Sea Creatures of Copper Island

Recently, several news articles have featured videos of the marine life around Vancouver Island, including Barkley Sound. Nelson never had the privilege of diving underwater to see whales, sea lions, sharks and other fish. Yet all creatures that came to the surface were his neighbours and friends.

Probably the most notable example was Matilda, the basking shark. These gentle creatures grow to be six to eight meters or more in length and have a mouth big enough to swallow someone. They swim with their mouth wide open so they can continuously gather and strain plankton. 

Matilda used to visit Nelson at his float. He would talk to her and rub her back, and sometimes even scrub off her barnacles with his deck brush.

Sadly, the complaints of fishermen led to a government-run program to eliminate the basking sharks from Barkley Sound. They are rarely seen anywhere around Vancouver Island now. But back in August, a basking shark showed up near Saltspring Island, as this video shows:

Humpback whales were also greatly depleted by the Vancouver Island whaling industry, including the Sechart Whaling Station just north of Copper Island. Now they are returning in increasing numbers and are often spotted near Nelson's old home. 

In November, photographer Peter Mieras was setting up at his dock in Rainy Bay, just north of Copper Island, when he dropped a camera in the water. Before he could dive down to retrieve it, a pod of sea lions came into the bay, pushing a bait ball (a large school of small fish) in front of them, followed by a humpback. He didn't know until he got the camera back that it was recording the whole thing, as seen in the video below:

Finally, Carl Sorensen of Nanaimo put together a compilation of all his dives in 2024, including in the area around Copper Island. How Nelson would have loved to see what few of us get to see—the underwater world: