Butedale
Today we did a really neat dive on the Transpac. It was really creepy at first descending down the anchor line initially……it was really dark and I thought I was in outer space. Then I saw lights swarming over the ship and I got to the top of the ship. The visibility was really great down there……I had a great dive and would do it again. Carol.
I’ve done the Transpac before, but this time it was especially clear and other divers with lights around the prow made the scene look like something out of “Encounters”. After a circle or two we headed back up the slope and enjoyed a stop on a filed of Glassy Tunicates -john
The coast of BC has a remarkable history and the abandoned cannery at Butedale is a great example of our salmon fishing past. Decrepit buildings falling into the sea are all that’s left of a once thriving commercial fish plant. There was a school, general store, bunkhouses…hard and rich lives lived that have faded into distant memories. Amazingly, the hydro power plant still provides electricity to the lone inhabitant of Butedale, a retired caretaker who lives alone with his dog and cat. An artist and raconteur, Lou is a colourful man, not a hermit or societal dropout – but someone who relishes this wet coast, as many of us do. Danny Mauro
Guest Blog 16 June 2009
