This is the other side of the reef covered with plumose anemones that I found on my first dive in the Chain Islets. I've noticed that this side gets more current. When the tide is flooding, I usually see a swirling flow of water running along this side of the islet. On the chart, the topography under water looks similar to the other side (a wall going down to about 30 feet that stretches out along a long reef). I went on July 16, 2009. I anchored as usual in the shallows near the islet (but on the other side this time) and swam down past a narrow band of kelp. As promised, there was a wall going down to about 30-40 feet deep. It was mostly covered with urchins, giant barnacles and some patches of encrusting sponge. Visibility was about 20-30 feet. I mentioned that the chart shows this reef stretching out for about 250 meters, but it seemed to me that the reef made a sharp turn to the right as if it was going around the corner near the tip of the islet. Maybe there's a gap in this reef that's not shown on the chart. Anyway, when I went around the corner, the current increased so I wasn't able to explore too far, but I followed a sloping bottom with boulders, ledges and small reefs down to about 50-60 feet. The rocks weren't covered with plumose anemones like they were on the other side, but there were still groups of them clustered around. There were more giant barnacles, yellow sulphur sponges, encrusting sponges, red slipper cucumbers and scattered patches of hydrocoral. There were copper and quillback rockfish, kelp greenlings and a young vermilion rockfish. I have a feeling that this reef continues to curve around until it meets the plumose-covered slope on the other side of the islet. I swam back up past the urchin-covered wall to the ledge of kelp in the shallows. I didn't see any seals underwater, although they were swarming all over the place on the surface. A few seconds after I popped up, I saw a family of four river otters swimming through the kelp along the islet.
