Into The Darkness

Diving deep below the ocean’s surface can be thrilling but perilous

- Sean Snowdon, Saskatoon

One weekend in 1995 while we were practicing tai chi, my roommate asked me if I was interested in going diving with him. With my own gear and a love for the water, I was always looking for someone who wanted to head to the ocean.

Back then, not too many people had their own diving gear, so it was hard to find someone interested in diving. I never acquired a large amount of money, so my gear was a used wetsuit missing a section of material the size of a small breakfast bowl in the crotch. Wetsuits aren’t made to keep you dry, but the neoprene material wrapped tightly against your body is designed to keep you somewhat warm for the first 40 minutes of diving. Unfortunately, if you have a decent-sized hole, that will affect how warm you stay. Every time I went diving, I came back out after 30 minutes barely able to move from the cold, but it was worth it.

The conditions were perfect the day we chose to go diving. It was calm and sunny, and visibility in the water was about 40 or 50 feet—which in summer is quite good, with algae and plankton everywhere. I was feeling in great shape. We went into a little bay just off Campbell River, B.C., the local popular diving spot, as there was always an abundance of wildlife to see. We laid out our gear, checked it over and made a game plan of our dive for the next hour. We planned on checking out the wildlife within the first 50 feet for the first part of the dive, then dropping down past 150 feet. This was something I was kind of excited about trying. I had never really been past 80 feet, as there was really no need. When diving, almost everything interesting to see is within the top 30 feet.