Land of the Lost Pt. 2 - Ahousaht

Diving around Vargas and Flores Islands in search of whale food can be an interesting adventure. Current, pour and limited visibility and waves from the open ocean can all make things much more challenging when diving on the West Coast.

Leaving from Ahousaht each morning our general plan wasn't to dive with whales but document the amount of krill we saw as we swam in different areas. Krill are the tiny little shrimp, or crustaceans that Humpback Whales feed on.

The team of researchers we headed out with, were collecting krill, kelp and water samples everywhere we went.

Some of the spots we dove were so covered in krill that there was almost no visibility underwater. It was like swimming through brown pea soup. Clouds and clouds of life everywhere.

Most of the sites we dove had a great deal of marine diversity and healthy reefs fill with fish and invertebrates.

Black Rockfish

Boot Sponge

Penpoint Gunnel

Red-banded Hermit Crab

The conditions were stellar for the three days we were in the water. Unfortunately despite of all the life, and clouds of food we never did see a whale, however the week after we were there reports of whales were flooding in to the research center.

Plumose Anemone

Getting to spend time in these remote places is truly an honour and an even bigger one when I get to see the life underwater as well. I can not wait to get back out there and get more images. Maybe even a whale for now I just have to settle for an octopus shot.

Giant Pacific Octopus

Thanks for reading

Scott

For more stories and images - http://www.scottstevensonphotography.ca/