Dive Review of God's Pocket in
Canada

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God's Pocket: "Wolf Eels, the GPO, and so much more!", Nov, 2017, by Eric Eckes, CA, US ( Contributor 18 reports with 11 Helpful votes). Report 10061 has 2 Helpful votes.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	A friend of ours, Richard Salas, is a commercial underwater photographer, and runs several trips a year to God's Pocket. My wife and I were about to find out why... God's Pocket is located on an isolated island about 45 minutes by boat ride from Port Hardy. It has been owned and operated by Bill Weeks and Annie Ceschi since 1998. Bill runs the dive operation and Annie runs the kitchen and accommodations. The rooms are small but comfortable. Heating is provided by hot water running through pipes in the floor. We were never cold. There is a family room-style type room that is available for guests to hang out. It comes equipped with a tv to view your photos/videos. Internet is very limited and apparently the resort is allocated so much time each month. As we arrived near the end of April we were shut out. It was actually a blessing as the surrounding grounds were beautiful and we had travelled with six good friends. The restaurant features one long table and meals were served family style. There was a great variety of food, there was plenty of it, and it was delicious! Now for the diving. Every day we did three boat dives varying with 2 in the morning and 1 in the afternoon or vice versa depending on the tides which change dramatically daily. The dive boat is something special. As we were diving in 45 degree water we wore drysuits and the extra weight that comes with them. Getting out of the water was not a problem as there was an elevator at the stern that brought you up to the deck. Sweet! The boat had a reasonable sized dive deck and a large cabin that held all divers from the elements. Hot chocolate was available after each dive and was oh so good! Dive times varied each day in accordance with the tidal changes. Bill has been doing this at God's pocket for almost 20 years and knows the currents like the back of his hand. Currents could change mid direction during your dive and some were quite fun. My favorite was probably diving 7 Tree Island which is shaped somewhat like a cigar or narrow oval. Bill pulled to one end of the island and had us jump in and follow the current along the side of the island. As we reached the end of the island the current changed 180 and guess what? The current brought us right back to the boat! Most people had cameras and of course we were after the critters. High on the list were the Giant Pacific Octopus (GPO) and Wolf Eels. Bill let the suspense build during our 6 nights and during the second half of the trip we dropped down at Fantasy Island which actually sits underwater. We dropped down to the sand at 73 feet and cruised along the bottom looking for openings where wolf eels congregate. It took us a while but we started finding them. And then we hit the motherload...Mongo! Mongo was a VERY large wolf eel and was very active on our dive, often coming out several feet to play with us. I had seen several cool fish and now I had the wolf eel. Every night we would assemble in our family room where Richard Salas would give us photo lessons. Richard does it like no one else I've seen. Richard has a camera tethered to the tv and he would take photos of these little objects he created called kervals (sp?) and would show us different ways to light our objects. Richard showed us alternate ways to positioning the strobes facing the subject to moving the strobes off to the sides to give a more 3D look. Until I met Richard I thought backscatter was bad. Richard show us ways that backscatter can actually enhance photos. Back to the diving. Night diving is available right off (and under the dock). There is a fair amount to photograph. Diving off the dock gives a new name to the work "muck" diving. You can bring a muck stick but it probably won't do you any good as this is the thickest muck I have ever seen. I could take my muck stick and with my arm extended drop it into the muck and not touch bottom. Bring good buoyancy skills as the muck is rather fine. The weather can change dramatically overnight and we found that our last day of diving would be cut to one early morning dive as Bill had to get us to Port Hardy before a nasty storm rolled in. If we didn't go before noon we would be stuck for at least a couple more days. We left the dock in darkness and headed back to 7 Tree Island. Bill dropped us off at the same end of the island and we cruised the right side and started back along the left side. By now our group had split up and I was alone. I was still missing the highly prized GPO. As I was heading back to the boat I spotted him/her/it! There was a small GPO (is that an oxymoron?) hanging off the side of the reef and it was more than happy to let me photograph it. My dive buddies were nowhere to be found so I had this beautiful creature to myself. Anyway, the trip was amazing and we have already booked with Richard to return next June. Bill and Annie were amazing hosts and I can't say enough positive things about them. If you have time, fly into Victoria and spend a couple days. A very beautiful city. Thinking about next June...
Websites	God's Pocket
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Indonesia, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Malaysia, Philippines, Truk Lagoon, Palau, Yap, Mexico, Galapagos, Cayman Islands, Bahamas, Red Sea, Cocos Island, Cuba, So Cal Local, Canada
Closest Airport	Victoria, BC	Getting There	We flew LAX to Victoria then rented a car and drove up to Port Hardy
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, rainy, cloudy	Seas	calm, choppy
Water Temp	45-45°F / 7-7°C	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	60-60 Ft/ 18-18 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	The only restriction was observing tidal changes and being back on the boat at the designated time
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	1 or 2	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish	N/A
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	God's pocket doesn't have a dedicated camera room. They do have rinse tanks and they have a room available to all guests to assemble your gear and watch your photos/videos on a large tv screen but it is more living room style (I'm not complaining...it was very comfy!)than your traditional camera room.

Report currently has 2 Helpful votes

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Dive Review of God's Pocket in Canada

God's Pocket: "Wolf Eels, the GPO, and so much more!", Nov, 2017,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of God's Pocket in
Canada