SUMMARY: An average boat dive. LOCATION: A tiny island North-West of the Swartz Bay ferry terminal. In my opinion, the west side of the island is the best for marine life. WHAT TO SEE: On the South-West corner there is a series of small caverns in about 10-20 feet of water. They aren't really big enough to enter, unless you are small, but you can look in and see shafts of sunlight entering from holes in the ceiling. The area around these caves is covered with plumose anemones, ascidians and cup corals. As you swim out towards the north end of the island, the rocks drop off in small walls with overhangs and crevices. These walls meet the sand at about 60 feet. There seems to be less life the farther away from the caves you get and the best stuff seems to be in the shallower depths. You can see large colonies of marine worms that form small reefs with their home-building. You can also see a variety of sea stars and big purple urchins. Of course, as on most local dives, there is the usual assortment of fish and nudibranchs. The walls on the northern side of the island seem almost bare with a grey, silty look. The southern and most of the eastern sides are quite flat and shallow. You won't see much here other than sand, pebbles and bottom kelp. CONDITIONS: Although you may be able to get deeper, the rock walls seemed to end at a depth of about 60 feet or so. I dove here a couple of hours before slack and although it was annoying at times, the current wasn't extreme. For a more relaxing swim, you might want to dive here on slack. Visibility was about 20 feet.
