Diving
The marine wonderland of the Inside Passage is home to millions of Neptune's subjects, salmon, rock-cod, halibut, oysters, clams, whales, seals, sea otters to name a few and they can't all be wrong in their choice of home. World renowned deep sea diver Jacques Cousteau and colleagues have rubbed shoulders with National Geographic photographers all trying to photo and study the cultural milieu of Sunshine Coast ecosystems of the deep. So like the dedicated and famous you can dive to experience the unique marine world spread out before your underwater eyes.
The soft focus lens created by the water as you slip beneath the waves is a haven for underwater amateur divers or anyone with basic swimming skills. Competent guides are delighted to point out hand sized oysters, shrimp, purple and orange starfish, jelly fish floating like so many open umbrellas and the flower like sea anemones in a world so mysterious and awe inspiring in its myriad existence. You can start in shallow waters on the coastline if your experience diving is limited then you can work your way out and down to the depths as you gain confidence under expert supervision. Soon you will be practicing underwater photography to stun folk with the unparalleled beauty of the depths. Your developing skills in diving and underwater photography will be major assets in increasing difficult dives and you will soon be buying your own camera.
Your dark suit fits snugly, sheltering you from cold and keeping you fully protected as you surface from a dive. Your eyes focus on the stunning beauty of the snow-covered mountains towering above the shore where you snow shoed the previous day. Even for those old salts who regard a neoprene suit as a home away from home, the Sunshine Coast has limitless diving challenges offering a wide array of difficulty.
The powerful waters of the Sechelt Inlet tidal bore known as the Skookumchuck ("strong waters") force their way through a narrow channel with currents of up to sixteen knots at high tide. In quieter times, the waters admit experienced divers into a unique ecosystem. But only for a very short time span of a few days a year, the landscape feature known as 'The Glory Hole' (an underwater crater) is accessible. It is a veritable symphony of colour presenting neon green and red anemones, rich yellow sponges, deep orange and purple starfish but only for the most experienced divers and not for greenhorns who can sign up for expert instruction and dream of the day when they can participate in this dive.
The coastal cliffs of the Agamemnon Canal (Egmont) and Sechelt Inlet's Eagle Perch Dive allow you to combine the pleasure of a dive with the practical habit of providing for you supper by catching local seafood specialties for your evening meal. Enjoy your fresh haul at a beach picnic or a patio barbecue at your home base while sipping a glass of wine watching a Pacific Coast sunset. Who knows, as an added bonus you may even find a pearl in an oyster!
Adventure is readily at hand when one plummets the depths for ship wrecks . In 1992 the retired destroyer HMCS Chaudiére sank below the waves at the hands of the Artificial Reef Society of B.C. The ship lies 17 to 43 meters below the surface of Sechelt Inlet, the wreck now offering 111 meters of pure diving bliss and a new home to all sorts of marine creatures. Not to be outdone, Nanaimo across the Georgia Straights has sank a sister ship, the HMCS Saskatchewan veteran of W.W. II. All this to create artificial reefs for your diving pleasure, the Saskatchewan was lowered to a depth of 40 meters in June 1997. Diving to the site you will see still easily perceptible details ... even the crew's scribblings on the walls have not been destroyed by the ravages of time and ocean. The romance of these wrecks fires your imagination as you enjoy adventure stories around the beach bonfire and you are inspired to dive to the depths of Neptune's palaces.
