This isn't an "official" trip report but does qualify as a bit of a "crazy" story I surmise....

Now I'm still not back to Florida yet from my treks so the best pics will have to wait till I get back as I'm not very patient at editing on my laptop for sure (I want my "real" computer!)

Here's a post I just put on my site about new friends in Port Hardy, B.C. (yes this was going on about the time Alex, et al, were next door......)


"Self-portrait" of "Gumby the wolf-eel and myself - one of my new "friends" that I spent a lot of time underwater with:


Friends are what it is all about and making new friends above and underwater was a big part of my two weeks at Browning Pass Hideaway - offshore Port Hardy, British Columbia.

Even though I’m still traveling home at the moment (remember I’m doing a cross country + B.C. driving trek, visiting friends and family and diving of course........!) Anyway I’m still not home yet but I wanted to update you all on some of my fav characters I met for the first time.

The wolf-eel above is in excess of 7 ft. long! But as John deBoeck, our cool captain and host at Browning Pass Hideaway said, wolf-eels “are the golden retrievers of the sea” -- often very curious and “friendly”! We named this wolf-eel “Gumby” and that will be made clear in future posts, but for now just note that Gumby the wolf-eel and I spent a lot of time together underwater and really “bonded”. :-)

Continuing on with friends made below are two fellow divers I met and dove with. Often when the weather gets challenging as it does at times in Port Hardy - well divers can get, let’s say, “creative” with their time not able to be spent underwater. This isn’t always a bad thing as you can see we discovered (with John deBoeck’s help) more little friends (Gumby, Pokey & Boat-Pokey) that wanted to experience the wonders of the underwater world! In fact Valerie even wrote some “rap” lyrics to document the event. Of course much more on this but for now here is a tidbit:

Ocean/Jelly/Jett
(Named for parts of our three individual websites as follows:)
Ocean(grant Images) - Carol Grant, middle
Jelly(fish Productions) - Valerie Lyttle, right
Jett(Britnell Photographics) - Jett Britnell, left



Ocean/Jelly/Jett name conceived by Valerie Lyttle
Ocean/Jelly/Jett Rap written by Valerie Lyttle -
with * annotation by Carol Grant

Ocean/Jelly/Jett

Ocean Jelly Jett
What you see is what you get
Gumby and Pokey without a net
With divers they just met
Next to wolf-eels - please don’t pet*
With cameras - now get set
In the wet

Ocean Jelly Jett

Rap by Valerie Lyttle

*annotation by Carol Grant - while Ocean/Jelly/Jett is generally not in favor of contact with marine life that could be construed as “harassment” Ocean/Jelly/Jett - (henceforth in this annotation known as OJJ) - OJJ does reserve the option to “pet” the said creature if it “pets” us first*

So see what can happen to divers with a little too much bad weather... :-0 :-) :-0

LOTS - more to come, just let me trek back to Florida first.

Best, Carol

Looks like fun; waiting for further chapters and pics.

Excellent, stuff. Glad you had such a great time.

Have a good drive home, Carol.

Alex

Great shot Carol. I'm still waiting for a good photo op with the Wolfies. They always seem to be "over there" when I've dove the Themis..safe travels.

Rand

Hey Carol, safe travels home. And, you missed a few other new WP folks that you met next door. lol...Cheers

Look forward to seeing the images

Todd

Well, it looks like the "marine mist" was out in Clam Cove. High time I got back there and saw Cap'n John. Then again we have a wolfie next door in Howe Sound. Not quite as friendly as those at Hardy..released from the Vancouver aquarium breeding program, they don't come out to play, and prefer Dungeness crab to red urchin. (Go figure).
Enjoyed the posts,
Marli

Thanks all, hi & more to come. Yes staying at Browning Pass & hanging with John, his wife Noel, friends, helpers & fellow divers was quite an experience! And yes we had some nice weather too. In fact Marli one of my roomies was Renata who you know from Barkley Sound days I'm sure.

I'm typing on my iPhone now & it's painfully slow compared to my computer @ home but I wanted to say what an extraordinary day I had yesterday. Now I'm finishing the last part of this trek on land with my husband Theo (who doesn't dive)-but I really got to appreciate his younger life today as we took the scenic route from Denver CO to Santa Fe, NM to see his parents. He grew up here with his family & friends of artists & writers and every 1/2 mile he would say something like "I went fishing for trout here with my Dad & Edward Abby-we caught the trout with our bare hands" and "over that way is where we used to go stay at Georgia O'Keef's ranch" and "In that house my Dad wrote the short story 'My Apples' - maybe the apple tree is still there?"

So it's been quite the extraordinary trip even above water!
PS if anyone reading this doesn't know who Edward Abby and/or Georgia O'Keefe were you should Google it as they are quite influential Americans! In fact we might get to go mushroom hunting with a guy Jim who was a character in Edward Abby's book 'The Monkey Wrench Gang' & that was all 'real life' stuff they did (along with Theo's Dad too!) :-0

More soon Carol

Monkey Wrench Gang is one of my favorite books! Did Jim really help put sugar in the bulldozer's gas tanks when they were trying to build Lake Powell? Or was he the guy with lots of wives spread out in different towns?

Great shot there of the diver & friend, so when you say self-portrait which one took the shot

Sounds like a great trip.

[quote name='TheRealDrew' date='Sep 24 2008, 10:49 AM' so when you say self-portrait which one took the shot
[/quote]
You know Drew -- 'Gumby' was like some sort of 'merman' or something! Plus possibly he is even a more accomplished underwater photographer than I & with that long/wriggly tail......, well maybe I'll have to list his copyright info on that shot!

Well Jeff I think we are going to have interesting breakfast conversations after manatees forsure! Data I've "gleaned" - well let's just say a lot of it cannot be posted on this forum... :-0

But in answer - most definitely yes to the former & no to the latter ( but do remember says Theo that a lot of that took place in Utah where some in isolated spots still had leanings towards an ancient customary form of family life... :-0 ) :-)

I did hear there might be a movie coming out about "The Monkey Wrench Gang" - I guess they might be waiting till all the real life participants have expired & cannot reveal the full truth... Actually from what I've surmised the "truth" will probably never be known as compliance, instigation & responsibility (along with a lot of finger pointing..)
have become obfuscated in the minds of the survivors most definitely!

Aside from that Theo says he liked Edward Abbey's 'The Monkey Wrench Gang' but his favorite of the Abbey books (and we have them all) is 'A Fool's Progress'. But I like 'The Brave Cowboy' because Theo & his Mom are in the book & I found out who the heroine is based upon.

Plus it will even be a little longer till I return now as I'll be staying here a bit to help Theo's mom and photograph the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta!!! I'm so excited to see the 'Special Shapes Rodeo"!

More Soon Carol

I am not sure you need to worry about thaat But I bet Gumby does not have to worry about checking gauges so he can focus solely on shooting, a big plus there I bet

Great shot, whichever one of you took it...