In the early '60's scuba diving was starting to catch on big time in Vancouver but bureaucracy and P.A.D.I. had not yet got the sport in its clutches. Dive shops were unregulated and training was a lot more informal than today. Totally hooked, I joined a unruly crowd, initially called the Wobbygongs then later the Vanquatics, centered on a dive shop owned by a crazy Aussie named Norm Liebeck. Some of our lot were among the the first surfers to regularly ride the waves at Long Beach on Vancouver Island, driving there all night on Fridays after work in battered "Wreck Beach cars" over the rough and winding roads to what is now Pacific Rim Park. Then, one could drive freely on the beaches there. In fact the super-cheap, super-grungy, Singing Sands waterfront cabins - the only affordable accommodation for most of us apart from tents - could only be reached that way.

Scuba equipment was primitive by today's standards. No buoyancy vests, no spare regulators for buddies - in fact usually no buddies. Sport divers never wore dry suits, just plain black 1/4" neoprene wet suits. I used low capacity steel tanks with no reserve valves. Decompression computers and similar gizmos hadn't been invented, and I was one of the few who had a pressure gauge hooked up to see how much air I had left.

These few images don't do justice to this whole other world that I miss very much, but sinus trouble won't let me return now to get better ones.

APOLOGIES! Most of the following images are very poor quality because they were originally shot on 16mm movie film, later converted to VHS tape, then more recently put onto a DVD and finally had the single frames extracted from the MPEG movie.

I was a charter member of the now defunct VANQUATICS scuba club which was the first to play underwater hockey in Canada. Very active, we organized Vancouver's first annual garbage contest to clean up the waters off Stanley Park. As shown here, it attracted a good crowd of divers carrying "goodie bags".
We played u/w hockey once a week in the Renfrew pool. Not too popular with management there since some makes of flippers in those days left black marks on the pool floor. Our team had some very large and hairy members and I remember them totally intimidating a Simon Fraser University team in their own home pool - they looked like shrimps beside the Vanquatics men

Most good dive spots - and there were plenty of them - could only be reached by boat, so when I designed and built the 32' catamaran "Davy Jones" for our family to explore the BC coast it incorporated underwater portholes plus a diving ladder between the hulls. It is shown here moored off isolated Sisters Island lighthouse the year before I fitted a mast and sails (see also "Boats & Water" link on my Home Page)
You need a powerful light to make movies underwater, so I made one out of a car spotlight and motorcycle battery in a heavy aluminum case, shown here lighting up some white plumose anemones. It was the envy of all on night dives and I eventually sold it to Jim Willoughby, a well known professional diver. This was the only money I ever made with underwater movies, despite high hopes
Collecting specimens for the Vancouver Aquarium was another part time business I tried. On one occasion I actually earned money as an underwater "big game guide" in the CBC TV show On the Scene with Bob Switzer as Aquarium curator Vince Penfold and I captured a particularly large octopus at Porteau Cove. The episode had thrilling James Bond music in the background but was totally boring as all the action took place underwater where TV couldn't go
We look happy but this is all CBC viewers saw of the giant octopus. We brought it up in a garbage can and then transferred it quickly to this tank since bright sunlight might have killed it. (L to R) Vince Penfold, Curator, Gil Hewlett, Asst.Curator, and myself.
Other octopi. The middle image shows a diver tickling a big one
Ling cod were abundant then and made good eating. One of our Vanquatics members, Gordie Cox, held the world spearfishing at that time with one about 60 lbs. Then there was the legendary "Giant Ling of Pender Harbour", reportedly living so deep and so huge that when divers glimpsed its cavernous mouth they fled rather than be eaten themselves

This is an ecologically incorrect photo these days but spearfishing, rather than photography, was popular then for most divers. Despite this macho type image, I did it for meat, not sport. We had three boys with big appetites and Wolf Eels like this are good eating
Some nights we dived for huge prawns like the one shown here - up to 18" long from feelers to tail - that fed on the cluttered bottom deep under the marina at Whitecliffe Park. A few of those collected for the Aquarium late at night ended up being eaten by staff and us divers behind the scenes before they made it to the display tanks. Whytecliffe, like Porteau Cove, is now a protected marine park
Dogfish sharks like this are common in B.C. waters, as are Ratfish like the one in the centre image and the Rockfish on the right, but only the latter is good eating.
Once, on a business trip to Los Angeles, I snuck off via seaplane to Catalina Island for a day of diving where I was able to rent tanks from this dive shack owner on the Avalon waterfront. The incredible clarity and warmth of the blue water there was a huge contrast to the usually murky green waters of the B.C. coast
This white basket star was a rare find at about 100' deep. Often the dark, clear waters of Indian Arm, a long inlet near Vancouver, were filled at all depths with delicately pulsing jellyfish of all shapes and sizes
Sometimes, as in this final shot taken in a forest of giant kelp off Savary Island, the water was thick with tiny life - marine soup