dolphinbeach6

Many years ago, back when scooters and rebreathers were popular, the "Tyee to Dolphin" run was a popular dive. Divers would enter at Tyee and swim underwater to Dolphin Beach (or the reverse). The classic dive followed the deeper area down around 100' deep. This is a distance of over 1/2 a kilometer so I was never able to try it with my single tank and primitively kicking with just fins. Today I decided to dive the wall at Dolphin Beach and then swim over to Tyee. Depending on my nitrogen build-up I would probably have to swim back at a much shallower depth than the old-fashioned classic dive.

I went in at low tide so the awkward entry, stumbling over the boulders at the waterline, was one of the reasons that made me decide to exit at Tyee instead. Visibility in the shallows was pretty bad. I could see about a foot past my fins so visibility was around 7'. From near the surface down to around 15' deep, there was a continuous school of tiny fish, further blocking the view. They were elongated and almost looked like baby tube snouts, but I don't know if they spawn or school in such large numbers. Eventually the visibility started to clear gradually below 30' deep.

I reached the corner of the wall and turned left (North-West). The wall was mostly covered with feather stars and a few boot sponges. Visibility wasn't as good as it can be here, but it was a decent 30' or so.

I took this out-of focus picture of a juvenile yelloweye rockfish and later I noticed a nudibranch that I didn't recognize on the wall near its head. I think it's a Cockerill's dorid, but with an unusual colouration.

I swam up to the top of the wall and started swimming towards Tyee. Because of nitrogen build-up (including from a previous dive), I swam back in the top 30'. I didn't see much up there from the bad visibility and the bottom kelp covering most of the rocks.