Scotts Bay:Maximum depth: 35 ft
Anchor in the Southern end of Scotts Bay or access from the beach on thesouth end of Scotts Bay from Mathers Lane. Swim to the North end ofthe Island and dive the shore of the island and point. Small rock wallsto boulders and finally sand at about 35 ft. Excellent novice dive. Always lots to see. Octopus and Wolf Eels, Kelp Greenling, Abalone, Rock Fish,Nudibranchs.
Vanlene: Maximum depth: 120 ft
The VanLeen is probably Barkley Sound's most infamous wreck. The VanLeenwas a car carrying freighter bound from Japan, loaded with Dodge Colts. Theship left Japan with no working navigation equipment, no radar, and for whateverreason kept on sailing to the Nortwest. Well, it finally smacked a largeshallow rock in Barkley Sound and remained afloat for almost 2 years. Inthat time, most of the cars were salvaged off of the ship. Finally, the shipbroke in half and made for two great dive sites - the sterm and bow sections.The bow section is in relatively shallow waters and most of the cabins canbe penetrated. The stern section lies in deeper water, but offers the mostgoodies to us divers. If penetrated correctly, one can still find a DodgeColt with the manufacturer's sticker still on it!
The Vanlene sank off Austin Island in 1976.
Thiepval: Maximum depth: ft
The Thiepval sank in Thiepval Channel in the Broken Group Islands.It is a minesweeper that hit a reef while chasing a rum-runner
The Wreck of the Nika -- the Fish Bowl: Maximum depth: ft
The Nika caught fire at the mouth of the Columbia River back in the early1900's or so. The ship was abandoned and in 10 hours, managed to drift allthe way up and in to Barkley Sound, where it hit a rock and sank.
Diversat this site can either dive the wreck or the rock that it sits next too.The rock itself has a large "bowl" area in it, giving it the name of TheFish Bow. Add a lot of fish to this area, and you can easily see what itwould be named such. Yes, large quanties of all species of fish live here.If it's suppose to be in these waters, it probably can be found at the FishBowl
Hayden Wall: Maximum depth: ft
This site sits right past the opening to Hayden Passage, one of the manysmall passages in the Barkley Sound area. Unique to this site is the simplefact that probably very few people have dove it. Expect to find a large numberof rockfish and lingcod, hanging out on this wall. Snooping around a bitwill find you a Puget Sound King Crab and even some nudibranch species thatwere not tought to exist this far north
Hayden Passage -- South Marker Maximum depth: ft
This site sits right past the opening to Hayden Passage, one of the manysmall passages in the Barkley Sound area. The South Marker is a small verticalwall offering the nice, relaxed diving opportunity for those late in theday second and third dive sites. The wall to dive on slops down to 80 feet or so and gradually tapers off.Highlights of this dive include large Puget Sound King Crab and large lingcod.
Puffin Islet: Maximum depth: 11 to 12 metres
Anchor on northeast (lee) side of island and swim south, exploring theisland perimeter. Bottom is composed of large boulders, nooks and crannies,carpeted with pink coralline algae, sea stars, nudibranchs, kelp crabs, octopus,and schools of small rockfish that follow you as you explore. Marine lifeincreases toward the more exposed side of islet.
Hankin Island: Maximum depth: 12 metres
Anchor adjacent to the north, protected shore. Bottom is rocky with lots of crabs, sea stars, sea cucumbers, kelp greenling, nudibranchs and anemones - lots of colour! Some surge in narrow channels. Explore their profusion oflife if surge is minimal.
Advanced Dives Sitesare deeper, 15 metres to 28 metres, and are more exposed to wind and waveaction. Expect swells, current and greater hazard.
Pinnacle Rock: Average depth: 21 to 28 metres
This is a very exposed site, limited to certain sea conditions. Anchorage will depend upon wind direction. Ensure that you have lots of scope on the anchor and check to ensure that the anchor is well fastened by descending the anchor line before exploring the dive site.
There are rock pillars separated by valleys of coarse shell sand. Follow the cleft in rock that formsa great canyon to 28 metres. A variety of marine invertebrates, lobed andstalked tunicates, orange-peel nudibranchs, plumose anemones, along with numerousblue and black rockfish reside here - but it's the topography of this sitethat makes it such a dramatic dive!
Plumose Gardens: Average depth: 15 to 20 metres with maximum depths to 25-26 metres.
