After diving at Orlebar Point, I wanted to do another dive before heading back to Victoria. This spot looked interesting on a chart because of the wall that goes down to a depth of 150 feet or so near shore. It gets deeper as you go out farther and eventually meets up with the well-known wall at Snake Island. Shore access is at the end of Malaspina Drive, just North of the ferry terminal. This place is better known for the "Malaspina Galleries", a sandstone formation that looks like a breaking wave. A drawing of it exists in Spain that was sketched by a Spanish (obviously) explorer a few hundred years ago. It's one of Gabriola's most famous landmarks, but I was here to dive. When I stood in the galleries (actually banned because, after hundreds of years, somebody realised that rocks might fall on your head), I could look across a narrow bay to a point on the other side. According to the chart, the wall is on the other side of this point. I jumped in and swam across the bay to the other side (about 100 meters). I descended on the outside of the point and the bottom dropped down almost immediately. About 15-20 feet deep there was a 1/2-size copy of the Malaspina Galleries with small plumose anemones growing under it. The wall continued to drop until it met a sloping sand bottom at around 60-70 feet deep. There were lots of feather stars, small plumose anemones, some crimson and dahlia anemones and cup corals on the wall. Visibility was around 40-50 feet. There was a deep canyon cutting up through the wall at one point full of anemones, rockfish, and schools of perch. The wall continued to slope down deeper, but I didn't have the air to follow it. I swam back up to the bay and swam across underwater to the galleries. There wasn't much in the murky, shallow bay except for some sea stars and beer cans. Climbing back out of the water was a challenge because of the steep sandstone. I had to swim around for a while before I found a narrow ledge to use as a "step". It would be easier at high tide. I have to come back here again to find the deeper part of the wall. I was surprised at how good this dive was - and there was no current.
