As one travels farther up the Gorge, the trees give way to more contemporary homes. There is a walking path along the waterway & several small parks. Each park has a restroom & a few parking spaces. Several have easy access to the water. The terrain here is basicly flat for the next two miles to Craigflower. Standing beside Victoria's Gorge Waterway, Craigflower Farmhouse and Craigflower School survive today as rare examples of the original pioneering era in British Columbia. Both designated as National Historic Sites, the Farmhouse (1856) and Schoolhouse (1855) were originally important features of a large Hudson's Bay Company farm and the early settlement farming community.
Rubye & I kyacked the Gorge waterway about every third day of our vacation.....two miles to the Gorge Bridge & Two Mile Pub......and two more miles to Craigflower. Depending on the tide one will need to portage at the reversing falls against the tide or breeze through the narrows with the rising tide. Either way it is exhilarating. Diving above the Tillicum Bridge at the reversing falls can be a challenge. But I'm always up for a challenge....it's just my nature. I have 40 years of diving experience & know my limits.
On this grand occasion I teamed up with two Canadian treasure divers. Coincidentally all three of us are Mikes. We refer to our selves as Nanaimo Mike, Metchosin Mike & California Mike. On this day, Nanaimo Mike observed the alining of stars as a good omen. How often could three Mikes get together for a Gorge Dive. We thought not many....it had to be magic. A little side bet was placed on who would find the best bottle after three tanks.....beers.
We first dove at the Craigflower schoolhouse......30 foot visibility, but heavy marine growth covering the bottom gave me a Victoria milk, Metchosin Mike a Regal ginger beer & nothing for Nanaimo Mike.
For the second tank we moved to the gorge bridge. I had been diving this site for several days & knew the pickings would be slim. On our second tank, Nanaimo Mike found a screamer : New West Minister Morley hutch. This is an off island bottle....the Morley soda people had a soda works on Victoria Island & one on the main land at New West Minister near Vancouver. This bottle handily beat my milk & the Regal ginger beer.
It was time to bring out the big guns..... The now rising tide was kicking through the narrows...easily 5 to 7 mile an hour along the pub side. I put on additional weight (now two weight belts...about 70 lbs total). I cautiously swam out into the current and was able to swim under water to the pub side. It was a struggle even with the extra weight. I needed more weight to negotiate the rapids. I searched along the rock wall & finally found a good sized rock. With the rock & extra weight I swam out into the rapids. The water lifted me up & blew me back about twenty feet. I landed in a sand shoal area pocked with seaweed. I looked around for bottles & saw none. My pressure gauge showed I had just gulped a ton of air. At this rate the dive wouldn't last long. I again picked up the rock into the current & ripped back another twenty feet. Again nothing whole, but I saw a few sherds of glass. The third time I lifted the rock frisbee into the current, the current blew me back even further. This time I landed in a small depression filled with bleached oyster shells. I calmed myself, readjusted my dive mask & peeked around. In the middle of the oyster shells I saw a perfectly circular white shell. I reached down grabbed this item & plucked a pottery quart ale from it's resting place. The bottle has been totally concealed sitting upside down in the shells. The bottle was debossed in a rectangle on it's front: Bavaria Brewery Victoria V.I. I couldn't believe my luck....this bottle is extremely rare. I checked my air pressure gauge. I was already at 800lbs....I had gobbled nearly a whole tank and figured it was time to get out. I swam back across to the two Mikes. I struggled to my weary feet & walked the remaining shallows to their location. The bottle was safe & secure inside my wetsuit top. Amid the oooohhs & awwwwws, the boy from California had prevailed.[
]
Pictured below are the Three Mikes (three amigos) & their loot.
In 1866 when Vancouver island was politically united with the mainland, Victoria was designated the capital of the new united colony instead of New Westminster - an unpopular move on the Mainland - and became the provincial capital when British Columbia joined the Canadian Confederation in 1871.
The Bavarian Brewery ale circa 1866.
Rubye & I kyacked the Gorge waterway about every third day of our vacation.....two miles to the Gorge Bridge & Two Mile Pub......and two more miles to Craigflower. Depending on the tide one will need to portage at the reversing falls against the tide or breeze through the narrows with the rising tide. Either way it is exhilarating. Diving above the Tillicum Bridge at the reversing falls can be a challenge. But I'm always up for a challenge....it's just my nature. I have 40 years of diving experience & know my limits.
On this grand occasion I teamed up with two Canadian treasure divers. Coincidentally all three of us are Mikes. We refer to our selves as Nanaimo Mike, Metchosin Mike & California Mike. On this day, Nanaimo Mike observed the alining of stars as a good omen. How often could three Mikes get together for a Gorge Dive. We thought not many....it had to be magic. A little side bet was placed on who would find the best bottle after three tanks.....beers.
We first dove at the Craigflower schoolhouse......30 foot visibility, but heavy marine growth covering the bottom gave me a Victoria milk, Metchosin Mike a Regal ginger beer & nothing for Nanaimo Mike.
For the second tank we moved to the gorge bridge. I had been diving this site for several days & knew the pickings would be slim. On our second tank, Nanaimo Mike found a screamer : New West Minister Morley hutch. This is an off island bottle....the Morley soda people had a soda works on Victoria Island & one on the main land at New West Minister near Vancouver. This bottle handily beat my milk & the Regal ginger beer.
It was time to bring out the big guns..... The now rising tide was kicking through the narrows...easily 5 to 7 mile an hour along the pub side. I put on additional weight (now two weight belts...about 70 lbs total). I cautiously swam out into the current and was able to swim under water to the pub side. It was a struggle even with the extra weight. I needed more weight to negotiate the rapids. I searched along the rock wall & finally found a good sized rock. With the rock & extra weight I swam out into the rapids. The water lifted me up & blew me back about twenty feet. I landed in a sand shoal area pocked with seaweed. I looked around for bottles & saw none. My pressure gauge showed I had just gulped a ton of air. At this rate the dive wouldn't last long. I again picked up the rock into the current & ripped back another twenty feet. Again nothing whole, but I saw a few sherds of glass. The third time I lifted the rock frisbee into the current, the current blew me back even further. This time I landed in a small depression filled with bleached oyster shells. I calmed myself, readjusted my dive mask & peeked around. In the middle of the oyster shells I saw a perfectly circular white shell. I reached down grabbed this item & plucked a pottery quart ale from it's resting place. The bottle has been totally concealed sitting upside down in the shells. The bottle was debossed in a rectangle on it's front: Bavaria Brewery Victoria V.I. I couldn't believe my luck....this bottle is extremely rare. I checked my air pressure gauge. I was already at 800lbs....I had gobbled nearly a whole tank and figured it was time to get out. I swam back across to the two Mikes. I struggled to my weary feet & walked the remaining shallows to their location. The bottle was safe & secure inside my wetsuit top. Amid the oooohhs & awwwwws, the boy from California had prevailed.[
]Pictured below are the Three Mikes (three amigos) & their loot.
In 1866 when Vancouver island was politically united with the mainland, Victoria was designated the capital of the new united colony instead of New Westminster - an unpopular move on the Mainland - and became the provincial capital when British Columbia joined the Canadian Confederation in 1871.
The Bavarian Brewery ale circa 1866.
