This is a rocky point on the East Sooke side of Sooke Harbour next to Woodward Point. The marine chart shows that underwater it's similar to Woodward Point (a steep drop to about 40 feet or so). When I was diving at Woodward Point I noticed that there was a public access trail to Christie Point. Unfortunately the trail ended in a sheer drop created by a retaining wall built above the beach. More recently (May, 7, 2014), I took my boat out from Sooke to try and dive in a couple of spots out in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Unfortunately, there was a steep swell that swept over the bow of my zodiac and started to fill it. I made it to a few sheltered spots where I could drain the water from the boat. I noticed that despite it being a good current day, the flow was actually sweeping along the coastline and a plankton bloom had hit, dropping visibility to about 6 feet. I grudgingly rode the swells back into the protection of Sooke harbour and considered giving up and driving back home. My cheapness made me reconsider. I had paid for the boat launch and had probably spent $2 in gas so far. I couldn't let that go to waste so I looked for somewhere nearby in Sooke Harbour to dive and decided on Christie Point. The visibility here looked better than outside the harbor and I didn't have to worry about waves. I anchored in a small bay near the point. It was low tide and the beach was muddy, smelly and covered with decomposing sticks and branches. The middle of the bay was a bed of eelgrass. I followed the rock wall on my left out around the point. Visibility was around 10 feet, which wasn't as bad as it sounds since it was a bright, sunny day. As I swam around the point I saw lots of orange burrowing cucumbers on the wall and on the rubble bottom at the base of the wall. There were also lots of plumose anemones (mostly orange and some white). The base of the wall was about 45-50 feet deep. There were patches of yellow and orange encrusting sponge, swarms of kelp crabs, a single fish-eating anemone and a sand anemone. Most of the rest of the rock seemed grey and silty. There seemed to be a huge amount of sculpins. Everywhere I looked, there was at least one buffalo sculpin. I saw several small great sculpins (probably the most I've seen on one dive), a sailfin sculpin and a grunt sculpin. There were also lots of gunnels and some small copper and vermilion rockfish. I swam along the base of the wall until it ended and then I swam back at a shallower depth. I must have coincidentally timed the dive for slack since I didn't feel much current at first. On my swim back, it started to pick up and I had to struggle against it in places.
If this place had easier shore access, I'd probably come back a few times. It's comparable to other Sooke Harbour/Basin sites like Woodward Point and Hill Head. I've always been surprised how these enclosed, sheltered spots can have so much life. Since I'd likely have to take a boat here again, it might not be worth the trouble when there are so many "high end" sites waiting nearby in the open Strait of Juan de Fuca.
