HMCS Mackenzie Wreck

The HMCS Mackenzie, a 111 m Canadian destroyer escort, was deliberately sunk in 1995 in Saanich Inlet near Saltspring Island as an artificial reef. Sitting upright at 30 m on a sandy bottom in Satellite Channel, it is one of the best wreck dives on the BC coast. The hull is encrusted with giant plumose anemones, cloud sponge, and colonial tunicates. Giant Pacific octopus inhabit the superstructure, wolf eels guard the torpedo tubes, and lingcod hold court in the engine room openings. A second wreck, the HMCS Herons, lies nearby and can be combined on a single dive.