July 5th 2015 –Tragic day around the rock

The day has been pretty warm, heavy with no wind at all and a little bit later it changed, coming from South.
Even if we are washing the solar panels everyday it became worse with sea gull droppings and now we need at least 2 full buckets of fresh water.

Around 9:30 I would say, we saw, as did everybody in Southern B.C., that eerie sky but I can tell you that it was like a Hitchcock movie here with the shouting birds all around.

Pretty sad day and what was to come was even sadder. We first saw a boat with divers close to Turbine and West rocks, followed by a Coast Guard zodiac and later a helicopter from Rescue Canada…So a serious matter was unfolding. A diver had not returned after his dive…Late into the night they continued searching. The helicopter flew by the island many times and birds were getting crazy. We even saw a Canadian Frigate, a Canadair plane and another plane too.
In the middle of all this traffic at one point we spotted 2 orcas on the way. It was the only comforting sight of the day.

In total all kinds of boats have been around today: 3 kayaks, 3 or 4 whale watchers, 1 sailboat and 1 small fishing boat in the middle of the passage playing in the current, 1 submarine, 1 diving boat,1 rescue boat,1 navy boat and above a  helicopter and 2 planes . What a busy day.

See Times Colonist Article: Searchers hunt for missing diver near Race Rocks

Update: July 9-The search is still going on for the missing diver.

Two missing divers found- Times Colonist June 6, 2015

Two divers have been found safe after their failure to surface sparked an extensive rescue operation on Saturday.

The divers — one experienced and one inexperienced — went into the water about 11:10 a.m. and were expected to surface near Race Rocks at noon.

At 12:30 p.m., the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre alerted search-and-rescue crews from Sooke and Victoria, a Royal Canadian Air Force Cormorant, the Canadian Coast Guard and West Shore RCMP to the incident.

Hoping the divers had drifted, the Sooke crew searched an area 0.5 nautical miles west of Race Rocks, according to a post on the Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue – Station 37 Sooke’s Facebook page.

“One of our spotters who was using binoculars noticed something black and shiny at the surface of the water south-east of our position. We navigated the vessel towards the area and realized that we were spotting some harbour porpoises,” the post said.

While awaiting direction from the Coast Guard regarding which area to search next, the team once again spotted something in the distance.

“This time, it was a much larger object in the water. We quickly navigated to that area and located the two missing divers who were very happy to see us.”

The crew gave them a quick medical check and notified the rescue centre, the post said.

“Tired and relieved, they both appeared to be fine. … The other divers and their vessel met us on-scene and we passed the two individuals over to them.”

– See more at: http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/missing-divers-found-safe-near-race-rocks-1.1960756#sthash.4k5v3Rgd.dpuf