Saanich Inlet -- Brentwood Bay Lodge and Rockfish Divers, 1/25 -26/09

[TSandM]

Peter and I are just getting ready to head home from a wonderful two days and three nights at the Brentwood Bay Lodge. We saw a promotional package from the lodge and the local dive op that was so well priced, we couldn't resist, and I'm glad we didn't.

The Brentwood Bay Lodge is gorgeous -- all wood and stone, with a faintly Japanese deco that I found very attractive. The staff is attentive and friendly and the service is wonderful. There are two restaurants attached to the lodge, but we only ended up eating dinner in the Pub, where the food was excellent and the beers were great (and sitting by the fireplace was nice, too.)

Rockfish divers did a great job for us, including chipping the boat out of a half inch of ice on the second day in order to take us diving. (And, as we were the only two customers, I think they would have been well within their rights to say the conditions weren't good enough to dive.) The cloud sponges were WELL worth the whole trip up here, and they were not the only interesting things we saw. The cloud sponge dives are deep, though; they begin at around 90 feet and go on down, so you don't get to spend nearly as much time looking at and inside them as one would wish.

Full reports of the dives and photographs are here and here.

Anyway, it was a great trip, and I'd recommend Saanich Inlet diving to anybody. No current, very good viz, and those amazing sponges . . .

 

[Peter Guy]

The full set of pictures are at:

TSandM Picture Gallery

It has been a great little mini-vacation.

 

[Underwater Ogre]

TSandM,
I noticed you said there were dead cloud sponges. Unfortunately its happening all over the island, both on the inside passage and the West coast. Some of the site are nothing but dead ones. Its quite sad, but I think it is one of the clear signs that big changes are happening.
There use to be a large cloud sponge in the artificial reef HMCS Columbia which was sunk in the mid 90's....it grew fast and died last year.

Thanks for detailed review,
U/O

 

[Hyper-limits]

Anyway, it was a great trip, and I'd recommend Saanich Inlet diving to anybody. No current, very good viz, and those amazing sponges . . .

Thanks again Lynne for the dive report and pictures, the inlet is a nice place to dive that for sure. BTW the viz can really really suck in the inlet. But usually during the winter months you will get between 20-100ft.

Cheers

Al

 

[TSandM]

We had anything from about 20 at worst, to probably more than 40. Viz was better on the first day than on the second, but it still wasn't bad. Diving Puget Sound, anything over about ten feet seems quite lovely to us.

The first site we dove (closer to Senanus Island), the clumps of sponges had dead zones. The second site (the deeper one) they were almost all vibrant and healthy and quite beautiful. They are also, as I think I mentioned, being studied at that site.

I have heard rumors that cloud sponges can be found not far from Gedney Island in the Sound, and my next project is to find out if that is true.

 

[Hyper-limits]

The first site we dove (closer to Senanus Island), the clumps of sponges had dead zones. The second site (the deeper one) they were almost all vibrant and healthy and quite beautiful. They are also, as I think I mentioned, being studied at that site.

The deeper buoy was re-installed by friends of mine last year, someone cut the rope for some reason. The one closer to Senanus Island use to have a lot of healthy sponges but it is also were a lot of the charter boats take divers to, and for some of those diver it is the first time they see sponges and they touch them or just hit them with their fins, it could also be the traps from fishermen that are doing all the damage. Anyway Senanus Island is on of the area where rockfish and other charter goes to all the time, there is area where the sponges are way nicer and in larger number but mostly that would be found in deeper water(110-180ft), need to take that Tech 1 course to find out.

Cheers

Al

 

[TheWetRookie]

I have heard rumors that cloud sponges can be found not far from Gedney Island in the Sound, and my next project is to find out if that is true.

Seachelt are has them also, like you said, hit about 80-90 feet and the wall dissapears, the sponges are the wall.

I am just heading out but will get more specific on the sites later.

 

[TSandM]

there is area where the sponges are way nicer and in larger number but mostly that would be found in deeper water(110-180ft), need to take that Tech 1 course to find out.

Yes, more training is beginning to feel kind of inevitable . . . I swore there was nothing to SEE at those levels that would make it worth the classes, but I guess I was wrong

 

[Hyper-limits]

Yes, more training is beginning to feel kind of inevitable . . . I swore there was nothing to SEE at those levels that would make it worth the classes, but I guess I was wrong

Hey I swore that I would never need a CCR either, but when you spend 50-60 minutes at 150ft, for a total runtime of 120-130 minutes it's make perfect sense to use the right tool. Everytime I take a course I say that it that my last course and for some reason I take another one, I guess a good diver is always learning.
I don't know many time someone ask why are you diving so deep there is nothing to SEE down there, well there is but it is not for everyone.

Al

 

[JackConnick]

I looked at taking a group up there about a year or so ago and the rates were outrageous. Glad to hear they are more realistic now.

Jack