Sometimes bad things happen for good reasons. Last summer our fresh air intake hose, which normally hangs over the boat, found itself in the drink and sucked salt water into the compressor before we noticed it. We had a toasted compressor after only one dive.

The result is that we now own a better, quieter unit that is stored under the stern cockpit in the lazarette and draws its power from our generator, reducing the amount of gas we need to carry onboard.

THE TENDER

We needed a boat that was large, stable and powerful to allow us to dive in remote areas, and so we had Catch-Up built. The boat is a bright red, 12.5-foot Polaris RIB (rigid inflatable boat) with a four–stroke, 50 hp Mercury outboard attached. The engine has an electric tilt, which is very useful for motoring in shallow water.

We often get comments on the size of our engine, but we feel it is necessary. The boat goes 26 knots, and it is not overpowered when loaded with the two of us and our gear. It allows us to navigate through all types of water conditions, including tidal rapid areas.

We have equipped Catch-Up with an Icom VHF radio, a Garmin portable GPS/Chart Plotter and depth sounder, a collapsible anchor with 100 feet of line, and a bilge pump. For diving purposes, we had Polaris install extra handles to assist getting in and out of the water and to tie off equipment. We also had extra rubber pads installed for wear protection when hauling in SCUBA equipment and traps for prawning and crabbing.

Before we pull away from the Sea Foam to the dive spot, we check that we have everything in the boat. More than once we have arrived at the dive spot only to find that we forgot our fins or our weight belts. The time it takes to get back to the boat and grab the missing equipment means the difference between a safe dive and potential problems. It is never a good idea to rush a dive.

DIVERS DOWN

When I first started diving, Rick made sure to take me to locations that were easy. Current was not a factor. But as my confidence improved, so did our dive locations. With time and more experience, he started to expose me to more challenging sites.

We've seen some amazing things. Once when we had just surfaced after diving near Stubbs Island in Queen Charlotte Strait, Rick and I heard the familiar sound of a whale spouting. With water still dripping from my hair and suit, I turned around in the tender and there was a small pod of whales swimming right past where I had just been diving. Lucky for us, they were resident whales that only eat plankton. Still, it was an amazing sensation seeing them so close to where we had just been. I wonder what it would have been like to have seen them while under. Yikes!

The more an area is swept by current, the more life there is in that location (though if there is too much current, sea creatures too can get swept away). In these types of areas, the switch between ebb and flood can be only a matter of minutes, so timing is everything.

Once Sea Foam is anchored in an area we want to explore, we start looking at our electronic charts for places that might make good diving grounds. We look for areas with vertical reef walls, usually marked by tight depth contours on the chart, in areas where current is present. Here, nutrient-rich water brought in on the ocean currents attracts schools of fish, plant life and all manner of sea creatures that feed on the plankton.

We have to study the timing and direction of the water flow so we can dive at the correct time, without being overpowered by the current when we resurface. Once we have determined an area that looks like a good dive spot, we go out in our inflatable with our portable sounder and study the "lay of the land" on the screen.

We also look at the current flow at slack tide. For divers, the absence of a current means less effort is required to remain at a given site, and there is less likelihood of drifting away from the boat. Slack water can also provide better visibility, because there is no current to stir up sand and silt from the bottom. Except when "drift diving," which takes advantage of currents, it is standard practice for divers to dive at slack water.

Like navigational charts, sometimes the current tables do not match the conditions we observe, and we pay careful attention to what is actually happening in the water. A single knot of current doesn't mean much on the big boat, but one knot of current in the water can make a big difference when trying to get back to your tender without a struggle. Swimming at the surface with scuba gear on is not as easy as swimming in a bathing suit!

We try to arrive at the dive spot 30 minutes before we should be in the water. This gives us plenty of time to get our gear on and position the boat. We motor to the dive location, and tie our bow line to a long rope with a grapple hook attached to the end. I clamber to shore and hook the grapple into a rock crevice or wind it around a rock. Once back in the boat, we back away from the rocks and throw our anchor over the stern. Now our inflatable is secured in two places, and away from the rocks.