasses at high tide. At low tide the grizzlies flip over 100kg boulders to eat crabs, isopods and beach barnacles. Sometimes we see grizzly family groups and watch with delight as young cubs roll and play at the water's edge. We remain on the boat for your safety and also to minimize our impact on the bears. After a good viewing of the bears we motor down the inlet a ways to have lunch amidst the wilderness grandeur.

Looks like it will be an excellent trip. We are hoping to arrive in Vancouver on Aug 20th in order to spend a few days in Vancouver & Port Hardy for bear watching before we board for the diving on the 24th.

Mark

Mark, I've spent some time fishing for Salmon in Port Hardy and all along the coast up to the once famous Rivers Inlet. Never seen anything like you just described. Just kidding. The Rivers and Mountains alone are worth the trip. Wild life is abundant but Grizzlies? If you do see them it would be awesome. In fact, I'd suggest you put you camera in the housing and jump in for an O/U picture. Remember, Bears can't run uphill very fast or is that downhill........

In fact, I'd suggest you put you camera in the housing and jump in for an O/U picture.

Can't they swim? I'll stick to the Boat anyway I think. Having said that an O/U shot with a grizzly in the background would be awesome eh? It might even compare with Bobs superb O/U shot posted recently.