This is another no-name, random spot in Saanich Inlet. It's on the East side of Finlayson Arm across from the popular Christmas Point dive site. I pulled my boat up on a gravel beach at low tide (June 23, 2009) and swam down. Visibility was only about 10 feet in the shallows and didn't clear up until I was about 50 feet deep. Even then, it was only around 30 feet, which doesn't sound bad, except it was double that for the last 2 weeks in this area. Compared to the bright, clear dives I've been having lately in Saanich Inlet, this one seemed dark and gloomy. There wasn't a whole lot of noticeable life on most of the dive (maybe it was just the worse-than-average visibility). The topography was the usual series of walls/ledges/boulders going down deeper than I cared to go. I went down to about 130 feet looking for sponges of course, but I didn't see any (boot or cloud). This place did have a higher than average amount of crystal tunicates. Usually you see them by themselves, maybe a few on an entire dive, but here I could look around and see several at once. About 80 feet deep, there was a big ledge with large boulders on it swarming with black and yellowtail rockfish. I also saw the occasional copper/quillback and a single tiger rockfish. Because of the nitrogen absorbed on a  previous dive, I had to spend half this dive in the murky shallows. Most of the rocks were covered with light bulb tunicates. This was probably my least favorite dive of the ones I've been doing in Saanich Inlet lately, even though most people would line up to come here if it was diveable from shore. Oh well, there are still 8976 dive sites left for me to visit in the Inlet.
Christmas Point across Inlet in background
tube-dwelling anemones
Tiger rockfish
lion's mane
school of rockfish
rockfish on ledge
tube-dwelling anemones
black and yellowtail rockfish
black rockfish
crystal tunicate and rockfish
tiger rockfish
rockfish
black rockfish
black rockfish
swimming anemone
moon jelly and rockfish
sun star
crystal tunicates
quillback rockfish
copper rockfish in school of mysid shrimp
copper rockfish, nudibranch and light bulb tunicates
quillback rockfish
seastar
wall of tunicates in shallows
copper rockfish and bottom kelp
wall of tunicates in shallows
tunicates
tunicates
sunflower star
moon jelly
moon jelly
leather star
midshipman on kelp
midshipman on kelp
midshipman
moon jelly
another moon jelly
lightbulb tunicates
light bulb tunicates
perch in shallows
seastars near surface
seastars near surface
perch in shallows
perch
juvenile rockfish
perch and seaweed
perch and plankton
crab on lightbulb tunicates
clown nudibranch on tunicates
on beach
looking South down Saanich Inlet
stuff on beach looking North
        I was going to dive at Christmas Point today (Feb. 15, 2010), but while I was waiting around, breathing away the previous dive's nitrogen, I noticed a small point across the Inlet and figured I'd try somewhere new instead. Later, when I was back at home, I realised I've been here before. It's strange that I didn't recognise any landmarks on the surface, but after reading about my previous dive here, I remembered the boulder ledge with the school of rockfish. This time, visibility was at least 50 feet except for a murky layer in the top 10 feet. in one area, there were several boot sponges and a few tiny cloud sponges at about 130 feet deep.
boot sponges and lampshells
boot sponges
welding boot sponges
small cloud sponge
rockfish
rockfish
rockfish
reef
quillback rockfish
school of perch above part of reef
custom white-balanced photo with kelp drifting in the way
next to reef photo with strobe
boot sponges
quillback and copper rockfish
nudibranch and zoanthids closer up
nudibranch and zoanthids
next to wall
seastar
perch in shallows
seaweed in shallows
sunflower star
sunflower star
sunflower star
View South from dive site
point
at point
at point
above point
panorama