I've done quite a few dives on the North side of Albert Head, but I've always wondered what it's like on the South side of the point where the chart shows a fairly steep slope to over 100 feet. I took my canoe here in early June, 2007. I dragged it to the water at the beach/parking area at Albert Head Lagoon. From there it was a short trip around the point to a small, rocky beach surrounded by conglomerate cliffs. The place I decided to try diving was the small island that's so close to shore that it looks almost connected. I swam out through a bull kelp forest towards the tip of the island. Visibility was around 25 feet. The rocky sides of the island dropped steeply to around 10-30 feet deep. Most of these rocks were bare and silty. I didn't see any anemones on the walls. Some of the overhangs had patches of small stuff like zoanthids, orange colonial tunicates  and red burrowing cucumbers, but I was kind of disappointed with the overall lack of colour. this wall met a sandy bottom at around 30 feet deep out at the tip of the island. I swam out farther and there was a maze of large kelp-topped rocky reefs that had the same sheer-wall sides. Here there was much more life. There were shallow cavern-like overhangs filled with plumose anemones and a coating of "tiny stuff" like encrusting sponge, cup corals, etc. There were piles of big purple urchins, groups of large copper rockfish and smaller quillback rockfish in the cracks. I saw a few cabezon on the flat, pebble bottom between the reefs. I swam out farther over a sandy area and suddenly the bottom dropped away in a series of walls and shelves. These walls were covered with strange small, yellow finger-type sponges. There were also several large crimson anemones, a few fish-eating anemones and huge groups of plumose anemones. Up close, I could see cup corals, white mats of tiny hydroids, small branching hydrocorals, nudibranchs, etc... Large copper and quillback rockfish were everywhere. I saw a large school of yellowtail and black rockfish hovering over a huge  boulder perched on a ledge. My maximum depth was 95 feet, but the steep area continued to go deeper. I was hoping to see some pink soft coral, large finger sponges or basket stars (like at Race Rocks), but I didn't notice any. I still think this wall is one of the best local dives I've done yet. Eventually I swam back to shore and strapped on a second tank. By the time I surface-swam out to the tip of the island, the current had picked up and the visibility was down to around 15 feet. I struggled out over the reefs to the drop-off, but by the time I reached it, the current was too strong to think about hanging around for long so I returned after another quick look around. I saw another big school of rockfish and an old fishing net twisted down the wall. I think the dive is definitely worth it, but since it's difficult to pull off a current-sensitive dive when there's a long swim to get there, I don't know if I'll do the canoe/shore dive thing here again.
ANEMONES ON WALL
COPPER ROCKFISH AND PLUMOSE ANEMONES ON WALL
STUFF ON WALL
CRIMSON ANEMONE ON WALL
YELLOW SPONGES ON WALL
SEASTAR ON SHALLOW REEFS
YELLOW SPONGES ON WALL
CRIMSON ANEMONE
ANEMONES ON WALL
SCHOOL OF ROCKFISH
YELLOW SPONGES ON WALL
QUILLBACK ROCKFISH
QUILLBACK ROCKFISH ON SHALLOW REEF
URCHINS ON SHALLOW REEF
START OF DEEPER WALL
PLUMOSE ANEMONE ON REEF
COPPER ROCKFISH
CRIMSON ANEMONE ON WALL
PLUMOSE ANEMONES ON WALL
SCHOOL OF ROCKFISH
OVERHANG IN SHALLOWS
FISH_EATING ANEMONE ON SHALLOW REEF
PLUMOSE ANEMONES ON SHALLOW OVERHANG
UNDER SHALLOW OVERHANG
CRIMSON ANEMONE ON WALL
ANOTHER CRIMSON ANEMONE ON WALL
BULL KELP
UNDER OVERHANG IN SHALLOWS
CABEZON
LOOKING AT HYDROCORAL
ANEMONE ON WALL
LOOKING AT YELLOW SPONGE ON WALL
BULL KELP
ROCKFISH SILHOUETTE
CANOE ON BEACH
ROCKY BEACH
CANOE AND NAKED GUY ON BEACH
SHORELINE WITH KELP
REEFS WITH VICTORIA IN DISTANCE
RACCOON ON SHORE
CANOE AND DIVE GEAR ON BEACH
RACCOON CLIMBING ROCKS
ROCKY BEACH
PALE GUY MAKE SEXY TIME
ON THE WATER