satellitechannel2

I've only been diving here once before, about 12 years ago. I wasn't impressed enough to want to come back, but today (Dec. 11, 2020) I thought I'd try again and see if there were any more rocky areas. The sidescan image seems to show several rocky areas a bit West of the public access trail.

I descended at the pilings and swam straight out from shore. There was a rocky area going down to about 45' deep. I didn't see any fish here, but there were lots of seastars and a few octopus dens. Visibility was about 20'.

From the base of this rocky area, I swam straight down the sandy slope looking for more rock reefs. From my last dive here, I knew there should be some about 60' deep. So far, I didn't see any. There was just a small sunken boat. When I was 60' deep, I turned left (West) and soon ran into a rocky area, which I think is the same one I visited years ago. There still isn't much obvious marine life on it. Years ago, there were lots of red urchins, but today I only saw one. The most common invertebrate seemed to be small, grey, branching hydroids. Looking up close, there were a decent amount of small creatures like shrimp, prawns, crabs, clown nudibranchs, gobies and a grunt sculpin. The only non-tiny fish I saw were white-spotted greenlings and a small copper rockfish hiding in a crack.

I remembered from a quick look at the sidescan image before the dive that there were some deeper rocky areas farther out. I swam straight down the slope looking for them. I reached a depth of 90' without seeing anything but sand and gravel. I headed back upslope at an angle. Later, looking at the sidescan image again, I realized I had accidentally swam back at just the right angle to miss the rocky reefs.

I continued to swim East along the slope about 50' deep. During most of my dive, the sandy bottom was mixed with lots of small rocks, but there was an area here that was just sand. I continued swimming and the small rocks re-appeared (and a few larger rocks), but I didn't see any more rock reefs in this direction. The sidescan image doesn't show any either.

So far I hadn't felt any current during the dive, but I suddenly felt a flow. I watched as the blades of bottom kelp rose up off the bottom and started flowing in the same direction. The current was almost immediately too strong to swim against. I don't think I've ever felt such a sudden change in current. I quickly struggled up the slope towards shore. More rocky reefs started up about 45' deep and led all the way back up to the shore.

I didn't think this was a very good dive site, but exploring is always interesting. I'm semi-determined to come back for another try at finding the deeper rocky areas.