I wanted to try diving here when the salmon were in the river. I did an internet search to try and find out when that would be, but although some sites said it was in August, most of them just said it was in the Fall (some also said it was in the Spring and others said some varieties of salmon were here all year around). "Fall" is a reasonably lengthy time frame, so that didn't narrow it down much. October is in the Fall so I drove up here for a couple of dives on Oct. 9, 2011. I was a bit worried about the current and the visibility since it's been rainy lately, but when I arrived, the river looked pretty much like last time. Visibility was a bit less this time (20 feet) and the water seemed even more yellow-green, but I felt less current than last time. At the bottom of the canyon under the bridge (30-40 feet deep), it was almost too dark to see anything without a light. I saw more crayfish and sculpins than I did last time. I found a silver ring, a cell phone and a shoe. I was about to look in the shoe for a foot, but then decided that I would rather not. I didn't see any salmon in the canyon under the bridge. As I was swimming downstream, I saw a dead one being eaten by a crayfish. I wondered if I was too late after all for the spawning run. Downstream from the bridge, the river widens out a bit and become shallower (15-25 feet deep). I saw a few half-dead salmon swimming around here. I'm not sure what kind they were. I also saw a school of about 20 healthier salmon occasionally charge past above me. They wouldn't let me anywhere near them. I also saw a couple of adult trout up near the surface as well as groups of tiny juveniles. I did a second dive with my video camera. I saw all the same things except I also saw a large underwater metal-grate sluice gate below a building that's near the bridge. At the time I assumed that it was something to do with a salmon hatchery that's in the area, but I later found out the hatchery is pretty far away. I was lucky that the gate didn't suddenly open and suck me into the cooling system for Nanaimo's secret nuclear power plant.
