This is yet another Saanich Inlet dive checked off in my quest for cloud sponges. I came here from the Tsartlip boat launch on Aug. 17, 2009. This spot is about half-way between McCurdy Point and the old Bamberton cement factory. This whole stretch of coast looks more or less the same so I picked this spot at random. As usual, I anchored in the shallows in a small indent/bay. Visibility in the shallows was about 10-15 feet. Almost everything here was covered with hooded nudibranchs. There were even several swimming around in mid-water. The topography was the usual Saanich Inlet slope of sand/rocky reefs/ walls going down deep. The area above 40 feet deep had lots of orange plumose anemones and medium-sized copper rockfish. The visibility started to clear below 30 feet deep and I could see about 40-50 feet. When I do a dive like this where I don't know what to expect and the chart shows a uniform area stretching for a long distance, I choose a direction to swim based on the most interesting rock formations underwater. This time I swam South since I saw a steep rock wall in that direction. Most of these Saanich Inlet dive reports are probably starting to sound the same, but I'll continue anyway. There were several swimming anemones and even a crimson anemone. I followed this steep rock reef/wall at a depth of about 120-130 feet. I saw a small cloud sponge and was hoping for more, but that was the only one I saw. I'm sure if I swam for another 5 minutes, there would be a field of hundreds of them. A dogfish swam under me along the wall and a small school of black rockfish hung around about 100 feet deep. One interesting thing about this place (for me anyway) was the coating of tiny white barnacles covering most of the rocks, even down deep. Up close, I could see their feather-like "hands" sweeping the water for food.
