I wanted to try and have a better look at the series of rocky reefs sticking out into the Strait of Juan De Fuca from the tip of Clover Point so I came back on Nov. 30, 2008. The current atlas showed 3 hours in a row with less than 1 knot of current. The water looked fairly calm on the surface, but there was a long swell rolling in from somewhere. Underwater, visibility was about 20 feet in the shallows, but this decreased as I descended to the sand at the base of the rocky slope. Even 30-40 feet deep, there was quite a bit of surge and it was stirring up the sand. I saw several large seapens swaying back and forth with the movement of the water. The current was barely noticeable for most of the dive, but at the point it picked up and forced me to struggle against it. With the bad visibility (about 10 feet below 25 feet deep) and the current, I decided not to push my luck with those deeper reefs. I figured I had a pretty good chance of ending up lost 80 feet deep in a stiff current far from shore. I turned around and took my time swimming back in the kelp. The boulders were as colourful as usual, covered with sponge, colonial tunicates and giant barnacles. The black rockfish were still there and I saw an Irish lord guarding eggs.
