I came for the name, without knowing too much about the conditions but I am recommending it for the lush colours of the healthy coral gardens. Not one for artificial reefs, these wrecks have been positioned perfectly for coral growth and communities of fish and other life have moved into this rather strange but very beautiful ecosystem. There is plenty of space here to take time looking up close on the microcosms of life: barnacles, anemones, and corals on the bottom, then scallops, tunicates, then starfish, nudibranchs, crabs then the fish themselves. There isn’t much cover and the water is shallow in many parts of the channel so there aren’t huge numbers of big fish, but lots of tiddlers living in amongst the corals. A highly recommended night dive showed how different a place can look at night when all the larger fish who hide or hunt during the day come into the shallows to rest. Perch, sea bass and calico bass, then a lot of others who’re so well camouflaged in the bright colours that you can just see their eyes moving - a very strange experience.

Of the wrecks the best is easily the Ruby E - literally drenched in corynactis anemones in pinks, reds, purples, and whites (these are the ones that look like flowers with finger-like petals. Not one for exaggeration this sight was nothing short of glorious.

Written by  Danny Jones.

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Wreck Alley

There are eight wrecks making up this dive site, the largest is the 366 foot Canadian Destroyer Yukon, sunk in 2000.

The Ruby E is a 170 foot Coast Guard Cutter and the most popular for divers because it has become grown over with coral and anemones, and creates disconcerting shapes in the water. The other six wrecks are much smaller.

The Ingrahm Street Bridge has also been dumped in the bay and the surfaces of the structure lying in the current have attracted a crust of filter feeders like the wrecks, but most of it looks like a natural reef with kelps, fans and algae growing all over it.

 

Review posted 3rd May 2007 by World Reviewer Staff.

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