The Artificial Reef Society of British Columbia (ARSBC) is on a mission to create and maintain man-made dive sites that will promote both the local economy through dive tourism and the environmental benefits of using artificial dive sites to save damaging important historic or ecologically-sensitive sites.

Along the way, they’ve become experts in the technology and safety procedures needed to create artificial reefs. They began their work in 1991 by sinking the GB Church – a 53m freight ship that started life as a Second World War supply ship. The ARSBC – which is made up entirely of volunteers – then went on to sink a further six large ships of varying types.

For the group’s most recent project, they looked to the skies and opted to sink a retired Boeing 737. The ARSBC began work on the jet plane by stripping the interior down and removing any potentially toxic substances. They then opened up the cabin to make it more diver-friendly and began work on the actual sinking of the plane.

A huge crane had to be employed to sink the aircraft in its location just off Chemainus, Vancouver Island. The greatest difficulty in lifting and then sinking the aircraft would come in holding the 20 ton flying machine stable, despite the potential pitfalls of strong and unpredictable winds, waves and currents.

No plane had ever been deliberately sunk like this before so a special cradle for the plane had to be designed from scratch. The cradle has been engineered to hold the plane underwater, so that it gives the impression of 'flying' beneath the waves. The cradle will add another unique element to this special project that will hopefully offer a unique dive site to divers from all over the world.

The site had been christened 'Xihwu Reef' (pronounced 'key'quot') after the Red Sea Urchin that once thrived in the area.