Campbell River stretches close to 15 miles (24 kilometers) along the mid-eastern coast of Vancouver Island, and is located north of Nanaimo. Campbell River can be accessed by ferry, crossing at Powell River or from the city of Nanaimo, crossing at Horseshoe Bay or Tsawwassen on the mainland. Quadra Island lies parallel to Campbell River with Discovery Passage in between. This is where a majority of the diving is done during current slack times, which local dive operators know well.

In 1996 the ARSBC scuttled the HMCS Columbia, off Maud Island. The six mortar guns are very impressive and I have photographed large giant Pacific octopuses next to and on the ship! Around the corner is Seymour Narrows where whirlpools and standing waves form at peak flow. Anemones, staghorn bryozoans, urchins, China and quillback rockfish can also be seen.

Copper cliffs offer a colorful wall and huge purple algae covered boulders. Rose sea stars, juvenile box crabs, red Irish lords, and multitudes of tunicates and cup corals can also be found. Massive clusters of giant purple-plumed feather duster tube worms are everywhere at Steep Island and a carpet of pink and red strawberry anemones cover the bottom at Whiskey Point. On a single dive here I counted four large Puget Sound king crabs! End-of-the-road reminds me of a nursery with young octopus and sculpins hiding amongst a blanket of invertebrates.

If weather permits, a day excursion south to Mitlenatch Island and the nearby wreck of the Capilano is well worth a look. The 120ft (36m) Capilano sits upright in 100-145 feet (30-43m) covered in a shroud of plumose anemones.

When not diving, divers might want to check out a salmon snorkel float down the Campbell River from mid-July through early October.

Nootka Sound is located on the western side of central Vancouver Island, accessed by road from Gold River or Tahsis. The surrounding mountainous landscape and glacier-scarred valleys were created during the Pleistocene ice age, leaving behind deepwater crevasses throughout the Sound. Today, lush forests of Douglas fir and Western Hemlock thrive in an annual 10 feet of rainfall (3m)!

Diving in Nootka and the neighboring Esperanza Inlet is exploratory, yielding unexpected critters and surprises at every site. In and around Tahsis it is possible to see six-gill sharks.

At the McQuinna Point kelp bed, below Yuquot Lighthouse (built in 1911) my buddy and I were surrounded by a dozen curious dogfish. Tiny proliferating anemones decorated the base of each kelp strand and Tealia anemones grow to the size of dinner plates. Yellow sponges, shiny orange sea squirts, painted greenlings and red Irish lords also crowded the reef.

Another exploratory site was in a kelp bed on the deep side of a pinnacle in one of Nootka’s many sheltered coves. The wall was practically vertical to 100 feet, hosting several species of rockfish, lingcod, sculpins and ratfish. Huge sections of wall were covered with strawberry anemones, scallops, nudibranchs, aggregated vase sponge, purple encrusting bryozoan and two octopuses!

Courtenay, Comox & Union Bay is centrally located on the eastern side of Vancouver Island, about one hour north of Nanaimo on the old Island Highway. Both shore and boat diving is done along the eastern coast of Vancouver Island from Hornby Island to Campbell River.

The wreck of the MV Zebalous, an easy shore dive in 18 meters (60 feet) of water, in front of the Union Bay Dive & Kayak store in Union Bay. Two helicopters are fun to explore and photograph off Comox/Courtenay and the wreck of the Capilano is within a few hours.

Wolf Eel Alley is another popular dive, located near Union Bay between Vancouver Island and Denman Island. This beautiful dive is a small wall stepping down to 70 feet. With a careful eye you will begin spotting numerous wolf eels under ledges and within rocky dens all along the wall. Another surprise resident is the bright orange and black tiger rockfish who number as many as the wolf eels. Unlike their usual demeanor of being quite shy and always hiding, these tigers are brave and will hang around to see if the diver has brought the wolf eel something to eat! Both the tiger rockfish and the numerous wolf eels make awesome photographic subjects. As many as a dozen wolf eels and tigers have been counted here on a single dive!

When not diving or for accompanying family members, there are plenty of things to do in the Comox Valley area. Hiking up to the site of an old ski resort on Forbidden Ridge offers a beautiful view! Nymph Falls has great hiking trails along the river and Cumberland, located in the foothills of the Beaufort Range, is full of hiking and biking trails, mining history and leads to Comox Lake.

Another thing to do while in this quaint little area on Vancouver Island, is visit the ghost ships of Royston. For over fifty years a collection of rusted hulls, broken apart over time, is quite the attraction. Royston is located southeast of Courtenay on the old highway. The wrecks are visible from the beach but inaccessible from there. The friendly folks at Comox Valley Kayaks were happy to include me in a tour they offer to the “Royston Wrecks” so I could photograph the historic aging relics.

According to the book The Ghost Ships of Royston, written by Rick James for the Underwater Archaeological Society of British Columbia in 2004, many of these hulks had quite a colorful history. Rick stated that there were warships, steam tugs, and Cape Horn Windjammers.

Hornby Island is located on the eastern side of Vancouver Island between the southern end of Denman Island at Texada Island. From Vancouver Island visitors need to take a ferry to Denman Island first, then another to Hornby Island. Local dive operators may offer a pick-up service at one of the small marinas nearby on Vancouver Island.

Seasonal boat dives to Flora Islet, at the southern tip of Hornby Island, for diving with six gill sharks are common during July and August. These graceful giants are often seen lazily swimming along next to a wall stretching from 9 meters (30 feet) to beyond 200 feet. For a yet unknown reason the sharks come up from very deep depths to within a diver’s range for a short while during the summer at several places around BC. It is common to see them at any depth, but 18-24 meters (60-90 feet) seems to have the most sightings. Giant skates, lingcod, cabezon, and numerous species of rockfish also live around the wall.

During the winter months diving and snorkeling with dozens of sea lions is enjoyed at Norris Rocks, located at the southern end of Hornby Island. Within the shallow water surrounding the site, you can find lingcod, greenlings, red sea urchins, scallops and huge schools of juvenile fish.