These are a group of small rocks about halfway between Saxe Point and Macauley Point in Esquimalt. They are pretty close to shore (less than 100 meters). Unfortunately there is no access to the water at this nearest point so I swam out (Jan. 17, 2009) from Flemming Bay (location of Esquimalt Anglers boat ramp). This more than doubled the distance that I had to swim so it took me about 15 minutes. Once I got there, I could see seals and cormorants on some of the rocks (I kept my distance so I wouldn't spook them). I swam out to the West side of the rocks and descended. Visibility was around 15 feet. These rocks dropped down to a sandy bottom at about 20-30 feet. There were some nice little walls here and there covered with the usual shallow Juan de Fuca stuff (various anemones, tunicates, urchins, nudibranchs, encrusting sponges, etc.). I didn't see many fish, just the ever-present kelp greenlings and a few juvenile rockfish hiding in cracks. The sandy channels between the rocks were scattered with lots of large mussel shells (California mussels I think). I didn't see any live ones on the rocks though. Of course fish-eating anemones were everywhere. There was a bit of current, but nothing I couldn't swim against. I don't think I'll ever get tired of these colourful, shallow Juan de Fuca dives, especially on bright, sunny days like this one. I swam back to shore from the largest rock underwater. The sandy, 15-foot-deep channel was full of eel grass. It was lying flat in the current, giving me an easy way to navigate back to shore. The point across from the islands had more fish-eating anemones than I've seen anywhere - And all only 5-15 feet deep. I have to apologise for all the repetitive anemone photos, but it's hard to just swim by and ignore them when you have a camera. Back in shallow Flemming bay, I had to swim with my tank dragging in the mud and goose poop for awhile before I was close enough to give up and wade the rest of the way.
Even considering the swim, I think I'll be back. - Probably in the summer when the kelp forest is up and the visibility is a bit better.
