I came back to Sharpe Point on March 16, 2025. I wanted to do one last Strait of Georgia dive before the Spring plankton bloom hit.
Visibility in the shallows was only 8' or so. I guess the Spring plankton bloom was starting. Below 20' deep the visibility improved. I'd say it eventually was as good as 40', but there were lots of suspended plankton chunks at all depths.
Every time I've been here, I've always swam out to the left towards the tip of the point. Today I wanted to have a quick look out to the right. I swam down the slope, angling to the right, following a rocky area that ended in a sandy slope 60' deep.
I swam down the sandy slope to about 80' deep and continued swimming to the right away from the point. I didn't see any other rocky areas in this direction so I turned around and started swimming back towards the point and the area I usually dive. Along the way, I saw an isolated rocky area about 80' deep with some feather stars on it.
I swam past that small rocky area and continued swimming along the sandy slope (covered with feather stars). I soon saw a larger rocky area in the distance. This is the area I usually dive. The main reef went down to about 80-90' deep, but I noticed that a bit out from its base it steps down again to over 100' deep. My maximum depth was about 105'. There have always been lots of feather stars on this reef, but today there seemed to be more than ever, including lots of tiny baby feather stars.
I reached the end of this large rocky area. I kept swimming over the sand towards the point. I saw another large rocky area in the distance. This is the other large reef that I usually dive here. It's a bit shallower. It mostly bottoms out at around 60' deep. On previous dives in this area I saw a few wolfeels, but today I didn't see any. The rocks here don't have much life on them. They're mostly covered with small barnacles.
I still don't think this is a great dive by Vancouver Island standards, but it's probably the most decent shore dive in the Ladysmith area, so it's worth coming back to every several years.
