The Birthday
The following was an article that I originally wrote for the newsletter of the New England Aquarium Dive Club. I was a member there during 1998 and 1999, when I was living and working in Massachusetts.
I present the story here as originally written. I'd like suggestions regarding how it might be improved.
In early September 1986, 6 other divers and I were aboard the Redonda Bay, a dive boat operating in the protected waters of northern British Columbia. The Redonda Bay, unlike most modern live-aboards, was primitive at best, which seemed to fit the wild and craggy landscape through which we passed. Although we departed from Kitimat, the journey's end was to be five days later at Prince Rupert, the northernmost city on the Canadian western coast.
The first two days of the trip had been cool and overcast. While the seas were calm, dark, and not the most inviting for diving, the diving had been good. We finished day 2 with a night dive in Hawk Bay on Fin Island, our anchorage for that night, followed by a soak in one of the natural hot springs.
Day 3 dawned as the previous two days: cool and overcast. After breakfast - and a brief and unsuccessful shore search for a floating underwater camera, lost during the previous night's dive - we raised anchor and motored to the mouth of Hawk Bay. There, we did our first dive of the day.
The bottom is made of tumbled boulders, covered in life. A carpet of brown, broad-leafed kelp, half obscured by silver patches of encrusting bryozoan, prevents the rock from being visible over enormous areas. There are nudibranchs everywhere, the most common of which are small white nudibranchs. Many are engaged in egg-laying, producing large white spirals. Where the kelp does not hide the rock, brilliant purple encrusting coralline algae does. Large colonies of orange social sea squirts and orange cup corals contrast with the algae. The colors are magnificent: red crabs; red, pink, and green anemones; sculpins in pink and green; orange, red, and white sea cucumbers; pink, purple, and red sea stars; bright orange sea peaches. The total effect is mesmerizing, and an hour passes by much too quickly. If I had gills, I would stay longer.
We left Hawk Island shortly after noon, and lunched on the way to Eddershank Island in Nepean Sound. The weather continued overcast and cool. The shore, rising steeply from the water, slipped by. Except at the water's edge, the rocks were completely hidden underneath a cover of dense, dark green pines. Their reflection in the water made the water even less inviting than before. The peaks of the hills were obscured by fog. By 4:00 we had arrived at the island. The trees on shore were impressively tall, with most approaching 100' in height. Surrounded by silent giants, we prepared for the second dive of the day.
This dive site is completely different from the previous one. The broad-leafed kelp is absent, but it's been replaced with plumose anemones. They're huge, most exceeding 2' in height and some approaching 3', and there are so many of them that, from a distance, the rocks look ghostly white. The riot of colors continues here, as it does everywhere on the west coast. There are hydrocorals, sea pens, cup corals, tube worms, crabs of every description, red and purple urchins, sea cucumbers, and sculpins and rockfish in large numbers. There are nudibranchs too, but not the same varieties seen at Fin Island. Instead, these are mostly red-gilled and giant nudibranchs. This dive lasts only 50 minutes, not nearly enough time to explore every nook and cranny. Must we leave?
While the tanks were being filled after the dive, the compressor developed a problem: a broken belt. There was no replacement aboard. Tom, the owner and captain of the boat, contacted home base and arranged to have a replacement belt delivered by air to Kitkatla, about 60 miles to the northwest. We couldn't be there until the next day, and at that we had to hustle to recoup as much of the day as we could. Fortunately, it wasn't too far out of our way. Although some of the tanks had been refilled, there would be no more diving on day 3.
We weighed anchor and headed up Principe Channel. Supper was prepared, and we ate shortly before nightfall. The sky was clearing in the west. It looked as though some nice weather was on its way for day 4.
Immediately after supper, many of us learned that it was Brenda's birthday. Mark, the organizer of the trip, had known about this beforehand and had managed to smuggle aboard a birthday cake without alerting the other passengers. Just before sunset, we had our birthday cake in the open air on deck at the boat's bow. Seven people quietly enjoyed each other's company after a satisfying day of diving (and after a good meal), the sunset glowing the shade of sea stars through breaks in the clouds, the steady, quiet chug of the engine, the gentle lapping of water against the hull. The scene could hardly have been more perfect.
