I wanted to see what was farther along the rocky slope out past the right-hand point so I came back on Nov. 20, 2008. I was feeling a bit chilled from my previous dive at Malaspina Point, but the hike to the water here took care of that. It was high tide and the water in the bay seemed a lot clearer than last time. I swam out on the surface to the right-hand point and went down. Visibility was about 50 feet. I swam down  over the bottom kelp and the few scraggly strands of bull kelp in the shallows and, even from here, I could see out to the boulders and sandy bottom 100 feet deep. I went to my favourite area from last time - The crimson anemone and feather star-covered boulders about 80-90 feet deep. It was amazing to look up from here and see the bull kelp in the shallows. I went down to the boulders at 100 feet (covered with feather stars) and looked out deeper, but all I saw was a gentle slope of sand in the distance. I went up to the bottom of the wall at around 60 feet and had another look in the deep crack at it's base. I didn't see any octopus (it still went back farther than I could see), but there were still scattered crab shells outside. There was also a dead salmon being munched on by seastars. I continued to swim out farther around the point. The bottom was a slope of piled-up boulders going down to around 100 feet deep. I followed it for awhile, but there didn't seem to be much life here. All the holes between the boulders should have been full of rockfish, octopus and wolf eels, but I didn't see any. I didn't see any anemones, feather stars or sponges here either. It's strange how most of the marine life is concentrated in that one area below the point (with the crimson anemones, etc.). I went up to the kelp-covered shallows to burn off some nitrogen during the swim back. Swarms of tube snouts and tiny perch schooled all over the place. Several lingcod were spaced out along the bottom waiting to dash up and grab a mouthful.
crimson anemones etc.
feather stars
feather stars
kelp and tube-snouts from 60 feet deep
anemones
feather stars
60 feet deep
dead salmon
boulder and school of tube-snouts 50 feet deep
crimson anemones, etc.
feather stars
crimson anemones
quillback rockfish and crimson anemones
lingcod
crab shells outside crack in base of wall
lingcod
lingcod
seastar on bottom kelp
seastars on boulder
lingcod
kelp
nudibranch on bottom kelp
shallows in bay
getting rid of nitrogen in shallows
safety stop in shallows
next to small bay
in front of bay
above bay
parking at start of trail
Gabriola ferry terminal
bay next to ferry terminal
on ferry
loading ferry
on ferry
ferry leaving Gabriola
sunset from ferry
Dragon's Lane bay