West Coast Shootout #12 - 2010 Finale

The plan for the final West Coast Shootout of 2010 was to dive Saanich Inlet with Pinnacle Scuba Adventures. One dive was to be at Sananus Island and the second was planned for Repulse Rock (The White Lady). The day began with the remnants of the torrential down-pour from the previous day breaking, and all that was left was the fresh water runoff clouding the surface of the water with a thick brown cast so bad that a number of the divers on board were very skeptical of how the dives were going to turn out. These condition did not discourage me because of all of my previous dives in Saanich Inlet, the water colour on the surface is not a good indication of what the visibility is below and I wanted to push on. Sananus Island is an amazing dive site: this small island just north of Brentwood Bay is one of the only places on Southern Vancouver Island to have cloud sponges accessible at recreational limits making it a great spot for all divers including tech divers and underwater photographers.

As everyone returned from the first dive they were ecstatic about the cloud sponges, but most importantly how great the visibility was once everyone descended below the initial 15 ft (3 m.) of brown fresh water. The water at this depth completely cleared up and visibility was around 50 – 60 ft. (17-20 m.)! We then motored towards our second dive destination, Repulse Rock, but the wind began to pick up as we got closer to the dive site to the point where we were unable to dive safely. The consensus with the group was to dive McCurdy Point, which was much more protected from the nasty weather. The topography as we approached the site according to the sounder looked very favorable for the divers. Everyone returned even more excited from this dive than the one at Sananus Island: the life and visibility they reported was beautiful and everyone wanted to return to both locations to spend more time exploring on a future trip.

Everyone on board was so pleased with the day of diving and this was a great conclusion to 2010′s West Coast Shootouts.

Scott


 
Additional images from West Coast Shootout #12 link