Approaching the Annapolis
For the past three years, the Artificial Reef Society of BC has been working hard at preparing the ex-HMCS Annapolis to be sunk as an artificial reef off of Gambier Island, in Howe Sound. Having enjoyed the reefs off of Nanaimo, I thought I’d volunteer to help out with the Annapolis knowing that I would be diving it in the future. So this past Saturday, I found myself deep down in the bottom of her hull, cleaning up in the engine room. Although everyone working on her for the past few years made an incredible amount of progress, there was still some dirty work to be done!
I highly recommend that any diver who doesn’t mind getting a little dirty help out with the Annapolis. It’s really interesting to see the ship before it sinks, and it’ll be really interesting to see how it progresses over the years after it’s sunk and life begins to take hold in and around the vessel. The dedicated folks who have been working hard on her for the past few years were welcoming of a newbie like me, and I’m definitely going to try and make it back out to put in some more days helping out.
Me helping clean the engine room. The flash doesn't do it justice, because it was dark!
Plenty of photos below. In a few of them, you can see just what kind of mess needs to be cleaned up before she sinks. Lots of oil things that need to be removed so that it doesn’t pollute the ocean when she goes down.
