I was very excited about this dive. Teri Norfolk and David Ryan asked me to come along to do some diving in the Victoria area. I borrowed my friend's Pathfinder and we loaded everything up and got over on the 7am ferry. It was a very early morning! But worth it, because the day was amazing; clear and sunny.
We needed to get to 10 Mile Point quickly, as it could have some very strong current and we wanted to be there as close to slack tide as possible. Here is a Google Map link:
We met Scott there, whom we had dove Tyee Beach with not long ago. He gave us a good run down of 10 Mile Point. The small bay would get current flow from the north along the shore and would result in eddies. Staying in the area just below the parking lot at a depth of 70-90 feet had a wall that had a lot to see. Getting down to the water was rough. There was no path, and you had to walk down a large expanse of rough rock. Following the rock down to the left of the parking lot to where there was a kelp bed was not a bad area to enter. If you felt brave, you could follow the wall out to the end of the point and do a drift dive along the shore to the south. Scott's tip if doing this was to make sure that when the white plumose anemones ran out, to make sure and head up and over the rock wall. Otherwise, you would end up far out in the channel away from shore. One exit point was to look for a huge mound of white shells as there had been a shellfish processing plant on the point a number of years ago.
We got into the water pretty quickly as we had most of our gear set up already. We knew we wouldn't have much time before slack tide was over. David had forgotten his undergarment at home which was not good. He layered up with some spare clothing, but expected to be very cold. And was!
Our dive plan was to stay at 70 feet for 20 minutes, then do 50 feet for 20 minutes. After that, we'd see how much gas I had left as I was diving a single steel 100 and Teri and David were on doubles. 10 Mile Point lived up to its reputation as a great dive. The water was clear and blue, with visibility of about 30 feet or so. The wall was spectacular, covered in high-flow life and punctuated by many crevices. Teri found a huge hairy-spined crab in a crevice, much like the ones I saw in Port Hardy. There were some really great opalescent nudibranchs too. The wall below the parking area certainly had enough to see keep your occupied for a long dive!
David got too cold and decided to end the dive. Teri and I stayed, and decided to do the drift part of the dive. When we got out to the end of the point, the current picked up and off we went! It was a bit scary at first because it was pretty fast, but it didn't take long to get the feel for it. We cruised along over a bed of kelp bent over 90 degrees at about 60 feet for quite a few minutes. It felt a lot like flying, and indeed we looked at each other a few times and put our arms out like birds. Lots of fun! We ran out of anemones and headed up and over the rock wall as Scott had said. At that point we were very shallow and the current would disappear periodically due to sheltered areas. In one of these breaks, we came across a massive cloud of tiny shrimp. It was like a cloud of dust, so thick that you couldn't see the rock behind them. I'd never seen something like that before. We followed the shore up through the kelp beds and looked for the exit. We finally came across the pile of white shells, and came up. Getting out of the water was a bit tricky with all the rocks and wave action. Once on the rocks, we had to figure out how to get back to the road. Scott had said that there was access to the road from any point, but all we could see were people's houses and back yards. In the end, we cut through a back yard feeling kind of bad, but there didn't look to be any alternative. We were as quiet and polite as possible! Apparently the people living in the area were used to this.
We decided to go to another dive site because the current at 10 Mile was pretty strong. After a coffee and some lunch and a bit of driving, we arrived at Willis Point. That should be a Google Map link. It's hard to see where the dive site is, but it's there. There is a dirt parking area, and a long dirt path down through the woods to the water.
Willis Point turned out to be awesome, even better than 10 Mile because the visibility was better. The entry into the water was a bit hard over some jagged rocks, but it wasn't as bad as 10 Mile. There was a marker buoy not far off shore, and that's what we headed to. Not far past that was a really great wall. On the descent down there were quite a few moon jellyfish floating in the water. With the sun brightening the water, they looked great. It was fairly clear and blue, with visibility around 35 feet. There were a lot of big chunks of organic matter in the water, so it wasn't completely clear, but it was very nice. We came across a bathtub on the way down, which was pretty funny. Teri found an underwater compass which was a great bit of treasure. The wall was hard to describe. Suffice to say it was very interesting and I'd certainly go back. On the way up and in, it was the best part of the dive. The sun was streaming down, the kelp was waving in the water and it just felt generally tropical. Several spots had evidence of octopus, but we didn't find one.
There is some video footage of Willis Point here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKxMNbZCzL0
All in all, diving in the Victoria area was great. I couldn't wait to go back!
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