British Columbia Dive Charters??

> € http://www.rendezvousdiveventures.com/ for Rendezvous Divers.
> € >
> € > Sunshine Coast Tours, (Bryce Christie), at
> € > http://sunshinecoasttours.com/
> € >
> € > The Nautilus Explorer, (Mike Lever), at
> € > http://www.nautilusexplorer.com/
> € >
> € > and Rendezvous Diving (Dave & Renatta Christie), at
> € > Barkley Sound. I don't think they have a website.

I'm fond of Porpoise Bay Charters, on the Sunshine Coast. They run all
over, but mainly in the Sechelt Inlet where the HMCS Chaudiere is located.
The operator (Cal) was one of the individuals responsible for getting the
artificial reef placed in the inlet, as I understand it.

Good people, and they've got boarding on-grounds as well. Ann (Cal's
wife) is a nice lady. Be careful around the dogs (particularly Lucas).

http://www.porpoisebaycharters.com

Cheers,
ellipse

Jammer Six wrote:

> In article <20030818182640.O293-100000@mail.ellipse.us>, ellipse
> <recscuba@ellipse.us> wrote:
>
> € I'm fond of Porpoise Bay Charters, on the Sunshine Coast.
> €
> € Ann (Cal's wife) is a nice lady.
>
> It's Kal, not Cal.
>
> Kal's is for sightseers, not divers. The accommodations are OK.
>
> Kal has the slowest boat in the inlet, which he slows even further by
> dragging that damn drydock behind him. At Kal's, it takes close to an
> hour and a half just to get to the Chaudiere, and that's on a good day,
> and he doesn't start out that far away from it. On a bad day, we had to
> stop and stand by to extinguish an engine fire. Turned out it was just
> overheated, though, so we just had to stop long enough to cobble
> together a water hose, and then we were able to motor on. At half-half
> speed, of course. I took a nice nap, since we were only going to have
> time for one dive.
>
> Bryce gets there faster, from outside the inlet, and you still get to
> sleep for an extra hour every morning.
>
> On a dive boat, you don't change vessels to gear up.
>
> Not to mention that there's no benches, and one has to pick one's rig
> up and hold it for one's buddy. That's what happens when you think a
> herring skiff would make a good dive platform. Here's a flash, Sparky.
> They don't. Towing it behind the boat just makes everything worse.
>
> Oh, wait, I said that wrong.
>
> It
>
> (tick, tock)
>
> just
>
> (tick, tock, tick, tock)
>
> makes
>
> (tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock)
>
> everything
>
> (tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock, oh, to hell with it, I don't even
> have time to say it...)
>
> worse.
>
> On a dive boat, you can put your gear on without help.
>
> Last time I was at Kal's, he was up until two in the morning filling
> tanks, because the only thing slower than his boat is his filling
> system.
>
> On a dive boat, the Captain gets enough sleep the night before to make
> good decisions, in case there's an emergency. Like a blown water hose.
> Oh, wait, that's not an emergency- it only seems that way when the
> Captain is too exhausted to keep from raising his voice. Could be a
> self control issue, but I'm being nice, and giving him the benefit of
> the doubt. Either issue is a bad one in a dive boat Captain.
>
> Sometimes, dive boats even spend money on help so Captains can do
> Captain things, not dive shop monkey things.
>
> And finally, his dog isn't even friendly.
>
> Try Bryce. If you like Kal's, either you don't have enough experience
> to know what you're missing, or you're very easy to please. Either way,
> you'll love the Topline. Don't take your Old Lady, though. The women
> all fall straight in love with Bryce. And men need to stay away from
> Helen if they're suckers for Australian accents in women.
>
> The Topline is a dive boat, not a floating VW Bug towing a U-Haul
> trailer, run by an exhausted Captain with a gallon jug of water for the
> radiator in back.
>
> Not to mention the unfriendly dog.
>
> And I like dogs.
>
rare form today jammer :)

In article <vk3cvuhffd7gc2@corp.supernews.com>, James Connell
<jconnell@gci.net> wrote:

€ > Not to mention the unfriendly dog.
€ >
€ > And I like dogs.
€ >
€ rare form today jammer :)

I'm in a good mood.

--
"C'mon, you sons of bitches, you want to live forever?"
-Sergeant Major Dan Daly

> It's Kal, not Cal.

Thank you.

> Kal's is for sightseers, not divers. The accommodations are OK.

I suppose this entirely depends on perspective. From a recreation diver's
standpoint, I found him extremely personable, and very professional. I'm
meticulous about those which I associate with, and accept nothing less
than both previously mentioned attributes.

Perhaps you'd be willing to elaborate on what you mean by sightseers, as
I'm apparently unaquinted.

