Liquid Rush!: Beneath British Columbia’s Nakwakto Rapids

Seething torrents of sea water bubble n’ froth like a boiling witch’s cauldron on a calm summer day at Nakwakto Rapids. Swirling whirlpools capable of swallowing a five-meter Boston Whaler underwater, only to regurgitate it approximately one hundred-meters downstream, are the stuff of legend here. We had timed our arrival to witness the liquid rush of a maximum tidal exchange in Nakwakto’s diminutive 300-meter-wide channel. Surprisingly, these same treacherous currents create a lush and fertile undersea habitat for marine life.

“TREMBLE ISLAND!”

Standing defiant in the middle of the channel is a squat, steep-sided, island called Turret Rock. Scores of boaters and dive groups have nailed makeshift signs to the evergreen trees that crown this twenty-four-meter-high pillar of rock. Graffiti-like placards provide proof to the world that one has joined “the club” of vessels and scuba divers that have dared these tidal rapids.  Local folklore purports this tiny islet actually vibrates in the fast-flowing currents, giving rise to its more common nickname “Tremble Island!” Quite likely, this ominous epithet refers to the involuntary cold shivers that run up and down a scuba divers’ spine as they are preparing to make a descent here.

39 KILOMETERS PER HOUR!

Nakwakto Rapids is located at the entrance to Seymour Inlet, approximately 320 kilometers northwest of Vancouver in a remote section of British Columbia’s coastal mainland, just opposite the north end of Vancouver Island. In recent times, the Guinness Book of World Records once listed Nakwakto Rapids as having “the fastest navigable tidal currents in the world!”  – up to 39 kilometers per hour during its largest tidal exchanges! A notorious title Nakwakto Rapids can no longer lay claim to as in recent years the turbulent currents at British Columbia’s Sechelt Rapids were measured as being a tad faster.

A SACRED PLACE

In places along Nakwakto’s outer shoreline, you can see what at first glance appear to simply be small green hills. These mounds are actually ancient shell middens left by a First Nations’ tribe known as the Nakwaxda’xw. Prior to relocating to the town of Port Hardy on northern Vancouver Island in 1962, this far-flung wilderness region was home to the Nakwaxda’xw (pronounced Nak-wah-dah) band of the Kwakiutl First Nations. Historically, the Nakwaxda’xw were scattered over a large area and made their homes along the inlets and waterways, living by fishing, hunting, gathering clams, berries and seaweed from the surrounding land. The Nakwaxda’xw lived in permanent villages in traditional longhouses, large log structures that housed several families and constructed totem poles. The word Nakwakto is the English equivalent of Nakwaxda’xw.

SLACK WATER

Nakwakto’s formidable currents arise because its narrow channel is the only avenue of escape for the tidal water that flows between Queen Charlotte Strait and several adjoining deep glacier-carved fjords. In fact, the tidal range inside nearby Seymour and Belize inlets never has a chance to fluctuate more than one metre before the outside tide, which is more than four-meters in range, comes roaring back in. However, approximately every five or six hours the tumultuous water movement swirling around Turret Rock diminishes to a dead calm before reversing its tidal course. This brief “slack water” interval can last anywhere from a few minutes to just over a half-hour.  It is during this transitory window of time that experienced divers are able to obtain a fleeting glimpse of Turret Rock’s current-swept seascape.

A RACE AGAINST TIME

It’s a race against time and the elements so the dive plan calls for getting in and getting out fast, before the wicked tidal currents churn and the witches brew comes to a full boil! The key to logging a successful dive here is to simply obey the dive charter operator’s stated dive plan. Essentially, all this entails is that divers stay close to the island’s subsea boundaries and that they comply with the maximum bottom time limit called for the dive.

INTO THE MAELSTROM

Slack water was approaching as scuba divers systematically dressed into my dive gear. Nakwakto’s menacing whirlpools and foaming eddies had ebbed to a relative calm. Timing our entry and exit during the slack tide interval, which is often unpredictable in its length and intensity, would be critical. Our planned bottom time for this descent was to be a mere thirty minutes. Last minute equipment checks were made as the divemaster skillfully steered the dive skiff closer to Turret Rock.

