The Emerald Princess, locally known as “the Mermaid,” is a nine-foot, roughly 600-pound bronze sculpture that sits in about 60 feet of water at Mermaid Cove in Saltery Bay Provincial Park, British Columbia. In the mid-1980s, the diving community wanted away to draw recreational divers to the area. Enter Simon Morris. Despite having no experience casting bronze, Morris, who was deeply involved in British Columbia's diving community, took on the challenge of creating the underwater attraction. After about two and a half years of work, the sculpture was completed and installed at Mermaid Cove in March 1989. The installation was not without complications. There was no established permitting process for a project like this. According to Morris, government officials suggested that he apply for an ocean-dumping permit, an idea he objected to, as the sculpture was art, not garbage. The eventual solution was decidedly informal and probably not something that would happen today: Morris recalls being told to install it on a Sunday, when the relevant government offices would be closed.
The site at Mermaid Cove was chosen in part for its accessibility as a shore dive, and a ramp extending into the water was installed to provide wheelchair access for divers with physical disabilities. BC Parks specifically identifies the Emerald Princess and wheelchair access ramp as having been installed through the efforts of local scuba enthusiasts. A second casting of the sculpture, named Amphitrite after the Greek goddess of the sea, was later commissioned by Sunset House in Grand Cayman and placed there in October 2000.
A diver makes his way past the mermaid, keeping an eye out for critters hiding nearby.
I first started diving the Mermaid in the mid-2000s on trips with the UBC Aqua Society. I made periodic visits in the years that followed and, now that I live in Powell River, dive the site several times a year. Life comes and goes on the sculpture. It gradually becomes encrusted with marine invertebrates before being cleaned periodically by volunteer divers. There is a cavity between the base of the sculpture and the rock beneath it that is sometimes used as a den by Giant Pacific octopuses. I've found one tucked away beneath the Mermaid on several dives. Nudibranchs can also be found on and around the sculpture, and I've watched giant nudibranchs (Dendronotus iris) pounce on and feed upon tube-dwelling anemones on the rocky bottom nearby. Depending on the time of year, sea lions also visit the site, making for spectacular, but sometimes intimidating, dives.
Dendronotus iris and an unfortunate anemone
On a chilly November day, my dive buddy and I headed into the water hoping for good visibility and a chance at seeing sea lions. I had brought my camera with a fisheye lens and a red filter that I wanted to try out. We didn't get good visibility; we got phenomenal visibility. I couldn't tell you how far we could see, but it was some of the clearest water I've encountered at the site. The Mermaid sat on her rock, the seabed spreading out around her before falling away into the deep water beyond. I hadn't set out to photograph her, but the clear water and bright light presented a rare opportunity to capture the entire sculpture. Usually, visibility limits how far I can get from the Mermaid while still producing a clear image. Even when the water is clear enough, there often isn't enough natural light to photograph the whole sculpture effectively. Underwater strobes can compensate at close range, but light falls off quickly in water, and the Mermaid's size and contours make it difficult to illuminate evenly. This was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.
Phenomenal Visibility at the Mermaid
There were no sea lions on our first dive, but on the second a curious visitor appeared. It would swim down to us, put on an acrobatic display, then return to the surface for air before repeating the process. At around 80 feet, we could watch its entire journey to the surface and back.
