VANCOUVER ISLAND

Vancouver Island, as a place of natural beauty is an incredible place to be.

Ogdens Point is not only the location I completed my Instructors Cerification in January, it is home to some of the finest and most accessible scuba diving in the Pacific Northwest.

There are a number of entry points along the breakwater which allow entrance at a wide variety of depths, but the farther you go, the harder it is to get there with a dive tank strapped to your back on the walk out. However, the farther out you go, the greater the variety of sea life, like this wolf eel at right, found at marker four.

For more details, check out Ogden Point Dive Center's web site here.

Race Rocks is a Vancouver Island Marine Park off Metchosin. Cody, Yim and I rented a small boat one day to go check it out and were confronted by hundreds of Stellar Sea Lions and HUGE males. I mean monstrous when they are 20 feet away from you and 'mooing' at you to leave.

The Wreck of the MacKenzie The Mackenzie is a de-commisioned 366' destroyer sunk off Rum Island in September1995 as a diving attraction. She lies in 90' of water on a sandy bottom at a slight list to port. The top of the radar tower comes within 20' of the surface, and there are several mooring bouys attached to the ship itself. The currents can be wildly unpredictable at the best of times, so descending and ascending on the same mooring line is a necessity in all but the calmest sea. The ship has numerous access holes cut in the hull, but there are so many chambers in such deep water that penetration should not be attempted by anyone without the proper gear and training.

When we descended to visit her, we looked like wildly blowing clothes on a line while descending. It wasn't until we were down 50 feet that the currents became manageable, but once we were down, the amount of soft anemones on the hull of the MacKenzie were incredible. Take advantage of the numerous dive charters that service this site, to ensure a safe and enjoyable dive.

The ship is covered with barnacles and is home to thousands of shrimp. Make sure to check out the main bridge, where you can still see the brown paint used to make it look rusty for an X-Files episode, filmed just before it was sunk.

One note... on our way to the MacKenzie, just as Yim and I entered the water, a Humpback Whale arched out of the water not 30 feet away from us three times, so the dive had added unexpected benefits.

The Sooke Potholes is a set of naturally formed pools and unique rock formations carved into the sandstone bedrock along Sooke River. The water in the potholes has a beautiful aqua-green colour and cascades through sets of waterfalls into deep clear pools offering just an excellent array of swimming holes.

This part of the Sooke River is considered very sacred by the T'Sou'ke First Nation - the area's native community.

Goldstream Park. Like all the other locations we discussed in this web site, Vancouver Island has a wide variety of special places to visit for day trips that are not underwater based. Goldstream Park is one of our favorites.