I haven't been to the Senanus Island reef in several years. I didn't feel comfortable leaving my 10-foot zodiac tied to a buoy in the middle of Saanich Inlet, exposed to sudden winds and the wake from the nearby ferry route. I had the opportunity to dive here from a proper boat so I took these photos on Jan. 28, 2012. Although the visibility seemed promising as we descended down the mooring line, it was only about 20 feet on the bottom. I used sensitive settings on my camera for the deeper shots (ISO 1600, f5.6, shutter speed 1/30sec). Unfortunately, some of the light from my widely-diffused strobe hit my dome port, which is what the glare in the upper right part of many of the photos is.
descending down the mooring line
descending
at the bottom of the line
heading off to the sponges
down the reef
heading off to the sponges
cloud sponge
cloud sponge
cloud sponge
sponges
over the reef
sponges
sponges
cloud sponges
cloud sponges
sponges with lots of glare in the upper right
sponges
sponges
next to the reef
no flash
with flash
copper rockfish
quillback rockfish
copper rockfish on a cloud sponge
quillback rockfish
quillback rockfish
copper rockfish, cloud sponge and boot sponge on flat bottom between reefs
plumose anemones on a survey marker
copper rockfish
half-dead sponge
cloud sponge
cloud sponge
the brown sponges are the dead ones
boot sponges on top of the reef
rockfish and crabs on the sponges
cloud sponges
dead sponge
dead sponge
decompression stop
decompression stop
decompression stop
decompression stop
decompression stop
decompression stop
decompression stop
decompression stop
decompression stop
decompression stop
decompression stop
back to the boat
calm day in the Inlet
Boat moored over the reef with Senanus Island in the distance