Field Trip to British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, Sept. 98

Dirona albolineata.
Vancouver Island
British Columbia
Canada
Sept. 1998

From left to right, branchers Sandra Millen, Alan Grant and Michael Miller at the boat dock Nanaimo, British Columbia during a field trip to British Columbia Sept. 25th to the 27th. Sandra very graciously set aside her busy schedule to join Alan and myself for diving saturday and sunday. Alan and I flew up the 24th, rented a car and rode the ferry over to Vancouver Island. The diving at this time of year is not unlike California Channel Islands diving. The water temperature hovered around 55 degrees f. depending on what depth you were at. The visibility although not spectacular, was more than sufficient for branching. There were more than enough branchs crawling about to take our minds off the water temp! Alan, who specializes in the video rendition of nudibranch activity was enthralled with all the new animals we encountered at British Columbia. Sandra's drysuit leaked a bit on the last day of diving, but other than that incident, Mr. Murphy took a back seat during the trip (for a change)! Saturday, we joined Marli Wakeling and other members of the Vancouver Underwater Photographic Society for diving at Dodd's Narrows, always a memorable dive! The work product of three (3) days in the water resulted in the following species list:

Acanthodoris hudsoni
Acanthodoris nanaimoensis
Aegires albopunctatus
Aldisa cooperi
Anisodoris nobilis
Archidoris montereyensis
Archidoris odhneri
Cadlina luteomarginata
Dendronotus dalli
Dendronotus iris
Dendronotus rufus
Dirona albolineata
Erbranchus rustyus
Eubranchus olivaceus
Flabellina trilineata
Flabellina verrucosa
Hermissenda crassicornus
Janolus fuscus
Melibe leonina
Selected species from the above list will be featured in upcoming Branch of the Week presentations!

Although diving conditions weren't always as tranquil as can be seen at Sunset Beach, Hammond Bay, we thoroughly enjoyed the trip and hope to make the trip an annual pilgrimage to Vancouver Island. Coming from Southern California, we especially enjoyed the refreshing and invigorating air we encountered each morning as we greeted the new day! With the current exchange rate for the US dollar to Canadian Currency, it can be quite reasonable. My recommendation for a diving operation is Ocean Explorers Diving which is completely unsolicited! This is my second diving experience with their operation and they have always strived to accommodate us and our interests(branchs)!