SUMMARY: A boat dive on a 165- foot freighter sunk in 1991. LOCATION: Off Portland island, north of Sidney. There are buoys moored to the ship making it easy to find. WHAT TO SEE: I prefer this dive to the Mackenzie, even though this ship is smaller. It has been down longer than the destroyer and has more "stuff" growing on it. There are lots of plumose anemones, giant barnacles, and other, smaller invertebrates. Some of the lingcod are so big, they look like sharks. There are plenty of rockfish (mostly copper) and big octopus. The octopus can be hard to spot because they match the colour of the rusty metal. CONDITIONS: The bottom around the hull is 75 - 90 feet deep. Most of the upper decks and superstructure are 40 - 60 feet deep. Visibility is usually 20 - 40 feet. At times it might be more or less. Current is not a huge issue here, but you might feel a bit.
