Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, BC - DIVE! DIVE! DIVE! The HMCS Saskatchewan Goes Down for the Count. On Saturday, 14 June 1997, with a puff of smoke and a sharp bang, the Canadian navy destroyer HMCS Saskatchewan, slipped below the waters off Snake Island just outside Nanaimo. The ship was sunk as part of British Columbia's artificial reef program. The 366-foot Saskatchewan is the fifth warship to be sunk over the past two years in BC's waters, all in an effort to build and promote diving in the region. Completely stripped and sanitized, the preparation prior to sinking set new standards for responsible artificial reef programs and was sanctioned by the Cousteau Society. Demolition teams set charges and did final inspection. Under glorious sunny skies an enormous flotilla of watercraft witnessed the big show. Everything that could float nosed into the action: canoes, kayaks, fishing boats, jet skis, floatplanes, even a red Chinese junk. The BC Ferry Corporation donated the use of a huge ferry and the crew donated the use of their time to take on upwards of 1,500 people who paid for the view, while the Artificial Reef Society received the funds. About 30,000 well-wishers in some 3,000-5,000 watercraft crowded around. Gawkers jammed in the rigging and news-copters buzzed overhead, local planes made one last fly-by. Then at 10:20 am, a parachute flare went up, answered by a blast from the ferry's horn. A puff of smoke shot out the port side followed by a sharp bang. Almost immediately the ship began to sink, aided by the flooding of her engine rooms the night before. Within four-and-a-half minutes, the HMCS Saskatchewan belched a final whoosh of air and was gone. She rested at 105 feet at the bow and she sat upright with a slight portside list. Dive buoys were attached, and by Sunday morning diving had begun. Almost level bow to stern, listing 6 degrees to port side. Bow to the south, stern to north. 366 feet in length. Radar Platform on main mast 40' Bridge 60' Top of guns 80' Fore and aft decks 8.5' Aft mortar bay 9.5' Keel at bottom 127'. Surface - Intermittant - Tidal - Minimal. Totally accessable to properly certified and equipped divers. Foredeck at bow - Radar platform center - Aft deck at stern. Dive the Saskatchewan off Snake Island. The Saskatchewan is a sister ship to the Chaudiere, a 366-foot Restigouche-class destroyer. The Saskatchewan was brought to Nanaimo and sunk on the mud flats which lie between 60 and 120 feet of water, off the Vancouver side of Snake Island. The sinking of the Saskatchewan is only the first phase of a five-part vision called Project Reef. The project, which should unfold over the next five years, includes finding two other ships to sink in local waters and creating two marine dive parks. Such parks, would include washrooms and change rooms for divers as well as facilities like educational interpretive centres to introduce non-divers to the world beneath the sea and the living creatures found there. One likely location for such a park would be a portion of the newly-created Neck Point Park where many divers already go. Having such a long term and comprehensive vision will mean the benefits derived from the wrecks and diver parks will be enhanced. are taking detailed pre-sinking marine life inventory in the proposed location for the wreck. This way in future they will have a baseline to work from when trying to compare things on how the marine life is doing in the future. Environmental concerns are a priority for most divers. The whole sport has changed a lot in the past 15 years when diving was advertised as a way to cut down your food budget and when a spear gun was the first purchase many divers made. Now very few divers have a spear gun and many charters won't even consider letting you take any marine life. Installing artificial reefs helps to increase marine life by giving fish and other sea creatures additional habitat space. Divers, dive charters and related businesses have all dramatically changed their attitude to the sea over the past 15 years. Now they all realize that conserving and protecting the marine environment is good sense and good business, as well as making for more interesting diving. The Dive Outfitters LTD. 2205 Northfield Rd. Nanaimo, British Columbia Canada V9S 3C3. Telephone 250 756-1863 Web http://www.thediveoutfitters.ca. Blue Meridian Dive Center. 1956 Zorkin Rd. Nanaimo, British Columbia Canada V9S 5T9. Telephone 250 753-2055. Telephone 250 753-2065. Telephone 250 753-2004. Unit 203 - 1840 Stewart Ave. Nanaimo, British Columbia Canada V9S 4E6. Telephone 250 755-9144. Coastal Explorer Dive Excursions. 300 Terminal Ave. Nanaimo, British Columbia Canada V9R 5C8. Telephone 250 754-4813. Suite 194 9B-1150 N. Terminal Ave. Nanaimo, British Columbia Canada V9S 5T8. Telephone 250 751-8920. 22 Esplanade St. Nanaimo, British Columbia Canada V9R 4Y7. Telephone 250 753-1880. White Rhino Dive Co. Charters and Underwater Service. 1840 Stewart Ave. Nanaimo, British Columbia Canada. Telephone 250 756-6459. Diving in Nanaimo - one person's account... There's nothing quite like gearing up and heading out each morning from a harbor city that is dedicated to messing around in boats. Under pale bright skies we slip by throngs of fishing and pleasure craft, masts and rigging cling-clanking. Beaver and otter bush planes on seafloats are getting checked over as a super-ferry greets the morning with a blast from its foghorn. We motor past rolling woodlands back-dropped by snow-capped Mt. Benson to the west, then under the glacier-carved cliffs of Newcastle Island, thick with spruce, fir and hemlock. High in the trees, a bald eagle eyes our departure with stoic reserve. Harbor seals poke their heads up, glistening, escorting the dive boat out to another day on--and under-- the waters off Nanaimo, Vancouver. Vancouver Island on Canada's western coast is part of a huge and jumbled series of islands, rivers and mountains stretching south from Alaska to Washington state. Deep glacier-carved fjords, combined with plate tectonics, make for spectacular topside scenery and deep wall diving close to shore. Some 270 miles long and up to 65 miles wide make Vancouver a big island with lots of coastline to explore and dive. Well over a thousand ships have wrecked along the west coast alone. Highest altitude along the island chain is just over 6,000 feet, with nearby Mt. Washington serving up great skiing in the winter, hiking and camping in the summer. Situated in a long and beautiful natural harbor on the island's east coast, Nanaimo boasts Canada's mildest and sunniest climate. Serviced by ferry systems from six major centers in the United States and Canadian mainland, plus air and rail links, Nanaimo is a great starting point for any island diving adventure. But despite Nanaimo's mild and sunny reputation, there is still the business of getting wet. Although I trained to dive right here on Vancouver Island, I've been getting fat and lazy in the tropics for years--with the accompanying fat and lazy dive habits. Dry suits, layers of long underwear, thick gloves, hood and 30 pounds of lead are an abrupt reminder, a rude awakening. Feeling fairly inept, I'm the bumbling, fumbling, stumbling marshmallow man. Loose on the back desk, I do my best not to wipe out all the other divers. You do this for a living? one inquires with studied innocence and thinly veiled mirth. Dripping with heat, I gladly flail into into the cold water, retrieve my camera and drop below. Passing through the plankton bloom the undersea-scape opens into cold, clear waters. I always like that about diving British Columbia, sort of like a stage curtain opening to reveal the first act. Make the effort to push through the crowd to the front and you will be rewarded. We are anchored on the west side of Snake Island to dive the wall. A resident group of harbour seals observes our progress as we...

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