northcodreef2

I came back to North Cod Reef on April 29, 2023 on the MV Inde charter boat. We descended down near the shallower ridge that runs above the wall. At first I wasn't quite sure where I was and I swam along on the East side of the ridge looking for the wall.

I gave up trying to find the wall by swimming along at random, so I followed my compass West over the hump of the rocky ridge and soon reached the wall. I wasn't sure exactly where I was along the wall, but it probably all looks similar. It started at about 50-60' deep and dropped down well past 100' deep. My maximum depth was about 95', but the marine life was similar as in the shallower depths on the wall. Visibility was a better-than-expected 40' or so and the wall of white anemones seemed extra bright since it was a sunny day. A signature species for me around these islands off Sidney are a kind of small, multi-coloured colonial tunicate colony. These clumps of varying colours are packed on the wall here between the plumose anemones.

I had been swimming North along the wall. Eventually I reached an area where it became less of a straight-down drop and more of a series of sloping ledges.

At the end of the dive I tried swimming back up from the top of the wall area along the rocky ridge, but I couldn't seem to get shallower than 60' deep. The rolling rocky reefs seemed to rise up and then drop down deeper. I wasn't sure exactly which way to go to get back to the shallows near the peak of North Cod Reef and I was close to a decompression obligation so I ascended from 60' deep.