Bamberton Cement Factory (Saanich Inlet) photos/report

[MarkH]

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[Hyper-limits]

Thanks for sharing Mark. As usual interesting report, very creepy silt cloud that for sure.

Al

 

[nadwidny]

The gargoyle statues were there when I used to dive Saanich inlet about 10 years ago.

Interesting cloud sponge. I don't remember ever seeing those there.

 

[MarkH]

The gargoyle statues were there when I used to dive Saanich inlet about 10 years ago.

Interesting cloud sponge. I don't remember ever seeing those there.

I know a diver from Alberta who says he saw some of them that were raised and are now in Alberta, so according to him they definitely exist (or at least did exist). How deep did you see them? In what general area were they? I only dove the Northern end of the site near the silos and dock. The marine chart shows a steep drop all along the shore like everywhere else in the Southern half of Saanich Inlet so I'm going to assume that there is a big rocky reef/wall somewhere in the area and I assume there are more sponges.

 

[nadwidny]

I know a diver from Alberta who says he saw some of them that were raised and are now in Alberta, so according to him they definitely exist (or at least did exist). How deep did you see them? In what general area were they?

I've only been there 2 or 3 times and it was a long time ago. I recall that the dives I made were pretty underwhelming when I went and we didn't bring up any statues so I don't remember much about the dives themselves. Let me make a call to my buddy...

OK, she said that the statues were found right off the dock. Makes sense as they were probably in a truck or something and dumped off the edge. Some were covered in barnacles and such, some were completely clean, some were somewhere in the middle. That may indicate that they undergo periodic covering and un-covering by the silt. She said they picked up about a half dozen or more, I only remember seeing one or two. Last time I saw them they were on display in a store in Edmonton. Pretty much all of them were defective in some way which is probably why they were dumped off the dock.

 

[bkplant]

The gargoyle statues were there when I used to dive Saanich inlet about 10 years ago.

Interesting cloud sponge. I don't remember ever seeing those there.

Here's a late explanation regarding these gargoyles. They date to the early/mid 90s, long after the cement plant closed. Some artists used to rent the old Bamberton machine shop there as a studio. I used to work there for one of them, mostly casting stuff, and we'd toss all the seconds into the water, right off the old boat ramp there. Statues, gargoyles, benches, you name it - in it went. I recall some pretty decent sized stuff too.

I had a laugh coming across this post as back then we used to think that somebody someday would find them wonder how the hell they got there.

 

[nadwidny]

I'll pass that information along to my friends that have the gargoyles. I'm sure they will be happy to be able to date them (even if they aren't that old).

 

[cjfox]

That's good to know about the gargoyles, I always dismissed it as an urban myth.