This is a rocky reef that pops up just off the South side of Russell Island near Fulford Harbour on Saltspring Island. I came here on the SEA Dive charter boat as a second dive of the day on Mar. 26, 2022. We came here since this isn't a high-current spot and we had just spent the slack at a current-sensitive spot (North Cod Reef).
We headed down the slope along the West side of the reef. The bottom was pretty silty and there wasn't much of the colourful invertebrate life that you see in more current-swept areas. There were a few clumps of plumose anemones, cup corals, red slipper cucumbers, zoanthids, giant barnacles, some feather stars, etc. My maximum depth here was 93', but most of the time I was around 60-70'. As I swam farther South along the slope, the amount of marine life (especially plumose anemones) seemed to increase.
We swam around the South end of the reef. There seemed to be more plumose anemones here than on the West side. There were some small walls that were covered with them. I wished I had more time to spend exploring around this area since it seemed to be the best place to dive at Cecil Rock. Unfortunately, my dive computer was scolding me with 14 minutes of decompression so I only had a brief look around 40-50' deep. The sidescan image seems to show what looks like a narrow canyon running along the South side of the reef. I wonder if we were in it and weren't able to see the other side because of the less-than-ideal visibility. If I come back, I'll have to have a better look around this area and see if the "canyon" exists.
