Return to Hornby Island

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Our 2016 Hornby Island dive trip finished up this month after a beautiful long weekend with Hornby Island Divers. Our group included scuba divers from Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. The owners of Hornby Island Diving, Rob & Amanda Zielinski, do an amazing job with both diving and lodging.

Steller Sea Lion by Thomas Robbins

Saturday, our first day, had few Steller sea lion encounters as the Steller sea lions had been gorging on herring and were so full they could barely move off the rock outcroppings where they spend most of their time resting and sunning themselves. Even without the Steller sea lions, there was still lots to see, including Puget Sound king crab, Canary rockfish, and Lingcod.

The Steller sea lions were much more active on Sunday, and we had lots of encounters on both dives. Steller sea lions are playful and curious  and are rarely aggressive towards scuba divers. They do need to be respected as wild animals, and divers should avoid pushing them away or challenging them.

After a busy day of diving on Sunday, we headed out to Middle Mountain Mead after dinner for wine tasting. Mead is an ancient type of wine made with honey, and is produced on Hornby Island. We are looking forward to diving again with Hornby Island Diving and will be getting together another trip next year.