I went out again to Swordfish Island on Nov. 3, 2011. There was almost no wind, but a long, low swell was rolling up the Strait from the open Pacific. This swell was crashing against Swordfish Island, but I carried on with the dive anyway. In the tunnel, the surge swept me the entire length of the tunnel before pulling me back to where I started. I couldn't really take pictures in these conditions so I kicked hard and rode the surge out of the tunnel to the Juan de Fuca side of the island. I figured I'd drop down below the reach of the swells and have a nice, long, photo-taking dive. I soon realised that the current was too strong to swim against (even though I was diving during the Race Passage slack). I held onto stalked kelp, hid behind boulders and eventually gave up and swam back up to the shallows where the current was less, but the surge made swimming just as difficult. Holding on to the bottom didn't help because the surge would then just flip me over. I had enough and tried to swim back through the tunnel, but now the current was flowing against me here as well. I swam harder than my regulator wanted me to for longer than I should have and eventually I made it back to the sheltered side. I've always thought of Swordfish Island as a benign sort of dive, a place you go when the current is too strong elsewhere, but now I have a new respect for the potential hazards here.
I wasn't giving up yet though. I came back two days later for 2 dives. The swell was less and I decided to go in when the Race Passage Current Table was showing maximum flood. Visibility was 20-30 feet, the surge in the tunnel was reasonable and I didn't feel any current on the outside slope. I took wide-angle photos on the first dive and close-up ones on the second.
in the tunnel
shrimp on a crimson anemone
in the tunnel
at the North entrance of the tunnel
in the tunnel
longfin sculpin and soft coral
small Puget Sound king crab
octopus
Puget Sound king crab in the tunnel
Puget Sound king crab in the tunnel
Puget Sound king crab in the tunnel
Puget Sound king crab in the tunnel
anemones in the tunnel
Irish lord
in the tunnel
near the South entrance to the tunnel
crimson anemone, sponge and broken-back shrimp
soft corals in tunnel
on the slope below the tunnel
on the slope below the tunnel
on the slope below the tunnel
on the slope below the tunnel
quillback rockfish
mosshead warbonnet and hydrocoral
sulfur sponge and plumose anemones on the slope below the tunnel
small wall 70-80 feet deep
small wall 70-80 feet deep
crimson anemone
nudibranchs
candy-stripe shrimp on a crimson anemone
boulders on the slope below the tunnel
overhang on the slope below the tunnel
on the slope below the tunnel
Puget Sound king crab
Puget Sound king crab and crimson anemone
Puget Sound king crab and longfin sculpin
sponges and tunicates in the tunnel
soft corals
sculpin in the tunnel
soft coral and hydroids in the tunnel
soft coral and painted anemone in the tunnel
longfin sculpin
soft corals
sculpin on the ceiling of the tunnel
soft coral
crab under a crimson anemone
on the slope below the tunnel
hermit crab on a tunicate colony
looking down at the outside entrance to the tunnel
swimming back into the tunnel
in the tunnel with the flash reflecting off the dome port at the top of the photo
nudibranch
in the tunnel
Puget Sound king crab in the tunnel
octopus
looking up at the North entrance to the tunnel
looking up at the North entrance to the tunnel
hydrocoral
crimson anemone and broken-back shrimp
quillback rockfish
nudibranch
Purple ring top snail
octopus in den
octopus in den
eelgrass and a kelp greenling in the channel
nudibranchs
in the small bay where I anchored
herring near the boat
herring near the boat
hydrocoral
herring and small green anemones near the boat
small anemones near the boat