With the press of a button, I descend into the cold, dark murk of the Pacific. It’s a far cry from the warm, turquoise waters of Papua New Guinea, where I learned to scuba dive among hundreds of tropical fish. Yet the waters off the coast of Vancouver Island are renowned for offering some of the best diving on the planet, with no less an authority than the late Jacques Cousteau rating B.C. as the second-best temperate dive spot in the world, behind the Red Sea.
To see if he was right, if emerald oceans can compete with sapphire seas, I will have to adapt. In these cold waters, dry suits are a necessity, as they allow you to remain dry in an airtight bubble, which adjusts with descent and ascent through air valves. This kind of diving also requires extra training, which is why I call on Greg McCracken, one of B.C.’s top instructors, to introduce me to the submersed wonders of Canada.
What makes the diving so special in B.C. is how big everything is. Orange sunflower starfish the size of dinner tables, forests of bright white plumose anemones, giant octopus, wolf eels, and big-eyed cabezons. Forget the tropics; divers in B.C. immerse themselves in the clear, clean waters of another planet — and you can keep your jeans on. Greg picked out one of the most spectacular dives on offer: the sunken destroyer HMCS Saskatchewan, sitting upright on the ocean floor not far from the ferry port of Vancouver Island’s Departure Bay. The Artificial Reef Society of B.C. is a world leader in the art of creating environmentally protective reefs, having sunk six ships and one Boeing 737 in B.C. waters. Such reefs attract indigenous marine life, creating a sustainable and attractive destination for scuba divers.
It’s a crisp early morning when Sea Dragon Charters’ dive boat anchors to a buoy alongside a slither of rock and sand called Snake Island, home to 250 harbour seals. Two huge bald eagles soar above us. We suit up, bulked by our layers, resembling alien superheroes attached to all manner of pipes and tanks. Even though the water is a brisk 7ºC, I’m surprised at how insulated and comfortable dry suits can be. After descending 20 metres, we see the first anemones, rocking in the breeze of the ocean currents. A huge lingcod is perfectly camouflaged against the reef. I soon realize the reef is, in fact, metal, part of the 111-metre-long Mackenzie-class destroyer. Our flippers propel us forward, and I see the old cannons, now exploding with marine life. There are huge spiky copper rockfish, purple California sea cucumbers, assorted sculpins, and thousands of dancing brittlestars. Two hundred and thirty officers once lived aboard this ship. Since it was sunk in 1997, local marine life has gladly taken the officers’ place.
British Columbia’s Top Dives
Greg and Deirdre McCracken, two of the province’s most respected divers and owners of B.C.’s Ocean Quest Diving Centre, list their Top 10.
We swim through the control deck, descending to 29 metres before making our way back to the midship buoy, keeping an eye on our air supply. After making the required safety stops to avoid decompression sickness, we climb on board the boat elated. “The size and abundance of marine life in B.C. really sets it apart,” explains Greg over hot chocolate. “You experience things underwater here that you just can’t experience anywhere else.”
Just a few hundred feet away from the battleship is another artificial wreck, the world’s second-largest upright reef and one of B.C.’s most popular diving locations. The HMCS Cape Breton is a 134-metre-long Second World War Victory ship, built for action in 1944 but converted into an escort and maintenance ship soon after. After languishing for decades, she was cleaned up and sunk upright onto a flat seabed off Snake Island in 2001. Once again we suit up, check our air pressure, add weights to our belts. The Cape Breton is a massive wreck to explore and cannot be done in one dive. You feel like a budgie exploring a double-decker bus. Greg hand signals to a long corridor, and I follow him through it, peering with my flashlight into various rooms, noticing the fish, plants, and sponges that have moved in. We hover over the engine room skylights, but as much as I’d like to explore the playground below, Greg warned me that this area is only for technical, well-trained divers. When you’re 30 metres below the surface connected to life by an oxygen tank, it’s best not to argue.
A half-hour later, we ascend once more to the warm tea and smiles of the Sea Dragon crew. They’re used to huge smiles lighting up the faces of divers emerging from the depths of British Columbia.
Note: Diving should only be attempted with the proper training, available across the country. If you have chronic ear problems, as I do, look into a product called Docs Pro-Plugs. These handy vented plugs are worth their weight in underwater treasure.
START HERE: canadianbucketlist.com/scuba