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Campbell River... |
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The Campbell River looks like the last
stop before going into the wilds. (it's not really, just seems
like that see map) Although swift currents are the tradition, with
a knowledgeable Boat Captain, the currents can turn the dive into a
drift dive, much like those in Cozemel. The campsites are varied
but Elks Falls seems to be the closest to the docks and the salmon
swimming. both about 7 minutes to the dock and about 3 minutes to the
entry point for the salmon drift. Plenty of restaurants, fast
foods and markets and Mike's Hard Iced Teas....
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| Reference: | Firewood: Yes | |
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Campsites: Elks Falls Provincial Park |
Water: Faucets |
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Restrooms: Outhouses |
Showers: Nope (available at the marina $1=3min - it works OK) |
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Food: Plenty Markets/Restaurants |
Parking: apx 2 per campsite |
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Ferries: BC Ferry Schedules: We'll
probably try to catch the 12:45 or 3:15 over to Duke points arrive at
Campbell River apx 4-7:00-pm All:
http://www.bcferries.com/Tsawwassen
to Duke Point Schedule (just South of
Nanaimo, Vancouver Island) |
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British Columbia, Canada |
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How to Get there: Directions
to Campbell
River: The latest times are running about 2 hours on the Ferry
and about 2hours from Naniamo to Campbell River as the New highway is
90% completed to that point. |
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Comments: Various things to do up there. Explore Quadra Island, Swim with the Salmon and trip to the falls - probably a little longer hike than written about - better to drive - (good end of weekend thing) and plenty of guided activities More links for info: Vancouver
island info Salmon: How large?? Seals: Whales: Campbell River, Camping at Elks Falls Provincial Park and boat diving with W.E.
Services Dive Charters
Finish the weekend of diving with snorkel
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| Dive the
H.M.C.S. Columbia This Original Non-Modified Restigouche Class Destroyer Escort was sunk as an artificial reef on June 22, 1996. A spectacular 366-foot vessel, it sits at a 40° list to port with the bow at a maximum depth of 120 feet. The superstructure and wheelhouse reach approximately 60 feet. |
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Additional Links: |
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Currency converter |
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Talk about Fireworks.....????
Did you know that the Campbell River has the Dubious Honor of Hosting
the World's LARGEST
Non-Nuclear
Explosion.!!!!...
Yup... and here's the pic. Notice the size compared to the trees on
the shore... what a ride that would have been.... ;-))
I've been told that they apparently got a little enthusiastic and carried away with the idea of "MORE is Better....", the town Fathers loaded it up with TWO times the initial recommended charges, along the lines of 'Let's really do it with a BANG!!! ...' and just about Blew the Town off the map... so I'm told by an reliable source.. literally blew their socks off....
Here's a
brief summary with a link to the full, highly interesting story.
"...On that day, at 9:31 a.m., Dr. Victor Dolmage, consulting engineer for
the Ministry of Public Works, pushed the plunger that set off the largest
non-nuclear explosion ever. The blast pulverized 370,000 tons of rock and
displaced 320,000 tons of water. Rock and debris rocketed 1,000 feet into the
air. The explosion also created a 25-foot tidal wave which quickly dissipated
and caused no damage.
, "We saw a few bug-eyed snapper but that was all."
And in fact, there was a very small number of fish casualties. Planners intentionally scheduled the explosion for April when there were few salmon in the area. There were no documented cases of any dead salmon or herring from the Ripple Rock explosion..."
and you thought we had a fireworks display......
Here's what they did:
Now back to the Real reason to go up to the Campbell River.... Diving....
| This was a Campout on 8-10-01 with about 7
people from the Moss Bay Dive Club. Most arrived around 7:30pm
having missed the12:45 ferry due to it being full. Just barely
caught the next one. This was on a Friday.
The Campsite is just north of the town, but before you cross over the river. I got lost in the campsite, set the whole thing up, had the wine and cheese out and waited for the rest of the group to show up. At about 10:00pm I started to get a little concerned and figured out something was wrong with this picture, walked down to the front board, noted the RSVP was under a different site number and after about 45minutes later (large campsite of 168 spaces - NOT according to the map) I caught up with Mar and sister Mary Ann having dinner with Gail and husband (apologies can't remember names), and Kim and Stephanie to show up later. We met the boat comfortably at 9:00am, dove the first site, went to lunch, putzed around till 5:00pm and did the second dive. Both were great. 2nd day, on the way out, ripped my neck seal which cancelled all further dives. The rest dove the Columbia on the Scooters. Good weather with the exception of a short rain storm for about 4 hours - just enough to have to go buy a tarp, hassle of putting it up just in time for the rain to stop. Earl, Charter owner, came by and showed us how to prepare crab by hitting the back against an sharp object - one whack does it all. Kim and others bought fresh seafood, oysters, crab and scallops and had a feast. Pics below. Monday was the scheduled Salmon Drift dive, but we did it Sunday afternoon due to a possible rain storm on Monday, and then back down to home. Good trip. Met up with the Octopus Garden Group heading up to Port Hardy at the marina lunch spot... (by the way, they don't serve GOOD margaritas...) but they do have public showers next door... suggest after diving, hit the public showers then the restaurant. heheh why the bother to campout....??? you'll see below why.... |
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Welcome to Campbell River, Elk Falls Provincial Park. |
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A pic of the campsites typical for Elk Falls One table, 2 cars only. Fire pit with wood next to the water facets just down the road 50 feet or so. |
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9:00am take off with 5 divers this was a comfort. Apx 15 minutes and we were at the sites. Dove and came back, had lunch in the Marina area - right next to the boat docks- and then back to camp till 5:00pm. A leisurely dive schedule to be sure. |
| Campbell River 2002
or click here to Campbell River 2001
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...and so it begins, Campbell River
2002... just heading down for a look see.... |
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more like a 'block' party... next to the Columbia ship wreck. |
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Vis was Ok, but not like tropical stuff... |
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Some colors did come out. As you can see there is life all over the place. |
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Some a little on the dark side
and some?.... |
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... on the Bright Side... |
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... and some just hide, note the little pink anemone in the yellow. |
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...almost looks like the Pasadena (home town)
New Year's Day Rose Parade Floats.
