This was the last dive we did (Sept. 21, 2025) during this Port McNeill dive trip. Booker Lagoon is a large, calm, enclosed body of water. It's a popular destination for cruising sailors. It's a long run from the Port McNeill area, but we went here since the current slack is a few hours earlier than the area we had been diving so we wouldn't have to wait 6 hours to do a second dive (the previous day's 11 hours was a long time to be out on a boat, even when you're being entertained by humpback whales). Booker Lagoon is accessed by a narrow channel that can have several knots of current flowing through it.
We descended down to the bottom of the channel. It's a narrow canyon with walls rising up on either side. In the middle of the channel the bottom was only around 35' deep, but it drops down deeper at either end. My maximum depth was 64', but I found the marine life was similar at all depths. The most obvious life was the carpets of tiny white plumose anemones and more feather duster worms than I've seen anywhere else. The bottom and sides of the canyon were completely covered with them and also encrusting sponges and lots of painted anemones. Visibility was less than at our other Port McNeill dives. Here it was about 20-30' and much more green.
This underwater ecosystem made for a pretty unique
and unexpected dive. It's very different from the usual
classic Port McNeill dive sites. Despite the risk of bad visibility,
I'd be happy to come back here again.
