Lookout Point 18/10/2009

Lookout Point 18/10/2009

Prior to this Sunday, the weekend was looking pretty dismal. It seemed like we might be diving in the pouring rain, but it cleared up some which was great. It was still overcast, however the air temperature was very warm. I was diving with Jason Kolba, and we had picked a new dive site: Lookout Point. It's just north of Whytecliff Park, and was a bit hard to find. The access trail was hidden and not well marked. It was right at the Y intersection of Arbutus Road and Arbutus Place. We stopped the car right there and unloaded our gear. You had to look for the small trail leading into the trees by the telephone pole. There was also a wooden bench/platform at the start of the trail to help you gear up/down, and there were dive signs as well (well hidden though). If you go down into Arbutus Place, you came across a closed and locked gate. That wasn't it!To get to the water you had to hike, but it wasn't much farther than Whytecliff. The path was not as steep either, but it looked like it could get pretty muddy and slick. The one problem was that there was no parking there. We had to park the car at Whytecliff and walk back..

We ended up taking one cylinder down to the beach and leaving it there, while gearing up at the trail head and walking down. It worked out pretty well. The shore was pebble beach (well, maybe the size of small rocks not pebbles), with a lot of logs and debris. Caution was needed! Still, it was a pretty easy entry to the water. Everyone at the shop said to try and dive the site on slack tide, because the currents could get very strong. Going left around the rocky point was also recommended, so that's what we did. I led the first dive, and Jason led the second.

The bottom of the bay was very smooth and sandy. After a head to toe safety and bubble check a la GUE/DIR, we headed fairly far out and around the rocky point. There was a wall, but we weren't on that until later. Out on the sandy bottom we saw a dungeness crab snag a big fish right in front of us and scuttle off with his prize. We tried to follow him, but he was way too fast. He wasn't keen on sharing his meal I guess! There was also a huge shoal of shiner perch that reacted to our lights by darting back and fourth.

We curved back around to the west and soon ran into the rock walls of the point. It had several tiers, and you could go to pretty much any depth you wanted. If you had enough gas, you could swim all the way around and end up in Whytecliff park. On the rocks were the normal huge variety of sea-stars and anemones. It was different than say Porteau Cove, because there were little “garden patches” of life on the rocks. There was a pretty cool chiton, and a new brown fish that I'd not seen before. Unfortunately without a camera, it was pretty difficult to remember exactly what it looked like. I was trying to take Alan's homework assignment seriously and I hugged the bottom contours as much as possible to practice my buoyancy. As well, since there was quite a lot of sediment, it helped keep me conscious of my finning as well. My frog kicks seemed to be doing better too after watching some GUE training videos. At least, that's what Jason said later. Progression was good!

I found some treasure on this dive too. Something glinted on the bottom, and I went to check it out. It turned out to be a large foot-long fishing reflector with some damaged hooks attached. I put the pockets on my drysuit to use and scooped it up. It had some line attached to it, so that was good to clean up since it can be so dangerous to wildlife and to divers. I also came across several bottles on the bottom. I guess with it being so close to residential houses that invariably people have tossed some in. I didn't pick any of those up though since they were starting to become part of the habitat.

The current during and at the end of the dive was pretty strong, so it was a bit difficult to swim against and we both got tired. In the end we got back into the bay and paddled about next to the shallow inter-tidal sections looking at the sea-stars and kelp before finally surfacing. It was a fairly long dive, coming in at about 40 minutes. We were pleased.

Jason trekked back to the car for the lunches and I watched the gear on the beach. I think I got the better deal! It was a pretty peaceful spot. No one else was around, which was a nice change from Whytecliff. We talked a bit about our skills and performance on the dive and after relaxing for a bit, geared up and headed back in.

The second dive was the best one. Visibility was pretty good on both, but there was a very pronounced thermocline at about 10m near the tip of the point. Once past that, it was quite clear with visibility to about 40 feet or so. I was using my new Heser backup dive light. It was super cool and performed really well. I can't wait until I get my canister light though. It will make signalling and cutting through the gloom a piece of cake.

So on to why the second dive was better. It was because of the giant pacific octopus! We were about half-way along the wall heading out to the left of the bay when there he was hugging a rock. Jason passed right over him, but as soon as I looked down I realized it was no ordinary rock. It was right out in the open too, and at least two to three feet across. If you stretched out his tentacles, I'm sure he'd be five feet easy. He was moving slowly, and there was a large ling cod nearby eyeing him. I think the cod might have been target of the octopus. He didn't change colour much while we were watching, and remained a lightish brown. It was by far the biggest octopus I'd seen. The other ones were the smaller varieties. This guy made the dive for sure.

There was also a nice white nudibranch, as well as some small shrimp in some crevices. The ever-present copper rockfish were in great abundance too. There was also a brown four-armed sea star that I wasn't sure about. I think it was a sand star missing one of it's legs.

Again, the current played a bit of havoc with us on the way back, and we had to work pretty hard to make progress. Once we surfaced, all we could talk about was the octopus! All in all, a great set of dives. We planned to go out the next weekend, hopefully to some new sites up in the Deep Cove area.

In the end, the only bad thing that happened was a minor accident with my new p-valve. On the last dive, I tried to use it and something went wrong. I'll just leave it at that! Thankfully, it was the last dive, but my drysuit wasn't so dry any more, hah.