> Kal has the slowest boat in the inlet, which he slows even further by
> dragging that damn drydock behind him. At Kal's, it takes close to an
> hour and a half just to get to the Chaudiere, and that's on a good day,
> and he doesn't start out that far away from it. On a bad day, we had to
> stop and stand by to extinguish an engine fire. Turned out it was just
> overheated, though, so we just had to stop long enough to cobble
> together a water hose, and then we were able to motor on. At half-half
> speed, of course. I took a nice nap, since we were only going to have
> time for one dive.

I found the travel to be excellent. I'm sorry to hear about your
experience. In three days of diving with his shop, I was able to log
three-dive days on two days, and a two-dive day on the final.

> Bryce gets there faster, from outside the inlet, and you still get to
> sleep for an extra hour every morning.
>
> On a dive boat, you don't change vessels to gear up.
>
> Not to mention that there's no benches, and one has to pick one's rig
> up and hold it for one's buddy. That's what happens when you think a
> herring skiff would make a good dive platform. Here's a flash, Sparky.
> They don't. Towing it behind the boat just makes everything worse.

I didn't experience this. Then again, I suppose this depends on the
experience of yourself and one's buddy. I, as well as my buddies, tend to
be self-sufficient and don our gear independently. I found this suitable,
although I see your point in that attepting to hold gear for your buddy as
s/he dons can be inconvenient, if not difficult. Did you mention this to
Kal?

> Oh, wait, I said that wrong.
>
> It
>
> (tick, tock)
>
> just
>
> (tick, tock, tick, tock)
>
> makes
>
> (tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock)
>
> everything
>
> (tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock, oh, to hell with it, I don't even
> have time to say it...)
>
> worse.
>
> On a dive boat, you can put your gear on without help.

I must agree with you, in spite of what recreational agencies say. I find
that people incapable of donning the gear themselves are not capable of
removing themselves from the water normally or in the event of emergency.
I wish nobody ill, and really don't want to deal with any
casualties because of the inability to sufficiently act in the
water. Perhaps this makes me a radical in the recreational community, but
in the school I come from, you only hump in the pack you can hump out.

> Last time I was at Kal's, he was up until two in the morning filling
> tanks, because the only thing slower than his boat is his filling
> system.

He was up quite late every night we were there. Then again, we were too.
There's nothing that equates to watching the smog (Single Mothers of
Gibson ... thanks Darrin) roll in. I have no experience with his
compressor, so I can't comment. I do know that every morning, my tanks,
as well as my buddies, were full. I have difficulty making more requests
than that.

> On a dive boat, the Captain gets enough sleep the night before to make
> good decisions, in case there's an emergency. Like a blown water hose.
> Oh, wait, that's not an emergency- it only seems that way when the
> Captain is too exhausted to keep from raising his voice. Could be a
> self control issue, but I'm being nice, and giving him the benefit of
> the doubt. Either issue is a bad one in a dive boat Captain.

I didn't experience this, although I did hear Kal raise his voice. Though
I must admit I can't recall exactly why, I do remember that he was
extremely unhappy over an issue that involved safety.

> Sometimes, dive boats even spend money on help so Captains can do
> Captain things, not dive shop monkey things.

He had help when I visited. When were you there last?

> And finally, his dog isn't even friendly.

Which dog? I got bit in the face because I was stupid. I love dogs, but
I pushed my luck with his. I paid for it, and I accept that. Which dog
are you talking about? He has more than one.

> Try Bryce. If you like Kal's, either you don't have enough experience
> to know what you're missing, or you're very easy to please. Either way,
> you'll love the Topline. Don't take your Old Lady, though. The women
> all fall straight in love with Bryce. And men need to stay away from
> Helen if they're suckers for Australian accents in women.

I can't lie; I'm easy to please. I spent three years past years of my
life eating shit packaged in brown bags and living in what's allegedly a
"Marine Fighting Hole." Then again, that experience taught me alot about
buddy selection, self-control, and self-preservation. If I've got a full
tank, and somebody that's going to come looking or send somebody that can
when I don't adhere to my dive plan, I'm pretty happy. Please explain
what you're looking for in a charter.

> The Topline is a dive boat, not a floating VW Bug towing a U-Haul
> trailer, run by an exhausted Captain with a gallon jug of water for the
> radiator in back.

Where are they based? Any contact info/website?

> Not to mention the unfriendly dog.
>
> And I like dogs.

On a list as openly sexual as this, you go and say something like that.
You're bold.

Cheers,
ellipse in Calgary

--
AIM: ellipse0

In article <20030829020842.P293-100000@mail.ellipse.us>, ellipse
<recscuba@ellipse.us> wrote:

€ Perhaps you'd be willing to elaborate on what you mean by sightseers, as
€ I'm apparently unaquinted.

Fuck that. Go back to Kal's.

--
"I know we're going to die. There's three of us who are going to do something
about it."
-Tom Burnett, aboard United Airlines flight 93, September 11, 2001