This was the first dive we did on a 3 day charter out of Port Hardy with UB Diving. Unfortunately today (Oct. 20, 2025) had strong winds which made it impossible to leave Hardy Bay and go to the more famous sites. We ended up going to the East side of the bay, which was sheltered from the wind. We dove just around the corner from the ferry terminal where there was a small island just off a point. The North East point of Hardy Bay is called "Daphne Point". I don't know what the name of the point we dove was called, but it was about halfway down the side of the bay from Daphne Point.
I noticed on the Natural Resources Canada side scan image that there's a large rectangular object about 150' long off this point. It almost looks like a sunken barge, but it's probably too deep to dive it (likely over 150' deep).
We entered on the South side of the small island and swam out around it. There was some macrocystis giant kelp in the shallower depths. I swam out to a maximum depth of 93'. Visibility was about 40'. The rocks were pretty bare. They were mostly covered with barnacles. There were a couple of fish-eating anemones and one reef at my deepest depth had a few plumose anemones. I only saw a few fish (small copper/quillback rockfish and kelp greenlings).
Except for the giant kelp, hooded nudibranchs and green surf anemones in the shallower depths, this place reminded me of Henderson Point or Deep Cove in Saanich Inlet except with less life. I think pretty much any site in Victoria (or Nanoose, Nanaimo, Gabriola Island, etc...) is better, but if the other option is to go back to the dock and not dive, then this place in enjoyable enough, but obviously a B.C. diver wouldn't come all the way to Port Hardy just to dive here.
