THE CADBOROSAURUS WATCH

"Any fool can disbelieve in sea serpents..."
- Archie Willis, 1933
The waters off the Pacific Northwest coast of North America is said to be the home of a seafaring cousin of the Lock Ness Monster, dubbed Cadborosaurus by Victoria, British Columbia newspaper editor Archie Willis in the early 1930's. The large snake-like creature has been seen for over a thousand years from Alaska to Oregon, with most of the reported sightings occurring in the inland waters around Vancouver Island and northern Olympic Peninsula.
Vancouver biologist Dr. Edward L. Bousfield and Dr. Paul H. Leblond, a professor of oceanography at the University of British Columbia have created a composite description of the creature based on numerous sightings:
1. It's dimensions, ranging from 5 to 15 meters in length;
2. It's body form: snake-like, or serpentine, with extra ordinary flexibility in the vertical plane;
3. The appearance of it's head, variously described as resembling that of a sheep, horse, giraffe or camel;
4. The length of it's neck, elongated, ranging from one to four meters;
5. The vertical humps or loops of the body, arranged in tandem series directly behind the neck;
6. The presence of a pair of anterior flippers; posterior flippers absent or nearly fused with body;
7. The tail; dorsally toothed or spiky, and split horizontally or fluke like at the top;
8. The very high swimming speed, clocked up to 40 knots at the surface.
The Caddy watching "season" is between October and April, with most of the sightings occurring in this colder time of year.
What is Caddy? There are many theories; from a descendant of the great sea dinosaurs, to a type of primitive whale, to tourists drinking too many alcoholic beverages. The Pacific Northwest borders one of the deepest undersea trenches in the world. This region has a rugged coastline, with inlets and bays rarely seen and descriptions of Caddy have been remarkably similar for generations. On the other hand, the waters of Southern BC and Washington are some of the most heavily used in the world, and aside from Naden Harbor carcass, which disappeared before it could be studied properly (why do people lose dead sea monsters all the time?), no one has brought a dead Caddy to the UBC or UW bio labs.
"Men really do need sea-monsters in their personal oceans.
... An ocean without it's unnamed monsters would be like a completly dreamless sleep."
-John Steinbeck