In 36 hours on Vancouver Island, I experienced an extreme range of emotions. For all but the last few hours I was on Cloud Nine. I’d had a great time with my good friends Meagan Abele, Natalie Scadden, Andy Murch and Laura McColl and had fulfilled a long held ambition to get photos of Wolf Eels and Giant Pacific Octopus but the trip was to end badly.

It had started well. Meagan Natalie and I travelled from Vancouver to Victoria, the capital of British Columbia and home to Andy and Laura. The five of us met at Ogden Point Breakwater and then dived in two buddy teams, Andy shepherding me along the Breakwater while Meagan and Natalie followed us and Laura took surface shots. It was a fabulous dive with one spectacular highlight - I had never seen a Giant Pacific Octopus so was really thrilled when one posed for me and Andy took a shot of me photographing it.

After a good evening out with Andy and Laura, the next day Meagan Natalie and I went boat diving with Rockfish Diving out of Brentwood Bay. I was still on a mission - in 2008 I had travelled to Eyemouth, Berwickshire with my friend Rick Stewart primarily to see Wolfish. They migrate from Norway to Eyemouth in the UK around May every year with the majority returning to Norway around mid August although a few are usually still around throughout September. So we should have found them but didn’t. However nine years later I had a chance to redeem myself with Wolf Eels. They are not really eels but the longest of my sought-after Wolfish and are not uncommon in the northern parts of the Pacific Ocean including Alaska and Canada - just where I was diving in July 2017. But now on my last day of my Alaskan/Canadian trip I had still not seen any and was getting desperate. MV Loup De Mer took Meagan, Natalie and I to Sananus Island and then McCurdy Point. We saw plenty of interesting small life and some stunning underwater sponges but not a Wolf Eel. I was one minute from going into “Deco” on the second dive and just beginning to ascend when Natalie grabbed my attention. Meagan had found a Wolf Eel. I was so excited and fired off heaps of shots going seven minutes into “Deco” in the process. What a fantastic end to my Alaskan/Canadian dive trip. Back at Brentwood Bay to meet us, Andy and Laura photographed “Happy Malcolm” and then Meagan, Natalie and I went on an Orca Watching trip. A few days earlier Andy had appeared bemused when I had got very excited at seeing an Orca in Alaska. It was the first one I had ever seen so it was a big deal to me but Orcas are regularly seen off Andy’s home town so I could understand his lack of euphoria. Sure enough Meagan, Natalie and I were treated to Orcas breaching close to our zodiac on our Orca Watching trip. A fantastic experience.

This seemed the perfect conclusion to my 36 hours on Vancouver Island but upon returning to Meagan’s car, we found it had been broken into and our most valuable possessions stolen. In my case this included my wallet, Australian and UK passports, underwater camera system, dive computer and my iPad and iPhone. I would not be flying home the next day after all. My prized photos of the Wolf Eel and Giant Pacific Octopus were still on the memory card in my underwater camera system but Andy gave me his photos of me photographing a Giant Pacific Octopus and of “Happy Malcolm” celebrating having finally got a Wolf Eel shot so at least I had some pics. My own shots though would be preferable so I plan to return to Vancouver Island in May 2018, hopefully to dive with Andy, Meagan and Natalie again and afterwards to go home with Giant Pacific Octopus and Wolf Eel shots.