I've only been diving here once before, almost 20 years ago. I wanted to visit the basket stars again and there was a window of low current in the middle of the day on a weekend. So I came back here on Jan. 21, 2023. I'm not really sure how to exactly predict the time for slack current in Tumbo Channel, but the Tumbo Channel tide table and the Boat Passage (at the other tip of Saturna) current table both showed minimal exchange for a few hours between around 11:00 am and 3:00 pm. I dove here at the beginning of that window.
Last time I was here, the trail was called "Trillium Trail", but the most recent name is now "Whale Trail". The trail isn't very long, but it seems a bit steep on the way back up while carrying dive gear. As before, it ended in a small, sandy beach.
Last time, I swam along a rocky area that lead to a deeper wall. At the time, I assumed that this rock slope ran parallel to the shoreline. Now, looking at a sidescan image, I can see that this wall actually runs almost away from the shore. This time, I swam out following my compass towards the wall. Visibility was 20-30' and a bit dark from the rainy weather.
As I swam out, the bottom was pretty flat and mostly sand with small rocks. Eventually it became more solid, with flat sandstone areas with lots of red urchins. This was about 30' deep. Everything seemed pretty bare and silty so far.
The flat sandstone changed to a steeper slope of boulders. I continued to follow it out. The rocks here were still bare and silty.
The marine life started to increase. There was an area about 60' deep that had more nipple sponges than I've seen anywhere. The slope here was more of a solid, sloping rock wall.
The rocky slope became steeper and turned into a proper wall. The bottom was about 100' deep. The sand/pebble bottom seemed to slope up from the base of the wall as if the wall rested in the bottom of a trench. This is sort-of visible in the sidescan image. I still hadn't seen any of the basket stars that seemed common last time I was here.
The bottom of the wall didn't seem to have much marine life on it. I swam up shallower (75-80') to a wide ledge. There was more life up here, including copper and quillback rockfish and some cemented tube worm colonies. East Point is part of the Gulf Islands National Park. The removal or possession of wildlife is illegal and this protection extends 200 meters out from shore. This would include this wall area.
I finally came across a basket star, and then a few more. I also saw a cabezon, which aren't that common anymore.
I was far from shore, fairly deep and I was feeling some current so I resisted the urge to keep swimming out farther. I turned around and swam back, gradually working my way shallower.
The area at the top of the wall about 80' deep is a really nice dive in my opinion (mostly because of the basket stars), but I think it's too far from shore in an area with unpredictable (to me anyways) current. The area closer to shore is mostly silty, bare rock with very little marine life. I think there are easier-to-access spots in Tumbo Channel with basket stars that would be safer to dive than East Point.
