Train wreck at Porteau Cove

[Henry]

Thanks Henry I think the only thing that will be left is the steel wheels and axles the wood will be long gone. I wonder if you start at the Nakaya and swim towords the point if you will find it I have been told it is past the Nakaya. I shall have fun looking for it. Maybe see some big Lings. Has anyone done the wall at the other side of the camp ground?

Yah, the campground is best done when the far gates are open and you can drive in to drop off your gear. Otherwise it's a long walk with all your gear.

The wall is fairly short width wise and sort of deep. If I remember right, it bottoms out on a really low tide at about 120 feet or so. The wall is V shaped and if you swim out to the pin stuck in the rock. Drop in there and follow the edge of the wall and sand down to the bottom (you will know it's the bottom because you will hit a pile of wood and rock that is an octopus den). Now zig zag the wall all the way back up to the shallows. There are a total of 7 dens.

Have fun.
Henry

 

[vancouverdiver]

Hi Henry, I appreciate this is an old post. Have you found the train wreck debris? Do you recall what depth is it at? Another post suggests it is at 120-130 ft.
Does your old post describe where it is but it is deeper at 130 instead of 100? Thanks Henry.

I went looking for that train last summer. One of my dive partners has seen it but he dove it years ago and can't remember excatly where it is. He said that he happened to come across it while swimming from shallower wrecks toward the Nakaya.

He had droped deeper past Granthall and traverssed at past 100 feet towards the Nakaya.

I did the route backwards to lool for the train. I swam from the Nakaya towards the other wrecks at about 100 feet. When the terrain started to swing around in line with the shore. There was an obvious depression. I took a 90 degree right turn to follow it down. I encountered some bent pipes but couldn't see anything past that.

The train wreck was described to me by my buddy as pretty much gone. There is the obvious shape of the train car but it is completely collapsed on it self and is just a heap covered in silt.

Not much help but at least you know there is nothing in that area.

Henry

 

[Henry]

Hi Henry, I appreciate this is an old post. Have you found the train wreck debris? Do you recall what depth is it at? Another post suggests it is at 120-130 ft.
Does your old post describe where it is but it is deeper at 130 instead of 100? Thanks Henry.

No I haven't gone back for years but coincidentally I actually have plans to go there in the near future to check it out. I am just waiting for a part to come KISS to service my rebreather so I can do it on closed circuit. I recently just upgraded my scooter to run the full distance to the train wreck area so I don't have to swim the whole thing.

The plan is coming together, once piece at a time.

 

[vancouverdiver]

ok, thanks for the info. Last week, I scootered from the Nakaya well north at 100 ft. and saw large boulders, debris field. I subsequently saw a post suggesting it is at 120-130, and not that far from the Nakaya. So I was probably too far north and too shallow
. Going out on 25/25 to have another look. If you happen to get any further intel, please drop me a line. Thanks!

 

[Henry]

When I get around to do this, I will probably be scootering out on a 17/60 mix. Likely in about three weeks. Want to come? I would plan to be around 200 feet max. The reason that I am thinking 200 is because the first I heard of this was 10 years ago, at that point, my friend who had seen it 10 years prior, the trains were at 90 feet. 10 years later, they were past 130. I saw bent rail ties at that depth myself 10 years ago.

so Now I am thinking that they have slowly slid down to 180-200. The other factor that would play in to this wreck is when the land slide occurred in 2008, it was on top of the train site. As you are probably aware of, the highway department pushed the entire side of the mountain that fell on the road, in to the ocean. This will either cover the train wreck or push it further down the hill. This wasn't just a few rocks, it was an entire side of the cliff. At any rate, I am confident that the underwater topography will look quite different from when I saw it last.

 

[vancouverdiver]

I heard from another diver that it was at 130, but it slid off a ledge. He wasn't sure how deep, but he heard it may be as deep as 240. I would love to go but that's too deep for me! If you find it, be sure to provide an update! Happy hunting!

 

[Henry]

Update on the mystery train wreck. In all likelihood, it is gone. We went to have a survey of the area today and it is completely buried by the rock debris that the work crew pushed in to the ocean from the 2008 rock slide. There is so much rock that it actually changed how the bottom topography looks. What use to be a 40-ish degree clearly defined boulder slope is now ledges of rock and silt.... a lot of silt. The ledges are more like plateaus. They go out a long way, erasing any resemblance of the once continuous slope.

If the train wreck was there, it would be far below where it once was...by likely hundreds of feet. Not worth my effort to go searching. :-(

 

[leeboy8500]

There is a car wreck there. You can park at the salt shed, walk across the highway and there's a steep goat path down and in, essentially on the shore across from the Nakaya. Enter there and swim north maybe 50 yards. It's a neat boulder slope down to 100 feet that's a cool dive. The car wreck is on the boulder slope at about 50 feet.