Situated off the northeast tip of Gibraltar Island at 125 degrees 14' 30"West, 48 degrees 55' 6" North.
Anchor about 6 metres from the islet on a rocky bottom. Rocky walls drop steeply as short cliffs to 12 metres, grading into coarse sand and shell bottom that continues down very steeply. Prolific beds of huge mussels, with lots of plumose anemones, sea cucumbers, small crabs, and bryozoans clothe the site.
Type: Boat dive.
Location: A boat dive in the middle of the channel.
Underwater: Renate's Reef (named after Renate Christie) is a pinnacle that comes towith in 45 feet of the surface in the middle of Imperial Eagle Channel. Thisis without a doubt one of my favourite dives in Barkley Sound. The massesof life found here are truly outstanding.. The reef top is covered with staghornbryozoans, and as you go deeper there are channels and large crevices. Mymost recent find is a large and still growing patch of strawberry anemoneson one of the rock faces. All types of nudibranchs live here, rockfish ofschool near the drop offs. The life here is thick, just about anything canbe found here. If you go deep where you will start to find sand channelsyou never know what might appear, a ratfish, dogfish or maybe even a sixgillshark. I love this dive there are great canyons and lots of places for animalsto hide. I like riding the surge and watching the reef go by below.
Warnings: Don't get lost. The surge can be un-nerving if you are not use to it.
Type: Boat dive.
Location: A boat dive not far from Rendezvous base.
Underwater: A pinnacle with great fish life, lots of invertebrates, but the real reasonpeople dive here is sixgill sharks. They can get to 15 feet and are usuallyVERY deep, but in summer especially, you can find them shallow here. Thereef top is covered with plumose anemones and it drops to sand at maybe 90ft the sand then slopes off to the depths. I've always seen interesting fishhere, never a sixgill however. the last dive I did here I saw several ratfish,large schools of rockfish, including canary and yellow tail and several largejellyfish. Even without the sixgills this dive is most defiantly worth doing.
Warnings: There is almost always a surface current at Tyler Rock.
Type: Boat dive.
Location: A boat dive just around the corner from Rendezvous lodge.
Underwater: A great little dive that has special significance for me since it is thefirst place I saw a sixgill shark. A 12 footer, at night, something thatreally gets your attention. I've also seen octopus out at night. The diveis a reef that you could swim around depending on how deep you go. Thereare sand channels that hold seapens and tube dwelling anemones and the nudibranchsthat feed on them. This is one of those site where it is possible to seejust about anything! I've had buddies see windmill tube worms and bicolourednudibranchs here, so I have to go back to find those for myself. Just anall round good dive. Rendezvous often does this spot as a night dive sinceit is just around the corner from their lodge
Warnings: None that I can think of right now.
Type: Boat dive.
Location: A boat dive on a wall not far from Rendezvous lodge.
Underwater: One of the few Barkley Sound sites that is not a pinnacle. Lots of lifeon the wall. I often find Puget Sound king crabs here. The nice thing aboutdiving this site is you do not have to do your safety stop on the anchorline, you can just go shallow on the wall. Even shallow there is still lotsto see. The wall is covered with anemones and zoanthids, which in turn hidea lot of small critters so look carefully. The shallows have great greensurf anemones and coralline algae. This is also a spot where you can divewith California sealions, some people are nervous about diving with theseguys but so far I have not been bothered by them.
Warnings: Surge in the shallows.
Type: Boat dive.
Location: Way out in the mouth of Barkley Sound, next stop Japan.
Underwater: VERY exposed site, requires good weather. The bottomis covered with bright orange Brooding anemones, bryozoans and sponges. Lots of invertebrates,lots of fish, Wolf Eels. A truly outstanding dive. The reef top is only about 20 feet from thesurface.
Warnings: Take your seasick pills you get the big ocean swells here.
Type: Boat dive.
Location: Just east of the true start of the Broken Group islands, several hundredyards off the actual point.
Underwater: A great dive consisting of two pinnacles of rock with a sand channel betweenthen. Last dive I did there I saw a great school of rockfish. I often seea few of the more interesting types of rockfish here like vermilion and blues.There are lots of great anemones and a few seapens in the sand channel. Thetops of both pinnacles are covered in woody kelp and various types of bryozoans.Also on the last dive I did there I saw lots of clown nudibranchs and orangepeel nudibranchs. All in all this is a great dive with the chance of seeingsome different animals and even if you don't lots of good things to lookat
Warnings: Not too much to worry about here just swells now and then.