On a chill January day, off and on shore at Whirly Bay in Metchosin, Canadian Army divers work alongside German counterparts in a series of drills that date back to 1979.
This marks the third consecutive year Exercise Roguish Buoy landed in Greater Victoria, with divers from across Canada, United Kingdom, Latvia, Germany and the Netherlands working together and learning from each other at the underwater demolition range off Metchosin.
While the exercise is generations old, 2026 marks the first Roguish Buoy for Cpl. Alex Robinson from 2 Combat Engineers Regiment in Petawawa. The day’s training is straight up demolition.
Having already packed the charges on shore, the team heads out on the water. There, Robinson explains, the divers set four charges on four obstacles underwater in the bay. Then they run a “ring main” – the explosive chord – attaching it to the charges.
Once set, Robinson accounts for all members on site, ensuring everyone is in the bunker, before checking and setting off the blasts.
The skills are handy for a deployment situation, for example, working with counterparts who need a waterway cleared. If there’s no means to remove it technically, explosives are employed.
“It’s been excellent we’ve been trading a lot of knowledge between different countries …. it’s really good cross training. We’re learning from them and they’re learning from us and so far it’s been really good.”
Exercise Roguish Buoy is the Canadian Army’s only collective training exercise preparing its dive teams to effectively execute diving tasks in support of operations, and to provide the recertification necessary to maintain the rigorous standards required.
The lead of a half dozen Dutch military divers, Sgt. first class Huub Eikanboom said his first Roguish Buoy is “a great exercise for us to improve ourselves.”
“We are connected to a Canadian team and the best part for us is that we can train together and learn from each other.”
Residents could see flashing lights and hear the sounds of demolition as diver training continues near Albert Head through Feb. 12. The exercise also brings restrictions to the shoreline near Whirl Bay and Bentinck Island Jan. 26, 28, 31 and Feb. 2.
The exercises uses underwater bubble curtains to curtail shockwaves and protect wildlife, as well as other marine monitoring during the exercise.
Demolition is a key diving task, according to Eikenboom.
“If you cannot get your boat somewhere, if you cannot build a bridge, the fight cannot go on. So the task we have is one of the most important tasks. We make sure the rest of the army keeps rolling.”
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