This is one of the best dives in Barkley Sound according to many people. It's a pinnacle that rises up from around 200' deep to maybe 30' deep at the top. It's in the middle of Imperial Eagle Channel and is only accessible on a calm day. It was named after Renate Christie. She and Dave Christie were the founders of the Rendezvous Dive Lodge in the 1970's and were the discoverers of many of the popular Barkley Sound dive sites. This was our first dive on July 17, 2016. The surface water was murky with a plankton bloom. We descended down to 60' deep without finding the bottom. It was dark down here and we were about to ascend and try again when we saw a faint pale glow from white plumose anemones in the distance. We swam to the pinnacle and descended down to about 100' deep. It was nice and clear down here, but very dark. We needed lights to see anything. Other than the plumose anemones there were fish-eating anemones and a variety of rockfish (China, tiger, a silver-grey, canary, juvenile yelloweye, black and yellowtail rockfish). The China rockfish were by far the most common. We saw a wolf eel in its den. I noticed that quite a bit of the rock surfaces were covered with tiny white barnacles. I wonder if this is normal or if it's a new phenomenon like in other places in the last year around Southern Vancouver Island. I suspect it's because of the sea star die-off a couple of years ago. Sea stars are a barnacle predator.
We worked our way up to the upper part of the pinnacle (30-40' deep). The visibility wasn't as good here, but there was more colour. There were crowds of white-spotted rose anemones and even more China rockfish.
