Musclow Lake Pictures. EXTREME!

Went fishing for lake trout last night in Musclow lake. It is almost an hour away from the lodge, with a short portage past some rapids.
There was a big storm on the horizon and the fish were not really biting, but it turned out to be a great night.
The storm blew past us on the west and we were treated to a full on DOUBLE RAINBOW!
Another bonus was when April hooked into a 39 inch pike while we waited out the wind in the river mouth.

Always a good time in Musclow...

INTENSE Summer Update.

Back to Newfoundland in a week...
It has been an interesting summer so far.
I'm very excited for the next few months. 
Canada day was celebrated in style with a three boat party on a northern Canadian Lake with beers and friends and midnight swimming. 
It was safe and awesome and fun. 
I chased two bears this morning. 
I skied with no hands last night.
I guided my guests through a lot of water and caught 400-500 fish in the past three days. Must have unhooked a few thousand since May. 
I've seen the northern lights in their full glory.
I've got burned and cut, but nothing too bad. 
I've got angry.
I've gotten over it.
I've been east and west and north. 
I've been wondering and blundering. 
Flipping and flopping. 
Worked hard.
 Hardly worked. 
It has been a wild ride. 
I miss you all. 

 

My jobsite and camping at Dioniso. Too busy to post...gathering material for future posts...

The "Tiger Jade"

Jade Fever

My new hobby... Stone cutting!

Three cool cats...

The tiger striped jade was cut from a raw boulder using a 14 inch rock saw and diamond blade. Very, very nice piece of material. I'm standing at the polishing station in front of the 30 inch saw, which is currently without a blade. Lots  more to come. Enjoy!

Mount Washington Ski Trip

Basket star caught by underwater submarine.

Ferns growing on a dock on Mayne island

Vancouver Island ski drive

       Here are a few highlights from my trip to Mount Washington, Vancouver Island, BC. I drove my new truck and that was lots of fun. Good thing there were lots of dinosaurs that died so I could have gasoline. It cost 135.00 to fill the tank which  got me there and back, but I wasn't too disappointed. It was around 500km round trip. 

Lots of good snow on the mountain. Around 100cm of fresh powder had fallen that week.

I was skiing some intense black diamond and double black diamond runs in the trees and down cliffs. I only did one double diamond, and it was a real leg burner. Down beside a cliff, through the trees and out into a big bowl.

All that skiing went without any major wipe-outs, and then...
I was gliding down the bunny hill to the lift and I was taken out HARD!
Some 'little' kid had blindsided me at Mach 5, and I lost both polls and a ski while slamming down into a headfirst, downhill skid. The kid was totally fine, didn't lose a thing and skied away. I thought I was fine, but the adrenaline wore off and my shin, shoulder, and neck were all sore for a few days. That is the way it usually goes.
I wouldn't have been satisfied with the weekend if I didn't have at least one good yard-sale bail out.
  

Shum is one crazy dude

 

Unmanned Submarine on Galiano and Mayne Islands. Exclusive Photos!

The Neocaligus, meaning 'new sea louse'. The carrier for the submarine doing research on the underwater electric cables and also on local swimming scallop populations. Crew of 6 or 7 and lots of cool gadgets. The boat is a converted salmon trawler and is still used for test fishing, mostly non-salmon species, such as prawns, groundfish, crabs, and whatever else they might want to bring up from the sea. Most test fishing is done on a catch and release basis, and with only enough for research purposes. However, some 'research' experiments do end up in the kitchen.

This is the unmanned submarine. It is mounted with two video cameras, and multiple still cameras. The newer video camera records at 1.5 gigabytes a second. There is a computer that compresses that down and another device that records data directly onto re-writable hard-drives. The submarine is also equipped with two lasers that self adjust to always appear 10cm apart on the images, in order to let them scale the pictures to match. There is lots of mapping that must be done and investigating not so exciting things like sunken power cables. This can also be fun though. The operator of the submarine was cruising today and saw a group of starfish creatures with their arms outstretched into the current filtering the flow for food and when the bottom bar of the sub brushed their arms they wrapped around and two held on for the rest of the ride. One is destined for a salt water aquarium in Nanaimo. This particular species has multiple small tentacle like protrusions along it's arms that act to grip onto things and grab the bottom in strong currents. The submarine has a long green 'umbilical' cord that has recently been upgraded with a fiber optic cable and the new video camera. It also has some bad-ass headlights and two forward thrusting engines, one horizontal engine, and one vertical trusting engine. All electric and controlled remotely from the ship. 

Controls for the Submarine.

Sea Sponge Picture.

The Control Station. This is where they set up the controls and mount screens for the multiple cameras and mapping images necessary for navigation. This is below decks, and there are three areas in communication at all times; this below deck command station, the deck crew who control the umbilical cord, and the captain who is driving the ship at just the right speed and course up high in his area. Lots of work and effort to get everything co-ordinated. This is more difficult in bad seas, or when the computers start acting like computers and stop working. 

Leap Year February 29, 2012: Sunset on Mayne Island

My 'New' Wheels: 1994 Chevy 3500 4X4 one ton Truck

Mmmm...Truck

Red Hot Photos...

 Climbing Maslow's pyramid, one day at a time.