The wreck of the Saskatchewan covered in soft corals and other gorgeous sea life.
Duking it out for land rights to this piece of slit.
This was truly a momentous day. Diving in Nanaimo is probably the coldest dive I have made including that one made in Manitoulin last summer. The trek from Victoria to Nanaimo took about 90 minutes. The hardest part was finding the dive store which isn't even marked by a sign just dive flag on the side of the building. By Ocean Explorers Diving Limited was quite capable as a dive store despite its lack of advertising.
There was a 17 knot wind in the morning and hence a trip out to the wrecks of the HMCS Cape Breton or Saskatchewan was not possible for safety reason. About three years ago, a dive boat sank as it tried to rescue some divers. The waves overtuned the boat which then washed onto Snake Island. It smashed to a thousand shards.
Hence our first dive as on the Rivtow Lion, 157 foot North Sea Rescue Tug sunk in February 6, 2005. There was little wildlife on the boat/artificial reef unsurprisingly but give it a few years and d we'll see what grows on it. I did see these two Dungeness crabs duking it out on the slit floor and then a huge jellyfish called a Lions Mane. It was the size of a human head. And the water temperature was 10-12 degrees celsius. Yes, I did survive the whole 30 minutes at 83ft depth in this temperature to even my surprise. It reminded a litte of that dive of the wreck of the North Wind I did last summer.
We were fortunate as the waves died down in the afternoon and we managed to dive the HMCS Saskatchewan. This is considered the best and healthest artificial reef in the world by the National Geographic society and Jacque Cousteau(I really wonder where in the dive world) this guy has not been. It is quite a wonder to behold and did not disappoint. The entireship (over 300 feet long) is covered in soft corals and anemone. Although it was sunk in June 14, 1997, its 9 years under the sea have generated such a density of sea critters that you can hardly recognize the architectural features of the ship itself. Visiblity at both sites was a about 20 feet in the frigid waters. The only other ship/artifical reef in world that compares apparentlyto it is the Yongala in Australia.
The icing on the cake was the harbour seals that snorkled with us at the end of the day. They are quite friendly. Actually I think a bit too friendly as they were nibbling on my fins and coming right up to my face. The divemaster suggest not taking a camera as they are drawn to the flashand reflections of themselves in the camera housing. One of thedivers was almost kissed by the seal. So no close up pictures of this but what an experience diving in Nanaimo was.
