737 in Victoria?

[Diver0001]

Talked to Erin from Ogden Point Dive Center today and he said that since Comox rejected the 737 artificial reef, rumour has it that the next possible site for it is in Victoria. At the breakwater. -A shore dive. It was supposed to be on the 5:00 news today, but I didn't have a T.V. handy where I was (it rots your brain anyways).

I heard they were going to sink the 737 in schelt inlet. Has that idea been rejected too?

R..

 

[Daryl Morse]

IIRC the news said they had raised $25k of the $75k required to sink the plane. I am not exactly sure why it cost so much but that's a lot of loot for something that may be a pile of rubble in a couple of years.

I talked with a guy from the Artificial Reef Society at the aquarium a couple of weeks ago. He said the 737 project is on the verge of collapsing because of insufficient funding for the permits. (I think he was talking about $50k or so). If the money cannot be raised soon, the aircraft will be scrapped.

 

[jbm]

1)Air Canada is hooked on goverment handouts like crack..............................2) Not only that, but its customer service sucks and for the most part, its employees are miserable and surly, but strangely also arrogant..................................3) it wasn't even close to being funny.

1) Wrong.
2) You must have been flying with Montreal crews.
3) No humor intended.

 

[Daryl Morse]

1) Wrong.
2) You must have been flying with Montreal crews.
3) No humor intended.

I should have predicted this sort of response. Maybe I've been flying an Air Canada from a parallel universe for all of these years.

PS. WRT Montreal crews, that actually is funny. I wonder, do Montreal crews fly out of Vancouver, Sydney, UK, Hong Kong, etc?

 

[opiniongirl]

It's going down in Courtenay.

The funding wasn't the reason it tanked- the doofuses who were running the project were (it wasn't handled exclusively by ARSBC).

It ain't coming to Vancouver as no one bothered to be diplomatic with the Band Chiefs. Support from local dive store owners flopped because of a certain nitwit whose mere participation was enough to turn them off.

And besides, who wants to donate all this money, for a wreck made of ALUMINUM???

 

[OE2X]

You mean one that won't rust away in a hundred years?

 

[jbm]

I
I wonder, do Montreal crews fly out of Vancouver, Sydney, UK, Hong Kong, etc?

Yes

 

[whozamajigit]

Well guys, the official, latest word on the 737 is that the ARSBC is trying to back out because they feel that a shore accessible wreck will invite too much danger and therefore gigantic liability issues for themselves. They'd rather see us sink it at Brotchie Ledge or off Albert Head, but the problem with that is that in that case only the Ogden Point Dive Centre profits because we'd be the only group to run regular charters out to it. And even though we like making money, we don't like screwing everyone else. So if you'd like to do the dive community a huge favour, voice your support for the project. You're hearing this straight from the horse's mouth, I was at work at the dive shop this morning, and Erin had to cancel a trip to Comox to finalize the purchase of the plane because the ARSBC is pussyfooting around.

Chris @ OPDC

 

[Hyper-limits]

They'd rather see us sink it at Brotchie Ledge or off Albert Head, but the problem with that is that in that case only the Ogden Point Dive Centre profits because we'd be the only group to run regular charters out to it. And even though we like making money, we don't like screwing everyone else.

Thanks for the update Chris. It nice to see Erin working Hard on this project.
One thing I don't get is why the other dive shops or charters operator can run regular trip to the wreck. I know OPDC would be the main benefactor but if Erin put most of the money down for this project you guys deserve to make the big $$$.

 

[whozamajigit]

Well simply by virtue of the fact that the plane will be sunk right by the Ogden Point Dive Centre, we probably will stand to benefit the most from it, but if it's made into a boat-accessible only site, then we'd be the only ones who could benefit regularly from it, as we're the only shop around that runs regular charters with our own boats. And while Erin and the shop would be dropping a large sum of money on this project, ideally the city of Victoria, as well as a few corporate sponsors, and maybe some of the other shops in the city, would kick in a few bucks, and over time we could recoup our losses, and maybe create yet another reason for divers to come to Victoria. All in all though, this is just one of those projects that seemed like it was too good to pass up, so Erin took a stab at it. Making money or not, how cool would it be to have a 737 sunk in one of Victoria's top dive sites, where all you have to do is take a short walk to get to it? However, with the ARSBC becoming entrenched in its own game of backpeddling, the project is looking pretty grim. Hopefully better news will arise.

Chris @ OPDC