Otherworldly: Divine Diving @God’s Pocket

"Best cold-water diving in the world"

Travelling from Aotearoa involved a 14-hour flight from Auckland to Vancouver, a 45-minute drive to Tsawwassen, a 2-hour ferry to Nanaimo, a 4-hour drive to Port Hardy and then a one-hour boat trip to God’s Pocket. Something of a mission, complete with 50kg of luggage. Cold water diving and photography are equipment intense!
A further observation is that while I cringe at the gas-guzzling of the huge American four-wheel drive utes that they utilize for supermarket runs, they are far
easier to load up with vast quantities of dive gear than my trusty, fuel-efficient Suzuki Swift!

These waters are known as the ‘best cold-water diving in the world’. I joined a trip with Blue-Green Expeditions, an American company I’d dived with previously. Somewhat unsurprisingly, I was the only non North-American on the trip. God’s Pocket refers to both a marine reserve and a ‘pocket-shaped’ sheltered cove that hosts God’s Pocket resort. The nutrient-rich waters are pushed through current-swept passes, providing spectacular diving.

The tidal flow means that dive times are dictated by the tides. God’s Pocket is open to divers in spring and autumn (or fall to the North Americans). In summer the plankton blooms reduce the water visibility and in winter it’s just too cold. Our trip was the last one of the season prior to the resort closing for winter. The water temperature was 10 degrees, and the bitterly cold winds and frosts that cleared by lunchtime, coupled with 3 one-hour dives per day, left me chilly on occasion. Dry suits were essential, and dry gloves recommended. I wore a halo undersuit, dry gloves and an 11mm hood.. and survived!

Our first checkout dive was at Hoodie Nudi Bay where the sandy bottom allowed us to safely check our weights and gear. Hoodie Nudi Bay’s main attraction is the (who’d have thought) prolific hooded nudibranchs – Melibe leonina. These translucent white nudibranchs are up to 15cm long and consist of a hood used to net prey. The hoodednudibranchs in the kelp forest with sun rays reflecting through clear water made for ideal photo opportunities. The sandy bottom was home to North American native orange sea pens, swaying gently in the current.

The dive sites are a treasure trove of walls, rocky outcrops, pinnacles and prolific kelp forests. The biomass is overwhelming with the vast seascapes teeming with life. Everything seemed super-sized with almost metre-high giant plumose anemones, dinner-plate-sized white spotted rose anemones and the 15cm long, amusingly named ‘orange peel nudibranchs’. However, I happily pulled out my macro lens attempting to capture photos of tiny shrimp sheltering in the branches of sea pens and numerous elegant nudibranch species. Many critters were new to me and I spent my evenings poring through sea creature identification books.

Browning Pass is another world-famous site where huge plumose anemones cling to the sheer drop-off and brightly coloured corals and sponges crowd into every available spot of rock. We did one notable night dive in the shallow waters off God’s Pocket resort. Shrimp glared angrily at us, sailfin sculpin – their elongated dorsal fin is sail-shaped – rested in the sand and luminescent nudibranchs emerged from the shadows.

We encountered several wolf eels, actually fish, that possess the ultimate ‘face only a mother could love’ with their crooked shell-crunching teeth. The waters are home to akaleidoscope of sponges, vivid corals, rockfish and greenling. Brightly coloured red Irish Lords stared indignantly at us. God’s Pocket is truly an underwater photographer’s dream location.

While present, unfortunately, none of the resident giant Pacific octopuses (GPOs!) ventured out of their dens to interact with us.The wonders are not limited to underwater. On the short boat trip to dive sites, we spotted bald eagles soaring, otters popping their heads above the waterline and dolphins
pirouetting.

The resort catered well to divers with endless hot water and luxurious heated floors in our rooms, not to mention an onsite chef who kept our pukus full of nutritious and yummy kai.

The dive boat is spacious with a diver–lift making things easier in the sometimes challenging conditions. The resort staff are easy-going, friendly and know the waters and conditions like the back of their hand. As expected, Blue Green expeditions ran a well-oiled trip.

All in all, yet another dive location I’d love to return to!