This is the North point of Maple Bay. The chart shows it dropping down to around 300 feet pretty quickly. Near the end of Arbutus Avenue, there is a steep, paved public access trail leading down to a small, rocky beach near the point. This trail isn't too bad going down, but going back up will put just about anyone out of breath. I came here March 18, 2007. According to the "Tide View" software, there can be a knot or two of current here so I showed up at "slack". I was expecting bad visibility for some reason, but as soon as I put my head underwater, I could see for 20-30 feet. The shallows looked just like Saanich Inlet with the same kind of seaweed and the usual leather stars. The bottom was a mix of boulders, rocky slope and bright sandy areas. There were lots of orange plumose anemones, swimming anemones, tube-dwelling anemones, greyish feather hydroids and of course, sunflower stars. There weren't many fish, just a few copper/quillback rockfish, gobies, a kelp greenling and a small lingcod. A school of perch followed me around for a bit waiting for me to kick up the sand. I went down to around 115 feet, but the visibility seemed to get worse below 100 feet (around 15 feet). I didn't see any cloud or boot sponges. I swam back up to 30-60 feet deep where it was clear and bright. I saw a sea pen, a zoanthid-covered boulder and lots of orange cup corals dotting the rocks. Overall, I think this place is a cross between Saanich Inlet and the Nanoose area. There's a bit more colour on the rocks than Saanich Inlet, but not as much as say, the wall at Madrona. There are plenty of cracks and holes among the rocks, but I didn't see any wolf eels or octopus.
