Thermocline Exploration 2025
Join us for our 2025 exploration project diving August 11th to August 24th
Continuing with our 2024 Exploration program...
We had a lot of fun and made some good progress in 2024. We intend to follow up with our project goals in 2025. Shearwater Research supported us in 2024 and just published a summary of our 10 day project in their community Blog page. Read about it here!
Link to 2024 article in Shearwater.com blog
Based on feedback from our recent participants, our 2025 Project will include more than just wrecks!
To start with, everyone enjoyed a few days of diving on the cloud sponges around Vancouver Island and we intend to make this a repeat part of our 2025 program.
What are Cloud Sponges?
We have learned a lot from our last program and we are adjusting our schedule to make it easier for divers to participate
Feedback from our 2024 program has encouraged us to break our project into bite-sized three day components with specific targets and goals for each section. This will allow participants to pick and choose how they want to join the program.
Based on requests from participants and others, we are also excited to host a photogrammetry course by Roger Lacasse!
Roger has done yeoman's service for us with his photogrammetry expertise and he has developed and delivered his photogrammetry course in various locations in Canada. This course will happen during the first two days of our 2025 project so attendees can use their newfound skills during the remainder of the project. Contact [email protected] for more information about Roger's class!
We have been receiving a steady stream of interest asking about joining us in 2025
August is a busy time for almost everyone so we are making our project plans and allowing people to reserve spots in advance. Each three day section may be booked separately. There are nine spaces available in each three day section of the project. Project participant fees are based on a cost recovery basis and mostly cover the cost of boat operations and a hot lunch on the boat. The daily rate for participating is $225 per day with a deposit of $225 due on reserving each three day period. The balance is due on July 1, 2025. These deposits are non refundable but may be transferred to someone else if you can't make it. We will keep a waiting list but the responsibility to find your replacement is up to you. Participants must be certified for whatever dives they plan to do. Each project section listed below has the depth and any relevant information included.
Cloud sponges
August 11-13
The Saanich inlet has some of the best cloud sponge diving around! Some of them are small and some of them can be the size of a golf cart! They are amazing creatures and make for some excellent photo opportunities. They are home to a myriad of sea life and we have several locations where there are "colonies" of them in the shallow technical diving depths. Generally they like depths around 36m (120') and deeper. We will be diving multiple different locations during this time and you will find all sorts of rockfish, crabs, filter feeders, and even octopus and wolf eels! It is possible to join this section and dive shallower if you wish. There is lots to see at these dive sites. If you plan on diving shallower on these days, we would suggest you find a team mate to accompany you to make sure you have someone to dive with! You can also contact us and enquire about who has signed up.
Join cloud sponge dives
George McGregor
August 14-16
On November 26th, 1949, The tug George McGregor sunk just off Trial Island with the loss of six of her seven crew members. The 74' tug was originally built in Olympia in 1943 and even worked in Alaska with the United States Maritime Commission. The only survivor was found straddling an overturned life boat near ten mile point. There were originally six sailors on the lifeboat but five of them perished as the life boat was adrift. This was one of the most significant maritime tragedies in the area during that time period and the George McGregor still has not been found and identified for sure. This is high on the UASBC Wishlist and we are going to try really hard to confirm this target is in fact the George McGregor. We wanted to dive the target we believe is the George McGregor in 2024 but we did not get to it.
This is a 155' (47 m) dive which means it is a solid GUE Tech 1 dive or equivalent.
join George McGregor and Black Dragon Dives
Black Dragon
August 14-16
The Black Dragon is one of a series of four migrant ships that travelled from Asia to Vancouver Island, carrying several hundred illegal Chinese migrants. All four ships were apprehended off the BC Coast in 1999. The Black Dragon sits in about 48 meters of water in an area with quite a bit of current and must be dived on the slack. The vessel was under tow when she began to take up water and because it is the only feature in the area, it has become an artificial reef to some of the biggest ling cod around!
Because the Black dragon sits in 165' (48 m) of water, this is a solid GUE Tech 1 dive or equivalent.
join George McGregor and Black Dragon Dives
Return to the Admiral Knight
August 17 - 19
It was big news when UASBC and GUE divers first found this wreck in the early fall of 2022. One of the first divers on the wreck, Ewan Anderson, wrote a terrific article about the wreck and that article may be found here:
https://gue.com/blog/finding-the-admiral-knight/
Our first trip to the Admiral Knight left us with more questions than answers and we have a lot of work to do on this wreck. Because it is a deeper wreck, our limited time at depth means we need to allow more time overall to generate a good wreck survey. There are parts of this wreck that lend themselves well to photogrammetry and we still don't know what many of the cargo items are on the wreck site. It's an exciting wreck to dive and home to terrific examples of PNW marine life. We only did one dive on the Admiral Knight in 2024 and we plan to spend three days on this wreck in 2025.
The Admiral Knight sits in about 190' (57 m) of water so this is a GUE Tech 2 dive or equivalent.
If non technical divers wish to join this trip, we will stop at the wreck of the Del Norte which is an excellent wreck for recreational divers and close to the Admiral Knight.
Join Admiral Knight dives
Return to the Henry Foss
August 20 - 22
The Henry Foss is a 100' tugboat originally launched in 1900. She worked in Puget Sound until her loss on February 13, 1959. She sank quickly and with the loss of six crew members. It is not considered "deep" by technical diving standards, laying in about 115' of water. This wreck was very popular in 2024 and we found some things we need to take another look at.
The Henry Foss sit in 35m (115') of water and this places it in the GUE (lite) Tech 1 range or equivalent.
Join Henry Foss Dives
Continuing the Search for the Handley Page Hampden
August 23- 24
The Handley Page Hampden bomber was a twin engine, medium bomber with a crew of 4. They were used for training in the Vancouver Island area and were apparently difficult to fly. The UASBC recently documented a new discovery last year where a Hampden bomber had hit the water just off the shore of Vancouver Island in the Saanich Inlet. We also now have the coordinates for another Hampden bomber that was never salvaged. We spent one day during our 2024 project looking for the bomber and at least narrowed the search box! We are regrouping with more specialized equipment and will give it a try again in 2025. This target is within easy sailing distance of Sydney and the depth range is in the 36m - 60m (120' - 200') range depending on where on the bottom the wreck is laying.
Join the Bomber Search!