“Go for it!” the divemaster shouted from the skiff’s stern. One by one, five buddy teams splashed into the emerald-colored sea. Descending quickly, we finned towards a rocky ledge approximately ten-metres below. Pausing to allow our eyes to adjust to the lower light level, and to adjust underwater camera’s settings, we pressed on to explore Turret Rock’s alluring seascape.

One would almost think that no known life form could survive the violent scrubbing from the standing waves that routinely assail Turret Rock’s undersea perimeter. Yet, these ferocious currents generate high levels of oxygen and nutrients that marine life thrives upon. What appears on the surface to be dark and foreboding quickly reveals an undersea ecosystem of abundance and kaleidoscopic colors. Underwater visibility is often exceptional at 24-meters.

LIFE IN THE FAST LANE

“Life in the fast lane” is a phrase that aptly describes the scenic wonder of Nakawkto’s ocean realm. Swaying rope-sized strands of bull kelp brandished their amber fronds toward the surface. Fish life was plentiful, yielding sightings of large quillback rockfish, china rockfish and red Irish lords. Dense thickets of pillow-sized feather duster tube worms, their robust shrub-like stalks freckled with pink brooding anemones, punctuated the rocky substrate.

Fist-sized clumps of day-glow pink soft corals, flame tipped nudibranchs, ochre sea stars, mustard-yellow sponge, decorated warbonnets along with several different species of sea anemones are just a snippet of the vast assortment of stalwart reef dwellers inhabiting these depths.

Drifting further out into the channel we came upon Nakwakto Rapid’s biological treasure. Stretching out for as far as the eyes can see was a marine life species whose discovery at subtidal depths here during the late seventies totally baffled marine biologists. Bordering Turret Rock’s underwater perimeter is an immense population of red-lipped gooseneck barnacles. Once thought to be exclusive residents of the intertidal zone on exposed surf-pounded coasts, these vibrantly coloured relatives of the common acorn barnacle are flourishing at unheard of depths of 15-meters, or more. Plastered firmly to the sea bottom, these gooseneck barnacles are growing in such profusion that they merge to form large ridges.

Each clump of these pearly-shelled barnacles contains hundreds of individuals that filter-feed nutrients from the plankton-rich waters. Beds of blue mussels are also crammed into these tide-raked gardens. Marine phenomena such as this gave rise to the popular west coast diving precept, “The faster the current, the richer the marine life”. 

THE FINE ART OF SURFACING

Nearing the end of our dive, we began working my way around to the opposite side of Turret Rock, and tucked in behind the island to finish out our dive. Peering into a long irregular fissure in the rocks, we spied a decorated warbonnet staring right back at us. “How does any living creature survive in the liquid rush here?” , I thought? Perhaps, this brilliantly ornate fish was wondering the same about us?

The current had now reversed and was accelerating in the opposite direction. Another telltale sign was that our exhaust bubbles were now percolating through the water column at a much sharper angle to the surface. The sensation of the current’s pull is not unlike the air pressure wave one feels when you waive your hand outside a car window moving at highway speeds. Recognizing it was time to ascend, we surfaced to a jubilant chorus of whoops and hollers. Clearly, the other divers who had just braved these waters were absolutely blown away by Nakwakto Rapid’s stunningly beautiful subsea terrain.

RAPIDS TRANSIT

Sport divers have been making exploratory descents at Nakwakto Rapids for well over four decades. Thus far, every diver has made a safe return to the dive boat. While it is true that a few divers have misjudged Nakwakto’s trembling tides and tried to remain on the sea floor for too long, the Guinness Book of World Records has thus far chosen not to establish an award for “the longest distance a scuba diver has nervously traveled on the surface down a tidal channel!”

Until our next dispatch, dare to Explore…Dream…Discover.

IF YOU GO

Diving Season: March through October

Water Temperatures: Water temperatures average 9 to 11 degrees Celsius. A drysuit, or a 7mm wetsuit, are recommended.

Dive Charter Operators:

Browning Pass HideAway Resort – VancouverIslandDive.com

God’s Pocket Dive Resort – godspocket.com