Our Favorite Dives

The resident wolf fish is not shy about taking your handouts of urchin roe or scallops. At depths greater than 60 feet you can expect to see Gumboot sponges and the glass or silica sponges. In the summer and fall months we have seen Dogfish sharks and Six Gill sharks. 

Currents are usually light and the waves are small.  Sites similar to this are: Sheppard Point, McKenzie Bight and Repulse Rock.

Spur and groove formations make this a very interesting dive. The area is often frequented by seals and sea lions. Currents are usually light and the waves are small to moderate. Similar sites are: Wain Rock and Patey Rock.

The huge population of red rock crabs and Dungeness crabs provide a haven for our giant pacific octopus. I have counted and seen more than 10 different octopi and dens at this site.

It is also the site where I witnessed a large ling cod and octopus battle one another. The 10 foot octopus pounced on the ling cod, trying to completely engulf and strangle the cod to its death. The ling cod managed to get free and latched on to one of the octopus tentacles. The ling cod corkscrewed its body to completely sever the lower two feet of the octopus tentacle with its spinning action. The whole scene lasted less than 30 seconds and of course the camera batteries were dead.

The small cave and swim through can prove to be exciting, but be sure to use your knife to move the purple urchins out of your way before you attempt the swim through. Boat and Ferry traffic can be unpredictable; use caution.

As a dive site, the strong currents bathe the north wall with nutrients to produce tons of life. Expect to see: mitridium, anemones, tube worms, crabs, rock fish, greenlings, cabezon, ling cod, nudibranchs.

Salmon fisherman love this spot as well so beware of lost fishing lines and tackle. Carry a substantial knife or side cutters capable of dealing with spider wire. This is one of our favourites spots for harvesting swimming scallops and purple hinged rock scallops and yes a fishing licence is required.

Dive this site on slack and have a competent boat operator who is capable of reading the hydraulics and back eddies. It is extremely rare that you will be picked up where you were dropped off. We often use this as one of our “Sling Shot Snorkel Swims.”

This anti-submarine destroyer is covered with plumose anemones, barnacles, swimming scallops, ling cod, rock fish, tube worms and shrimp. The superstructure is intact and penetration dives are possible for experienced wreck divers.

Beware! The currents here are incredibly strong and it is rare for even the best divers to spend more than 45 minutes on this site. Plan to do at least two dives here if you have the opportunity. It is not uncommon for divers to miss their ascent lines for their safety stop so be prepared to do your safety stop in 15 – 20 feet without reference. Carry your SMB and Safety Signal light. On a Spring tide, your slack can be less than 10 minutes!

I’ve only met a few of the different caretakers that have offered me the job of looking after the place.

It is a beautiful sanctuary if you want to get away from it all… The docks are well maintained and the buildings are in reasonable shape for year round occupancy. Island life is for the few and the hardy! Just imagine…you have everything you need to survive but no outside stimulus! Will you go nuts? In the “Shining” it took Jack Nicholson only a few months to go crazy at the “Overlook”. At Sheep Island, I would bet that it would be less than three weeks! At best, a summer holiday retreat.

Underwater the story is quite different. As with most of the Gulf Islands the strong currents and nutrient upwellings brings a tremendous amount of life to the surface. Anemones, scallops, crabs, greenlings, ling cod sculpins, gunnels, urchins and jellyfish are all present at this site.

The most important reason why we keep returning to this site is that it is the best location for harvesting King Crab. Everyone has heard of “Alaskan King Crab” and almost no one knows about Puget Sound King Crab. For those of us in the know, Puget Sound King Crab is better tasting and more filling than Alaskan Crab. You pretty much have to be a scuba dive to catch Puget Sound King Crab. You can catch Alaskan crabs in traps…

If you catch a 10 -15 lb. male, we will show you how to clean and cook it for the best crab feast of your life. Do you need another reason to dive here?

We are not allowed to land here but often the bird researchers will wave to us as we move past.

Although this is not a deep dive, it does feature boulders that are adorned with anemones, sea pens on the sand flats, flounder, place, and young halibut. Large groupings of moon snails and crabs are typically found in the eel grass.

On the plus side, there is more life per square foot, the visibility is usually better and the marine mammals are usually present.

The big attraction here is the cave/swim through. You can usually find the entrance to the tunnel by looking for the fault or crack in the rock above the tunnel. Enter the tunnel slowly as often you will encounter young seal pups hiding inside. Although there is room for divers to swim abreast of one another, it is best to travel through it in single file formation.

Go slow and you will see anemones of many different species, tube worms, nudibranchs, blennies, scallops, rock fish in the 3-D plane that surrounds you. Not only is the bottom covered with life but the sides and ceiling as well.

Once you have made it through, move to your left and you usually find a male and female wolf fish couple in about 55 feet of water. In the past, these wolf fish would swim out of their den to greet you.  As long as you crack open a sea urchin and feed them some of the urchin roe, they would play with you for 3 – 5 minutes. There are plenty of urchins on the bottom but please do not overdo it.

Then, swim to your right and through to the boulders and mini walls as they are covered with anemones of many varieties. Look for octopus, King crabs, ling cod and greenlings. If you make it to the chute between Swordfish and Church Island you will find a school of black bass/cod that number in the hundreds.  Spear fisherman have claimed to have shot two or three fish here without even startling the school. Hard to imagine?

Be sure that you and your buddy have all the safety equipment with you: SMB, Signal light, whistle and if possible submersible GPS/Radio. Only experienced divers and boat operators should ever attempt these sites.