This site is mentioned in the book "Diver's Guide -Vancouver Island South". It's a small island right at the Southern tip of Domville Island in the Sidney area. The Eastern side is supposed to be the best place to dive and it seems the steepest on a marine chart. I came here on May 31, 2009. There are two small rock/reefs next to this shore with a narrow, shallow channel separating them from the main island. The diving guide book warns of strong currents in this channel. I showed up at the current atlas slack, but sure enough, there was a noticeable flow of current around these rocks. Just North of this channel, there's a tiny, steep-sided bay that seemed reasonably sheltered so I tied up my boat here to the rocks on shore. I swam out North along the East side of Rubly Island. There wasn't much current, but I figured I'd swim against it to make sure I wouldn't have any trouble getting back. Visibility in the shallows was terrible (maybe less than 6 feet), but below 20 feet or so it seemed to improve to maybe 10 feet. The bottom was a slope of boulders, rocky reefs and sandy patches. Most of this area didn't look like it was a place where there could be lots of current. There were lots of bare spaces on the rocks and many seemed a bit dusty from silt. Most of the colour was under the small overhangs and in the hollows between the piled-up boulders. Here there were cup corals, zoanthids, encrusting sponges, tunicates, etc. The tops of the rocks had urchins, California cucumbers (many of them standing straight up. Spawning?) and sea stars. The usual stuff. There were the expected rockfish hiding around the boulders (copper, quillback, yellowtail). There were quite a few sea pens clustered in the sand. Eventually I reached an area where the current felt stronger and there were some large boulders like mini-pinnacles sticking up about 60 feet deep. Here there were lots of plumose anemones, tunicate colonies, giant barnacles and yellowish, feather-like hydroids. The marine life here definitely looked like it belonged in a current-swept area. I would have liked to have a better look around since things were starting to get good, but it was time to turn around. There was a 10-foot high wall about 30 feet deep that was covered with orange colonial tunicates and cup corals. It was like a bright banner of orange. On a day with good visibility, this would be a pretty decent site I think. There's a good variety of topography and lots of colour if you find the magic areas.
