Seymour Narrows, just North of Campbell River, is known for having some of the fastest tidal rapids in the world (over 15 knots). According to Wikipedia, its Reynolds Number (predicting how fluids flow) is probably the highest in the world, meaning it has the greatest turbulence. Obviously you don't want to be in the water here on an average day, but on low-current exchange days, it's possible to dive here with an experienced boat captain. I came up here with Earl from Abyssal Dive Charters on March 9, 2025. The site most commonly-dove ("Pretty in Pink") is on the South-East end of the narrows next to a marker light off Maud Island.
When we arrived, the current had slowed down to much less than the usual rapids. While we waited for slack, Earl the boat captain put the boat in a small whirlpool and cut the engine. It was almost like anchoring except we spun slowly around while the whirlpool kept us from drifting.
We entered the water next to the shore. The current was still pretty strong. I dropped down and sheltered behind a boulder and tried to organize myself as the current pushed my strobe arms around. Visibility was 30-40'. The current seemed to be swirling around sometimes stronger and sometimes weaker so I headed out down the slope. This site is called "Pretty in Pink" because of all the pink brooding anemones, mostly around 20-40' deep. There were also red and green urchins and some painted anemones. Compared to many of the Campbell River dive sites in Discovery Pass, the rocks here seemed much more bare with limited diversity of marine life. I assume that only a limited amount of small invertebrates can survive the scouring currents without being torn away.
Below 60' deep, the pink colour of the shallower depths changed to more white and orange. Instead of the brooding anemones, there were carpets of what looked like tiny orange and white plumose anemones. I also saw lots of small, red soft corals and patches of encrusting sponge. There were also more painted anemones here than in the shallows. My maximum depth was just over 80'. I kept trying to swim deeper, but it seemed like I was too buoyant. I kept trying to dump air out of my drysuit before realizing that it was an upwelling of current flowing up the wall, preventing me from going deeper.
I didn't feel comfortable staying too long in the deeper areas because of the current swirling around (if there were upwellings, there could be downwellings and this steep slope drops down to over 200' deep). I went back up to the shallower depths and swam South.
Some of the sealions that were hanging around on the surface finally showed up at the end of my dive. Unlike most sealions, they didn't come close and stayed about 20' away.
I think this is a site worth diving for the novelty of exploring a unique ecosystem in an extreme environment that is rarely possible to visit. I'd come back again, but it has more of a sparse feel to it compared to the piles of more obvious marine life farther South in Discovery Pass. Again, I'd come back for the adventure of it, but I prefer Steep Island, Richmond Reef, Row and be Damned, etc.
