Snake Island is a small, uninhabited, rocky island northeast of Nanaimo. It is a minor member of the large group of islands east of southern Vancouver Island called the Gulf Islands. It is a bird sanctuary, and home to a colony of harbour seals. The island is a frequent destination for local wildlife tours, and the rocky shores and reefs around the island are popular with divers. Local seals have become accustomed to divers in the water, and will interact with them.
Snake Island is near the site of the artificial reef created by the sinking of HMCS Cape Breton, a Second World War Victory ship. The vessel was acquired and prepared by the Artificial Reef Society of British Columbia.
49°12′55″N123°53′26″W / 49.2152°N 123.8906°W
An artificial reef (AR) is a human-created freshwater or marine benthic structure. Typically built in areas with a generally featureless bottom to promote marine life, it may be intended to control erosion, protect coastal areas, block ship passage, block the use of trawling nets, support reef restoration, improve aquaculture, or enhance scuba diving and surfing. Early artificial reefs were built by the Persians and the Romans.
HMCS Cape Breton was a Royal Canadian Navy Cape-class maintenance ship. Originally built for the Royal Navy as HMS Flamborough Head in 1944, she was transferred in 1952. Upon her commissioning she was the second ship to bear the name Cape Breton. She served operationally from 1953–1964, when she was laid up. She was used as a floating machine shop until the late-1990s, before being sold for use as an artificial reef off the coast of British Columbia.
Montague Harbour Marine Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada, located on Galiano Island, one of the Gulf Islands off BC's South Coast in Canada. It is accessible by BC Ferries from Swartz Bay on Vancouver Island or Tsawwassen on the Mainland. The Island's ferry terminal is at Sturdies Bay, about 6 km (3.7 mi) from Montague.
Mount Richardson Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada, located on the lower Sunshine Coast to the north of Sechelt.
Wallace Island Marine Provincial Park is a provincial park in the Gulf Islands of British Columbia, Canada. The park includes almost all 72 hectares of Wallace Island. Land on the northern side of Princess Cove extending north towards Chivers is private. This long, thin island lies in Trincomali Channel south-west of Galiano Island, and about 2 km (1.2 mi) northeast of Saltspring Island. There are a few hiking trails, and camping is permitted in designated areas.
Pirates Cove Marine Provincial Park is a provincial park on De Courcy Island in British Columbia, Canada.
Smuggler Cove Marine Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada located approximately 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) west of Sechelt, a city on the Sunshine Coast.
The Artificial Reef Society of British Columbia (ARSBC) is a registered non-profit society based in Vancouver, British Columbia (BC), and has been a registered tax-deductible charity in Canada since 1992.
Active Pass is a strait separating Galiano Island in the north and Mayne Island in the south in the southern Gulf Islands, British Columbia, Canada. It connects the Trincomali Channel in the west and the Strait of Georgia in the east. The pass stretches 5.5 km from northeast to southwest with two roughly right-angle bends, one at each end.
The Trial Islands Ecological Reserve is a nature reserve on the Trial Islands in the British Columbia province of Canada just off the southern tip of Oak Bay in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The twenty-three-hectare ecological reserve was established in 1990 to protect two elongated rocky islands and associated islets. It protects the greatest number of endangered and vulnerable species in a single ecological reserve in British Columbia.
Tilikum was a 38-foot (12 m) dugout canoe that was used in an effort to circumnavigate the globe starting in 1901. The boat was a "Nootkan" (Nuu-chah-nulth) canoe which was already old when she was obtained by captain John Voss in April 1901. The boat was built in the early 19th century as a dugout canoe made from a large red cedar log. Tilikum was purchased for $80 in silver from a native woman in a transference ceremony allegedly sealed by a bottle of rye whiskey - the name Tilikum means "friend" in Chinook jargon. Apparently, John Voss and his companion in this venture, Norman Luxton, were inspired by the voyage of Joshua Slocum, who sailed the 37-foot (11 m) sloop Spray around the world a few years earlier and wrote a best selling book about his adventures.
Wreck Alley is an area a few miles off the coast of Mission Beach, San Diego, California with several ships intentionally sunk as artificial reefs and as Scuba diving attractions for wreck divers.
Sinking ships for wreck diving sites is the practice of scuttling old ships to produce artificial reefs suitable for wreck diving, to benefit from commercial revenues from recreational diving of the shipwreck, or to produce a diver training site.
Point Reyes State Marine Reserve (SMR) and Point Reyes State Marine Conservation Area (SMCA) are two adjoining marine protected areas that extend offshore of Point Reyes Headlands and within Drakes Bay in Marin County on California's north central coast. The combined area of these marine protected areas is 21.49 square miles (55.7 km2), with 9.38 in the SMR, and 12.11 in the adjacent SMCA. Point Reyes SMR prohibits the take of all living marine resources. Point Reyes SMCA prohibits the take of all living marine resources, except the recreational and commercial take of Dungeness crab by pot and salmon by trolling.
Naples State Marine Conservation Area (SMCA) is a marine protected area that protects Naples Reef which is about three-quarters of a mile offshore along the middle of the pristine and rural Gaviota Coast in Santa Barbara County on California’s south coast. The SMCA covers 2.58 square miles. The MPAs protects marine life by limiting the removal of wildlife from within its borders.
Swami’s State Marine Conservation Area (SMCA) is a marine protected area that extends offshore of Encinitas in San Diego County on California’s south coast. The SMCA covers 12.65 square miles. It protects marine life by limiting the removal of marine wildlife from within its borders.
Recreational dive sites are specific places that recreational scuba divers go to enjoy the underwater environment or for training purposes. They include technical diving sites beyond the range generally accepted for recreational diving. In this context all diving done for recreational purposes is included. Professional diving tends to be done where the job is, and with the exception of diver training and leading groups of recreational divers, does not generally occur at specific sites chosen for their easy access, pleasant conditions or interesting features.
Camp Bay is a small rocky beach in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. It is located off Rosia Road along the territory's west coast overlooking the Bay of Gibraltar. Parson's Lodge Battery overlooks the northern end of the bay.
Crystal Cove State Marine Conservation Area (SMCA) is one of a cluster of four adjoining marine protected areas that extend offshore of Newport Beach in Orange County on California’s south coast. The SMCA covers 3.45 square miles of near shore waters. Crystal Cove protects marine life by limiting the removal of marine wildlife from within its borders, including tide pools. Take of all living marine resources is prohibited except: recreational take of finfish by hook-and-line or by spearfishing, and lobster and sea urchin is allowed. Commercial take of coastal pelagic species by round haul net, spiny lobster by trap, and sea urchin is allowed.
Laguna Beach State Marine Reserve (SMR) and Laguna Beach State Marine Conservation Area (SMCA) are two adjoining marine protected areas that extend offshore of Laguna Beach in Orange County on California’s south coast. The SMR covers 6.27 square miles, and the SMCA covers an additional 3.44 square miles. These two MPAs are part of a four-MPA complex on the coast of southern Orange County. Each protects marine life by prohibiting or limiting the removal of marine wildlife from within its borders.