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-
 Seymour Narrows, just north of the city of Campbell
River, refers to a severely narrowed channel between
Vancouver Island and the mainland of British Columbia
where about one-third of the water in the Strait of
Georgia tries to funnel through Discovery Passage. Given
the right winds, tidal flood and current conditions, the
result can be tide rips, whirlpools and currents with
speeds up to 15 knots (16.5 mph or 26.55 kph). Not
surprisingly, its local name is “The Graveyard”. Ships
and boats often wait for slack water (every six hours)
in order to safely transit this area.
- Ripple Rock was a submerged stone pinnacle within
Seymour Narrows that routinely claimed a ship a year.
Boats that weren’t holed by the rock itself were often
sucked
 into the mighty whirlpools or shoved onto the
rocky shores by the strong eddies created by fast
running tidal waters. Early on, mariners dreamed of ways
to get rid of Ripple Rock and in 1943, the first
attempts to drill down and blast the rock were
unsuccessful. But a decade later, miners were able to
excavate 3,000 ft (1,000 m) of vertical and horizontal
tunnels from nearby Maude Island. Some 3 million tons of
dynamite were then loaded into the submerged rock and on
April 7, 1958, they were detonated, creating the largest
non-nuclear blast in history. Ripple Rock became Ripple
Shoal, over which most ships can pass safely.
http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-75-657-3654-11/science_technology/ripple_rock_blasted/
-
 Misty Fjords National Monument is a 2.3 million acre
area in Alaska, officially set aside in order to
“protect objectives of ecological, cultural, geological,
historical, pre-historical and scientific interest as
well as to preserve its wilderness values.” What that
doesn’t say is how remarkably beautiful the innumerable
waterways, bays and inlets of this National Monument
are. Misty Fiords, with its diverse ecosystems, is part
of Tongass National Forest. Glacially carved granite
rocks rise 3,000 ft above the deep fjords and are home
to brown and black bears, Sitka black-tailed deer,
wolves and mountain goats.
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