A large, snake-like animal is said to make its home in the waters off the west coast of North America.
Sightings of the mysterious creature have taken place for 1,000 years or more. Named for Cadboro Bay, near Victoria, British Columbia, the Cadborosaurus appears to have a large range.
The sightings have taken place from Alaska to Oregon. This animal appears to prefer colder weather; the prime Caddy-sighting season runs from October to April.
Dr. Paul LeBlond, director of Earth and Ocean Sciences at UBC, and Dr. Edward Blousfield, retired chief zoologist of the Canadian Museum of Nature, state every elongated animal has been put forward as an explanation for Caddy.
These animals include Conger eels, humpback whales, elephant seals, ribbon or oarfish, basking sharks, and sea lions. LeBlond and Blousfield state no known creature matches the characteristics found in over 200 sightings collected over a century, noting that Caddy is described as having flippers both anteriorly and posteriorly.
Cadborosaurus description
The Cadborosaurus measures between 5-15 meters (16-49 feet) in length. The neck is between one and four meters (3-12 feet) long. Caddy’s head has been described as being similar in shape to that of a camel, horse, or giraffe.
The presence of flippers has been noted; the tail is described as having a fluke. Witnesses have also described seeing several humps or loops directy behind Caddy’s neck. Caddy is also a fast swimmer; its speed has been estimated at 40 knots (46 m.p.h.).
Sightings
In July of 1997, the Mock family (Timothy, Laurice, and Christopher) reported seeing the Cadborosaurus on two separate occasions. They were traveling up the Princess Louisa Inlet in their 24-foot boat. The sea was described as being “glassy”. Timothy was at the wheel of the boat. He noticed what he thought was a log in the water. When he changed course to avoid colliding with the “log”, it suddenly broke up into three pieces. Whatever they saw in the water disappeared as they went past.
The second sighting took place near Homfray Channel, near Desolation Sound. As in the first instance, the sea was calm. The family noticed a wake moving back and forth in the water. It was unusual in that it was moving parallel to the shore rather than toward it.
Laurice Mock used binoculars to get a good look at the animal. She described it as looking like “someone doing the breast stroke, like a snake.”
There have been more than 300 claimed sightings during the past 200 years, including Deep Cove in Saanich Inlet, and Island View Beach, both like Cadboro Bay also on the Saanich Peninsula, also British Columbia, and also at San Francisco Bay, California.
In 2009, fisherman Kelly Nash purportedly filmed several minutes of footage featuring ten to fifteen (including young) creatures in Nushagak Bay.
In 2011, a very short segment of the footage was shown on the Discovery TV show Hilstranded, where the Hilstrand brothers (from Deadliest Catch) apparently saw Nash’s footage and unsuccessfully attempted to find one of the creatures.
Theories and proof of Caddy’s Existence
What is Caddy? There is no shortage of ideas. Some have suggested that Caddy is a living dinosaur, while other speculate that this is some sort of a primitive whale.
According to reports filed over the past 40 years, baby Cadborosaurus specimens have been captured by humans on at least three occasions.
Photographs taken of the newborns are stored in British Columbia’s Provincial Archives. The number of documented sightings, including photographs, sketches, and sonar images all tend to support the notion that Caddy is very real indeed.
