Church Point is the point next to Swordfish Island. Church Island is also just off this point. I've been trying to dive at Church Island for awhile. The steep topography and the crazy currents almost guarantee a colourful dive. Unfortunately, I've never felt comfortable tying up my boat to the steep, rocky shoreline. There always seems to be at least a small swell that would throw my zodiac around over the sharp barnacles. After a dive at Swordfish Island (May 13, 2011), I grudgingly motored past Church Island and decided to try diving Church Point instead. The tip of the point is exposed to considerable current and the chart shows a slope to about 50 feet deep. I paddled my boat into a narrow cove cut into the rock. It seemed calm enough so I threw my anchor up into a rocky crevice and unloaded my gear on an exposed ledge. Then of course the swells came in, funneling up the cove and threatening to rip the anchorline off my tossing boat. After verbalising a bit of poetry, I threw my gear back into the boat and got out while I could. I went around the corner to the Western side of the point where there was a sheltered pebble beach which would be a safer place to anchor an unattended boat. This side of the point wasn't as deep and it was out of the main flow of the current, but I figured I'd try it anyway. I swam out from the beach and to the right where the bottom dropped to about 30 feet deep according to the chart. There was surfgrass and feather boa kelp in the shallows and bull, stalked and bottom kelp deeper down. Most of the rocky slope was covered with this kelp. The rocks I could see seemed silty, grey and fuzzy from the kind of algae that makes rocks look grey and fuzzy. There were some areas with urchins that had grazed away this algae so the bottom seemed brighter. Visibility was a decent 30 feet. The base of the rocky reef was about 25-30 feet deep. I saw a Puget Sound king crab out on the flat, broken-rock bottom. I also saw a few crimson and fish-eating anemones scattered around. I don't remember seeing any fish except for a small great sculpin. So far I hadn't felt much current, but then it was like somebody turned on the tap and the ebbing current was suddenly too strong to swim against. I had to pull myself along the stalked kelp to get back to my anchorage. I don't think I'll dive this exact spot again. If I come back to Church Point, I'll try and dive closer to the tip of the point, where I assume there is more colourful stuff to see.
