The marine chart shows a shallower area sticking up from the bottom of Enterprise Channel, leading out from the Trial Island side. I've wondered for years what this presumably-rocky area looked like underwater, but I've always had too much respect for the current to swim out that far. I eventually decided to swim out anyway (April 13, 2015). My scheme was to swim out to the end of a familiar sold-rock reef leading out from the Vancouver Island side of the channel. From this "jumping off" point, I would follow my compass across the bottom of the channel to the reef I was looking for. The distance between these reefs was probably only 100 meters or so according to the chart and the satellite image (dark patches of kelp were visible marking my destination reef). I reached the base of the "starting point" reef and started swimming across the channel. The flat, rubble bottom here was 65 feet deep. After a few minutes, the bottom started to slope upwards. The bottom wasn't as colourful here compared to "our side" of the channel. At 45 feet deep, I saw a rocky reef rise up in the distance. There were mostly large purple urchins on it. There were also clusters of giant barnacles and some yellow sponges. The top of the reef was covered in stalked kelp. Overall, there wasn't as much life here as the spots I'm used to diving in Enterprise Channel. The pictures on this page are stills from the video I took. Considering the risk of the current and the distance from shore, I'm not sure I'll be back.
