This is normally a time of year when I'd be enjoying the great visibility up in the Nanaimo/Nanoose/Gabriola/etc. area. Unfortunately because of the COVID restrictions on travel, I've been unable to leave the Victoria area, and have had to settle for the Winter murkiness in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Today (Jan. 31, 2021) I thought I'd visit what I think is the wreck of the Nidge at Macaulay Point. I'm always hoping that more of the wreckage will be uncovered during storms and I'll be able to better identify the iron objects mostly buried in the pebbles. I also wanted to try and reach a rocky area that I've never been to off the point. Unfortunately, visibility was only about 8'. That's even worse than usual for this time of year. I snorkeled out to the point where the wreckage is and descended there.
Another surprise was the strong current. I've never felt much current here so I never bothered to time my dives for any kind of slack. Today, the current flowing around the point was almost too strong to swim against. I usually don't like drifting with current at the beginning of a dive since I know I'll have to swim against it to get back. Today, I was in denial that this kind of current here could be possible so I cautiously let it carry me around the point.
I reached the wreckage, which is really mostly just a few lumps of iron, half-buried in the gravel. The low mound of ornate tube worms next to the wreckage seemed to be gone. There were just a few tubes laying around. In the past I've used this area of tubeworms (which I've seen nowhere else) as a landmark. In their absence today, I was a bit disoriented at first. I also realized that the state of the wreckage must be pretty constant since everything looked about the same as the other times I've been diving here. Despite the shallow depths (10-15') and the exposed location, the big iron objects were buried pretty much as before. This area must have been in a kind of current shadow since despite the strong flow nearby, I didn't feel much here. Visibility was also a bit better (maybe 10').
I left the wreckage and tried to swim out down the slope towards that rocky area off the point. The current and surge were strong and in the bad visibility, I had trouble navigating. Even using my compass, I ended up swimming in a circle and finding myself back at the wreckage area.
I admitted that today was not a good day for exploration so I forced my way back against the current around the point.
I'm not sure what this is. Bubble shell?
So a couple of things I learned today are that there can be strong current around the point and that the wreckage looks pretty much the same as it always does.
