The Seymour Narrows is a stretch of water north of British Columbia’s Vancouver Island. Its breathtaking beauty hides its storied past. For much of modern times, an underwater mountain named Ripple Rock made navigation through the Seymour Narrows hazardous. George Vancouver described it as “one of the vilest stretches of water in the world.” In 1958, the Canadian government removed the top of the mountain in a controlled explosion — the most significant commercial, non-nuclear explosion in North America. The Seymour Narrows remains a challenging route, known for strong tidal currents.