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..an attempt at highlighting.... |
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Lotsa stuff hanging around in small areas, note the 2 scallops upper right corner, justa grin'n an a smile'n |
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Speaking of Scallops...
The under water's version of the "Smiley Face"? |
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...and yes,
There are fishies down there too... |
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Sometimes it pays to take lessons on Fishing.... |
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and other things too.... |
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Divers doing diver things.... |
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Not everything is red down there.... |
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but a lot are, it's amazing as I go past
these as gray dark-bland things, then shine a light on them... and
Voila'...
Ka-Boom!!... we have color... |
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Heheh... and some even blush...
(Ok, a little to much on the Color saturation) |
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...and more of the same... |
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Some act like fashion models...
all you have to do is find them and take their pic... Note the little purple shrimp at about 5 o'clock? |
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...just swimming along the trails... |
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looking for more stuff... |
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lest we forget the other reason for coming up
here...
Swimming with the Salmon.. A few bumps here and there, but overall fun... |
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as evidenced by this "River Rafter" Shooting the Wild rapids of the Campbell River.... |
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...and back to camp to brag about how we
"SHOT" the wild rapids of the Campbell River..
A good time was had by all.... |
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With that in mind, the Campbell River trip
for 2002 ends here...
Hope you enjoy the pics.... I couldn't put them all up, but will have them in different places...eventually. (below is the previous trip, without any underwater shots - broke my neck seal) |
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| Campbell River 2001 (below)
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Maryanne, Mar's sister from Hawaii, was giving a
demonstration of how the Volcanoes act in Hawaii. The next log
burned down the whole campsite and half of Campbell River...(joking) but
it was her 1st BIG fire and she was proud of it... She did it from scratch.... You did the Volcano Gods Proud.... Mar in the back ground cooking.... |
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then of course the Big feed. Note the blue tarp that
stopped the rain... works like magic...
When it starts to rain, run down, buy a tarp, hassle stringing it up
to trees, poles and anything that stands still longer than 5 minutes in
a full Rain Shower and |
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Captain Earl joined us for Din-din and demonstrated how to prepare a crab. Just one whack against the steel grill there, and all is done. Crab put out of it's misery, inner workings fell out and into the pot. You can see Kim's Oysters cooking on the grill.. of course all this is brought to you by Maryanne's fire. |
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Is that a happy camper or what...
Kim and his oysters.... Hmmm, why oysters??
I dunno... just cause...?
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and after a few Mike's Hard lemonade, wine and some local
brew, the intellectual conversations began...
What is the TRUE essence of "The Marshmellow"... and what is it's REAL purpose in life.... Notice, there's another NEW log on the fire... courtsey of ?? you know who... heheh... |
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and so it begins...... |
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...one must be at one with "The Marsh of the Mellow" Must eat... Again, Marshmallow Fire was courtesy of the Hawaiian Fire Goddess.. |
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Although some, just didn't find mellowness from "The
Marsh"
Some preferred mellowness from "The Grape" Hmmm... Marshmallows? or Grapes?? That is the question....
(yeah, I know... |
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...of course some preferred their own type of brew...
We accidentally dropped a bottle of the local brew and immediately it was trounced upon by the local inhabitants... protected? so we couldn't do anything but hope that it enjoy the brew as much as we did... |
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and so recovering from the last 2 days of diving, we
donned are dry apparel to swim with the salmon.... it's about a 2-3 mile
drift? maybe less, but a smooth easy drifting. Depth ranges from
about 3-4' to 20' at the end. Lotsa fishies...
But HOW big of a fish you do expect to SEE????
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How Big???
Such optimists... |
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...and they're off to the races...
I'm told that sometimes there are "Other Things" in the water too... That there are Cruises ??that go up the river looking for the 'Other things' such as....??? |
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Hmmmm...
How many divers went in and how many came out??? (just joking, pic from Eagle Eye tours) |
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... after the weekend of diving and swimming and cooking, it
was time to see the Elk Falls...
Surrounded by lush green forests this is a site to see. Would recommend driving up to see it as compared from hiking up from the campground... but your call... |
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..well needless to say, I believe everyone had a great time. There's so much to do up here, booking tours to see it all including diving... I think I had everything under control... Piece 'O Cake.... Till the next time... |
