Jason and I went out with the UASBC to help survey a wreck near Egmont called the Northerner of Clyde. The UASBC had dove it before in April 2010, and we were lucky to have one of those people along; Tim Novak.
We had to catch the early ferry to the Sunshine Coast, so it was a very early start. Everyone met up in good order and we made the ferry in plenty of time. Time enough to get a coffee in Horsehoe Bay fortunately, since I needed it!
On the trip over we prepped dive slates with Mylar and the dive instructions. Keith did a great job breaking out each team's responsibilities. We had three teams: one doing the deck, one doing the port and one doing the starboard. Main team activities were to get more accurate measurements of the wreck, get a compass bearing and document the overall layout.
When we arrived in Egmont, we met Bryce of B Line Charters. He had a water taxi / dive boat that would take us out. I learned later that Bryce had also sold the Topline boat to Kevin and Jan of Sea Dragon Charters. The dive community certainly was small!
The B Line boat was not badly set up, and fit us comfortably. There were no real benches, but there was a step down area where you could put on doubles. The main stumbling block was no ladder! Bryce said it was in Vancouver. Later I'd actually meet the guy making Bryces's ladder, on a trip over to Tuwanek.
It didn't take long to get to the dive site. We didn't know precisely where the wreck was, so Jason and I volunteered to find it. We also decided to do the port side survey.
I brought my new birthday present along on this dive, the GoPro Hero video camera that Heather got me. I left it on for the entire dive, and got some pretty interesting video. Hopefully I can post some soon.
Descending to the bottom at about 60 feet we started looking. Visibility was very good, and we quickly located the wreck. Although as I recall, I was looking in the opposite direction, and it was Jason who found it. I shot a surface marker, and we took a tour of things before getting into the tasks.
The first thing I noticed was the prop. It was still attached and in good shape. It looked great. The wreck itself was a lot smaller than either of us had figured at about 21 meters or about 70 feet. A lot of it had collapsed in, but the wheel house was still intact. The port side was pretty deteriorated, with a lot of holes. The vessel listed to port as well, to about 30 degrees, but overall upright.
We found a lot of debris and artifacts scattered on the bottom by the port side. Some things of note were coffee cups, plates, pulleys, tires, deck hatches and a metal box.
We completed our tasks pretty well but could not identify any engines or other machinery. It was too difficult to see inside the hull.
While surfacing I got some interesting video of of everyone on the way up. The bubble show was very cool.
Getting back on the boat in doubles with no ladder was tricky. We took our rigs off and climbed aboard, but hoisting the cylinders back on. Yuck. Ladders were good!
After some lunch we had to decide what to do next. In the end the Power Lines won out. They were not far from the wreck, so we headed back that way.
I had done the power lines before, and I was looking forward to it. It was an awesome dive. Tonnes of cloud sponges, as well as chimney sponges. We found one very interesting fish that was some sort of sculpin. There were some really nice frosted nudibranchs too. I will let the video that I should have together soon speak for me. The sun started to come out too which really helped brighten things up.
All in all, a very successful and enjoyable trip.
There are some pictures here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/AntonNorth/ScubaEgmontUASBC2011NorthernerOfClydeAndPowerlines#
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