China Creek wreck

[MarkH]

I'm thinking of going to China Creek to do the wreck/wall. Can any of you (WEDIVEBC) give fairly detailed directions for finding the wreck and wall? I can find my own way to China Creek and I'm pretty sure I can find the campground, but I'd rather not drive all the way up there hoping to find some detailed underwater map posted near the beach. Also, there was the other migrant wreck that sank accidentally (basically broke in half) 100 meters offshore from the dock 130 feet deep. Was it just a slow news day? Did this really happen? Anyone dove it? Thanks.

 

[MarkH]

I'm thinking of going to China Creek to do the wreck/wall. Can any of you (WEDIVEBC) give fairly detailed directions for finding the wreck and wall? I can find my own way to China Creek and I'm pretty sure I can find the campground, but I'd rather not drive all the way up there hoping to find some detailed underwater map posted near the beach. Also, there was the other migrant wreck that sank accidentally (basically broke in half) 100 meters offshore from the dock 130 feet deep. Was it just a slow news day? Did this really happen? Anyone dove it? Thanks.

I just remembered your previous post wedivebc. Do the campground staff know much about the diving? Also, the directions you gave were for the beach at the campground. Is there only one beach? Is it fairly small? Thanks again.

 

[naclydogg]

Here is a chart of the area. Makes it easier to give directions.

 

[wedivebc]

I just remembered your previous post wedivebc. Do the campground staff know much about the diving? Also, the directions you gave were for the beach at the campground. Is there only one beach? Is it fairly small? Thanks again.

Last time I was there a staff member came and told us a good place to park. Right next to last campsite closest to the rock cliff (left side of beach) there is a little access road to the beach. We backed in there and were only a couple of meters from the high tide mark.
Go in the water there and swing to the left at about 15m and you will come upon the wreck. The stern sticks up to about 10m and the bow goes to 50m at the bottom.
I don't recommend going inside since the wreck is falling apart already.

 

[MarkH]

Last time I was there a staff member came and told us a good place to park. Right next to last campsite closest to the rock cliff (left side of beach) there is a little access road to the beach. We backed in there and were only a couple of meters from the high tide mark.
Go in the water there and swing to the left at about 15m and you will come upon the wreck. The stern sticks up to about 10m and the bow goes to 50m at the bottom.
I don't recommend going inside since the wreck is falling apart already.

Thanks. I'm probably going to try it monday or tuesday. On the web, it seems that the China Creek campsite is private, but in a book, it said that there is a China Creek Provincial Park campsite. I hope there is just one. If the whole inlet is lined with various campgrounds, I'll be screwed. As far as invertebrate life goes, is it anything like Georgia Straight around where you're from? Did you see any crimson anemones, feather stars, or sponges? Plumose anemones? -Just trying to do a bit of planning photo-wise. I hope the vis isn't too "challenged" this time of year.

 

[wedivebc]

Thanks. I'm probably going to try it monday or tuesday. On the web, it seems that the China Creek campsite is private, but in a book, it said that there is a China Creek Provincial Park campsite. I hope there is just one. If the whole inlet is lined with various campgrounds, I'll be screwed. As far as invertebrate life goes, is it anything like Georgia Straight around where you're from? Did you see any crimson anemones, feather stars, or sponges? Plumose anemones? -Just trying to do a bit of planning photo-wise. I hope the vis isn't too "challenged" this time of year.

Just one campsite. If you dive the wall (to the left of the beach) you will see little invertibrate life but look for a baby wolf eel on the boom boat at 30ft(look in the pipes sticking up) or often a moss head warbonnet. There is usually an octo by the phone booth (Ok that's invertibrate). You may see 6 gills near the log pile off the stern of the chinese wreck. Just watch the logs, when one starts swimming get closer.

 

[Hyper-limits]

Just watch the logs, when one starts swimming get closer.

Logs swimming ?? You have to stop those deep air dive Dave . Good luck seeing a Sixgill Swankenstein during your trip to China Creek. Down here in Victoria you scare them away.

Cheers

Al

 

[PrincessOfPower]

Hey, I took a group out to China Creek a few years back to do both the wall and the chinese wreck (which was in bad shape even then). The marina has a main office with phone booths and such, and might be able to give you some more current info about the sites. They also have maps of the area in the office so you can see exactly where to go and park and etc. I wrote down the following after the dives:

China Creek, Wreck of the “Rusty Boat” that carried 130 people from China

See map of China Creek Marina. Swim straight out from campsite 42 to the small yellow marker buoy. This was a very small buoy barely visible once you were in the water. Clever compass work would be a benefit. If you can’t find the buoy, head out a bit towards the wall (from campsite 44 or so) and swim to the right along the 80-85 ft contour. From the marker, descend down the line to meet the wreck at 60 ft. This is the stern of the ship, sandy bottom was at about 80ft. The wreck is 120 feet long. At the stern, the deck is approximately 110 ft deep and the boat easily hits sandy bottom at 150ft. Not much life and quite rusty.

China Creek Wall

China Creek wall is the rocky wall on the left-hand side of the photo below. You’ll notice that from shore it goes “wall – less wallish- wall”. Swim all the way out to the end of the second wall for some huge boot sponges and a fairly nice wall dive reminiscent of Ansell Point. Wall goes down to about 90ft, breaks into rocks before hitting the sand. This is a dive site for looking close at invertebrate life, and searching in crevices for things like juvenile wolf eels and grunt sculpin.
At 40 feet in the wall part closest to shore is a phone booth. Surface swim is long, shallows are pretty and water very clear. I heard that there is a tugboat somewhere also, although perhaps that was the second marker out from campsite 44ish.

There's also an interesting link to information about the Chinese wreck found herehttp://www.library.ubc.ca/asian/FinalAsian/introduction.html

Hope that helps! If you dive the wreck, can you post an update on its condition and depths? I thought that it might perhaps be sliding down the slope it was on. Good luck with the sixgills too!

 

[MarkH]

Hope that helps! If you dive the wreck, can you post an update on its condition and depths? I thought that it might perhaps be sliding down the slope it was on. Good luck with the sixgills too!

Thanks for the info. I'll definitely post something if it all works out.

 

[MarkH]

I'm back, but didn't find the migrant wreck. The wall was half-decent though.China Creek