Usually when I dive here, I go out slightly to the North of the entry-point, where there are some large rocky reefs going down to over 100' deep. Today, I want to try diving the shallower area straight out from the entry-point, where there is an outfall pipe. The sidescan image shows an unnatural-looking solid area out there that I assumed was a pile of boulders covering part of the pipe. I went for a look on Jan. 1, 2023.
It was the highest tide I've ever seen so I didn't have to stumble across the beach of slippery boulders like I usually do here. There was a strip of concrete on the beach, which I assumed was covering part of the outfall pipe so I took a compass heading based on the direction it was pointing and started swimming out.
Visibility was 20-30' in the shallows.
I came across the exposed pipe sooner than expected about 30-35' deep (again, at a very high tide). There was another section of pipe sticking out of the sand next to it. I don't know if this was a discarded section of pipe or if it is an alternate outfall maybe for overflow conditions.
The bottom near the pipe was covered with nudibranchs around 45' deep.
As I swam along the pipe, I came across a rock reef on my left about 50-60' deep.
Just past the rocky reef, the pipe continued over a pile of rocky rubble. This was the "boulder pile" that I noticed in the sidescan image. It wasn't put there to cover the pipe, but instead it acted as a leveling base for the pipe to rest on top of.
The pile of rubble ended and the pipe continued on top of some more solid rock reefs. This was all about 60' deep.
The pipe ran down the far side of those reefs and then went out across a sandy area about 65' deep. According to the sidescan image, there is another rocky reef about 65' away across the sand, but I couldn't see it so visibility must have been less than 65'. Visibility was still pretty good, I'd guess it was about 50'. I turned around here and started swimming back along the pipe.
Near the shallow end of the pipe, there was a large rocky reef nearby. Its base was about 30' deep and I'm guessing it went all the way up to the surface on shore.
This was a pretty interesting "exploration-type" dive. The problem with this part of Nankevill Point is that it's relatively shallow so it lacks the kind of marine life (feather stars, boot sponges, crimson anemones) that are common a bit deeper in the Nanoose area. I'll probably come back, but I don't think the pipeline area is as good as the deeper reefs more North off the point.