At the final setting of the sun, two Dall's porpoise came to ride the bow. We laid down on the deck with our heads overhanging the bow to watch them. They scooted and danced less than 6' below us, shooting from side to side, occasionally turning slightly on their sides to look up at us. Moments later, they were gone, as quickly as they had arrived. We told Brenda that the porpoises had come to celebrate her birthday. She needed no convincing. She already knew.
It had been a good day.
I present the story here as originally written. I'd like suggestions regarding how it might be improved.
 |
| Running to Kitkatla on the Redonda Bay |
The first two days of the trip had been cool and overcast. While the seas were calm, dark, and not the most inviting for diving, the diving had been good. We finished day 2 with a night dive in Hawk Bay on Fin Island, our anchorage for that night, followed by a soak in one of the natural hot springs.
Day 3 dawned as the previous two days: cool and overcast. After breakfast - and a brief and unsuccessful shore search for a floating underwater camera, lost during the previous night's dive - we raised anchor and motored to the mouth of Hawk Bay. There, we did our first dive of the day.
The bottom is made of tumbled boulders, covered in life. A carpet of brown, broad-leafed kelp, half obscured by silver patches of encrusting bryozoan, prevents the rock from being visible over enormous areas. There are nudibranchs everywhere, the most common of which are small white nudibranchs. Many are engaged in egg-laying, producing large white spirals. Where the kelp does not hide the rock, brilliant purple encrusting coralline algae does. Large colonies of orange social sea squirts and orange cup corals contrast with the algae. The colors are magnificent: red crabs; red, pink, and green anemones; sculpins in pink and green; orange, red, and white sea cucumbers; pink, purple, and red sea stars; bright orange sea peaches. The total effect is mesmerizing, and an hour passes by much too quickly. If I had gills, I would stay longer.
We left Hawk Island shortly after noon, and lunched on the way to Eddershank Island in Nepean Sound. The weather continued overcast and cool. The shore, rising steeply from the water, slipped by. Except at the water's edge, the rocks were completely hidden underneath a cover of dense, dark green pines. Their reflection in the water made the water even less inviting than before. The peaks of the hills were obscured by fog. By 4:00 we had arrived at the island. The trees on shore were impressively tall, with most approaching 100' in height. Surrounded by silent giants, we prepared for the second dive of the day.
This dive site is completely different from the previous one. The broad-leafed kelp is absent, but it's been replaced with plumose anemones. They're huge, most exceeding 2' in height and some approaching 3', and there are so many of them that, from a distance, the rocks look ghostly white. The riot of colors continues here, as it does everywhere on the west coast. There are hydrocorals, sea pens, cup corals, tube worms, crabs of every description, red and purple urchins, sea cucumbers, and sculpins and rockfish in large numbers. There are nudibranchs too, but not the same varieties seen at Fin Island. Instead, these are mostly red-gilled and giant nudibranchs. This dive lasts only 50 minutes, not nearly enough time to explore every nook and cranny. Must we leave?
While the tanks were being filled after the dive, the compressor developed a problem: a broken belt. There was no replacement aboard. Tom, the owner and captain of the boat, contacted home base and arranged to have a replacement belt delivered by air to Kitkatla, about 60 miles to the northwest. We couldn't be there until the next day, and at that we had to hustle to recoup as much of the day as we could. Fortunately, it wasn't too far out of our way. Although some of the tanks had been refilled, there would be no more diving on day 3.
We weighed anchor and headed up Principe Channel. Supper was prepared, and we ate shortly before nightfall. The sky was clearing in the west. It looked as though some nice weather was on its way for day 4.
Immediately after supper, many of us learned that it was Brenda's birthday. Mark, the organizer of the trip, had known about this beforehand and had managed to smuggle aboard a birthday cake without alerting the other passengers. Just before sunset, we had our birthday cake in the open air on deck at the boat's bow. Seven people quietly enjoyed each other's company after a satisfying day of diving (and after a good meal), the sunset glowing the shade of sea stars through breaks in the clouds, the steady, quiet chug of the engine, the gentle lapping of water against the hull. The scene could hardly have been more perfect.
At the final setting of the sun, two Dall's porpoise came to ride the bow. We laid down on the deck with our heads overhanging the bow to watch them. They scooted and danced less than 6' below us, shooting from side to side, occasionally turning slightly on their sides to look up at us. Moments later, they were gone, as quickly as they had arrived. We told Brenda that the porpoises had come to celebrate her birthday. She needed no convincing. She already knew.
It had been a good day.
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