As the Nautilus Explorer entered the sheltering confines of Shushartie Bay we could see what appeared to be tiny black dots moving along the distant shoreline. Several black bears were foraging for food on the rugged boulder strewn beach. A black bear photo frenzy ensued as photographers quickly focused their camera lenses on a mother and her cub that seemed entirely oblivious to the massive white vessel that was slowly inching closer to the waters edge. Our ship's walkways provided a safe and steady platform from which to photograph these magnificent animals without disturbing their natural behaviour. The Nautilus Explorer soon layed anchor and the guests assembled in the main salon for the dive briefing.

Historically, Shushartie (shoo-SHAHR-tee) Bay is thought to have been the native soil of the Nahwitti Indians of the Kwakiutl First Nations. The Nahwitti's territory stretched from Shushartie Bay to Cape Scott. At the head of Shushartie Bay once stood an Indian village site called Khatis that was prized for its clam and crab beach. The Nahwitti's aboriginal way of life disappeared soon after white settlers began to arrive with their European diseases.

A wolfeel (Anarrychthys ocellatus) simply ignores the photographer.

A giant Pacific octopus (Octopus doflien1).

Around 1800, the sea otter fur trade made Shushartie Bay the primary trading centre on Vancouver Island right up until sea otters were declared extinct in BC waters around 1830. In the late 1800's, Shushartie Bay became a primary disembarkation point for early settlers as it provided one of the few safe harbours on Vancouver Island's northern coast. By 1900 a wharf, post office, hotel store and salmon cannery were in full operation. Apart from the dilapidated wooden remains of the wharf, few other vestiges of early human activity remain.

Today, Shushartie Bay's huge estuary and adjacent rainforests have reclaimed the land thus providing a rich habitat for wildlife and waterfowl such as bald eagles, black­tailed deer and numerous black bears. However, the opportunity to photograph black bears was not the only reason why we had come to this remote northern corner of Vancouver Island. We had come here to dive a tiny islet called Dillon Rock, which is situated at the mouth of Shushartie Bay.

Dillon Rock is arguably one of the world's best dive sites for finding wolf eels and giant pacific octopus. It is not uncommon to see as many as a dozen friendly wolf eels and potentially half as many large octopus on one dive. Though wolf eels and octopus tend to hide out in the cracks and crevices that they use as their dens, you will likely come across some sitting right out in the open. They seem quite accustomed to having divers in their midst and the wolf eels in particular have been known to find you first.

A green navigation marker pinpoints the top Dillon Rock making it very easy to find. What looks small and unassuming on the surface gives way to something more inviting beneath the waves. Dillon Rock slopes gently down for about 15 or 20 feet underwater before you hit a vertical wall that drops more steeply to sand and silt bottom at approximately 80 feet. A lush forest of bull kelp crowns the top 30 feet of the rock thus providing shelter for a multitude of schooling fish. Dillon Rock can be circumnavigated quite easily during one dive. Visibility can vary from day to day so I recommend bringing a light to search the rock's nooks and crannies.

In the unlikely event that anyone tires of the wolf eel and octopus encounters, this site also provides opportunities to photograph fish along with and a stunning assortment of marine invertebrates. Purple ring top snails and several different species of nudibranchs are plentiful. Ratfish, black & blue rockfish, lingcod, kelp greenlings and the elusive and seemingly uncommon vermilion rockfish are just a few of the fish species I photographed.

During the first of two descents, I discovered a large octopus sitting out in open among the broad amber colured leaves of bottom kelp. Unfortunately, my camera was only equipped with a macro lens so I could not shoot any wide angle pictures. Approximately 4 hours later, I returned with my wide angle camera rig to the precise location where I had last seen my octopus. Amazingly, I found him in the exact same spot approximately 4 hours later. While I focused my attention on this one octopus, other divers emerged from the water claiming that they had seen as many as five different octopus on their dive. People seemed to stop counting how many wolf eels there were as there were so many.

The pristine emerald seas that surround Vancouver Island offers some of the best cold water diving in the world. It is little wonder that many who have dived at Dillon Rock rate it as being one of their absolute favourites. In these northern seas, Dillon Rock is one of those amazing dive sites that deliver wolf eels and octopus on just about every dive.

The author would like to thank Mike & Marianne Lever and the crew of the Nautilus Explorer for their assistance.