Alberthead Lagoon in Metchosin, B.C. Bear Cove in Port Hardy, B.C. Bob's Spot in the Plumper Island Group, B.C. Braemar Ave in North Saanich, B.C. Breakwater Island near Gabriola Pass, B.C. Browning Passage near Port Hardy, B.C. Browning Wall near Port Hardy, B.C. China Creek near Port Alberni, B.C. Clover Point in Victoria, B.C. Copper Cliffs near Campbell River, B.C. Daphne Islet near Brentwood Bay Deep Cove near Sidney, B.C. Discovery Island near Victoria, B.C. Dolphin Beach near Nanoose Bay, B.C. Elliot's Beach Park in Ladysmith, B.C. Five Fathom near Port Hardy, B.C. Forest Island (north end) near Sidney, B.C. GB Church [ship to reef] near Sidney, B.C. Gowland Point on South Pender Island, B.C. Henderson Point near Sidney, B.C. Madrona Point in Nanaimo, B.C. Maple Bay near Duncan, B.C. McKenzie Bight near Victoria, B.C. McNeill Point aka Kitty Islet in Victoria, B.C. Neck Point in Nanaimo, B.C. Northeast Pearse Wall, Telegraph Cove, B.C. Ogden Point in Victoria, B.C. Porteau Cove Marine Park, B.C. Port McNeil, B.C. Rocky Point in Nanaimo, B.C. Row & Be Damned near Campbell River, B.C. Saltery Bay near Powell River,B.C. Saxe Point in Esquimalt, B.C. Sidney, B.C. Ten Mile Point in Victoria, B.C. Wall Beach near Nanoose Bay, B.C. Whytecliff Park near Vancouver, B.C. Willis Point near Sidney, B.C. International Kailua-Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii, USA Kaui - an Island of Hawaii, USA Aquatic but Non-Marine Life Vancouver Island, B.C.

Scuba Diving Pictures from Alberthead Lagoon in Metchosin, B.C. Canada. These are medium quality jpegs. But I have the RAW images as well. Email tjfidler@telus.net Directions to the Dive Site are located at the bottom of the page. Number of dives I've done at this scuba diving site: 1 Additional notes: Lifeforms I saw here that I did not get a picture of or the quality was too poor: Type of dive: shore dive / boat dive - either/or Rating for this dive site: 6/10 Parking: Plenty of parking for at least 10 cars, trucks and vans. Bathroom/Washroom/Toilet: Not here. Boat ramp: No Ease of entry:  [Wheel chair access: No] Very easy entry. Abundance of life: 6/10 Accommodations: NA Attractions:  Bottom and depth: Mixture of sand and rock. Mostly sand and gravel. But there is rock structure. Facilities: Nothing close by. Hazards/Obstacles:  Sensitivity to tide/current: Terrain: rocky, sandy, solid rock, both, all Tides, transportation and weather: Fisheries and Oceans Canada Tide Page., BC Ferries Schedule and Sailings. , The Weather Network If you like these pages, and wish this web site to continue, please remember to check out some of the Google Ads. Just clicking on the ads helps pay for the web site.

The following images are thumbnails. If you click on them a larger image will open up and the picture will take up most of your screen. Again these are medium quality jpegs. Higher quality images can be purchased directly from me via paypal using my email address tjfidler@telus.net And many of these photos can be found for sale on Cafepress through the Calendar link and Photo CD link. As well some of these can be found as posters via Cafepress, and some of these ocean life photographs are available as widescreen backgrounds via the widescreen link immediately below some of the photographs.

A few people have already asked me about "What is that pink stuff on the rocks in some of the pictures?" Well, they're usually Pink Rock Crust (aka Encrusting Coralline Algae) or in some cases might even be Encrusting Hydrocorals. The algae are eaten by a variety of animals - apparently as a good source of calcium.

This is the freshwater part of Alberthead Lagoon. The southern half. I will not likely try to dive in the actual lagoon as it looked to muddy and shallow. The image below show the part I will/have actually did some scuba diving around. (Sept 2009)	Here's the northern half of Alberthead Lagoon in Metchosin. I could have done a panoramic view, but decided to do that with the one showing both the freshwater and salt water sides of the lagoon. (Sept 2009)
A view of the city of Victoria from sea side of Alberthead Lagoon. It is this rock outcropping that I will be diving around. And act as my focal point for this scuba diving site. (Sept 2009)	The parking lot here is quite large. With plenty of space for several cars. (Sept 2009)

A panoramic view of both the freshwater/salt-marsh side [left] of Alberthead Lagoon and its ocean/marine side [right] with Esquimalt in the background. Click on this image to get an even larger
version of this image. (Sept 2009) As you can probably tell the beach consists of small rocks not sand. Much safer for our dry suit zippers.

Links to the various groups of organisms:
Cephalopods, Crustaceans, Fish, Mollusks, Nudibranchs, Sea Anemones, Sea Cucumbers & Echinoderms, Sponges, Tunicates, Worms, Miscellaneous


Crustaceans

Dungeness Crab ~ 5 inches [12.5 cm] wide. Obviously a juvenile based on its size. And of course assuming I've identified it correctly. Common here. (Sept 2009)	Helmet Crab ~ 6 inches [15 cm] wide with the legs. Seemed to be quite common at this dive site. (Sept 2009)
Helmet Crab ~ 6 inches [15 cm] wide with the legs. (Sept 2009)	Sharp Nosed Crab ~ 8 inches [20 cm] wide. I only spotted a couple of them here, but given the camoflauge of this one I'm not surprised. (Sept 2009)
Red Rock Crab ~ 4 inches [10 cm] wide that you can see. These are the most common type of crab that I spot hiding in the sand. But I often find others hiding in the sand or mud as well. Sometimes they are actually excavating a hole. In search of food I suspect. See Saxe Point for a sample of such activity. (Sept 2009)	Red Rock Crab ~ 8 inches [20 cm] wide. This crab is eating something, and in fact ignored me for the most part. (Sept 2009)

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Fish

Copper Rockfish ~ 14 inches [35 cm] long. This fish stayed still long enought just for this single image. (Sept 2009)	Not sure what species. ~ 2 inches [5 cm] long. There were a handful of these in a small area. (Sept 2009)

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Mollusks

Blue-Lined Chiton ~ 2 inches [5 cm] long. And to the left of it is a Transparent Tunicate. (Sept 2009)	Woody Chiton ~ 3 inches [7.5 cm] long. (Sept 2009)
Gumboot Chiton ~ 10 inches [25 cm] long. (Sept 2009)

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Nudibranchs [or Sea Slugs] & Snails

Hooded Nudibranchs ~ 4 inches [10 cm] wide across the mouth. Not the one on the far left has its mouth closed now. Note how it looks like a Venus Fly Trap. As with other massings I'm guessing that these animals are only here in the fall and not around any other time of the year. I'd like to know where they spend the rest of the year. (Sept 2009)	Hooded Nudibranchs ~ same image as on the left. Note now the one on the far left now has its mouth open. For video of this check out my Deep Cove web page.  (Sept 2009)
Flabellina Nudibranch ~ 2 inches [5 cm] above a Hooded Nudibranch. These were quite common at this dive site, but with my camera they are not easy to get a good close up. Hoping to get a new camera sometime in the future to overcome this limitation. And another strobe as well as often I don't have enough light beyond a certain distance. (Sept 2009)	Hooded Nudibranch ~ 3 inches [7.5 cm] tall. I like this shot as it almost looks like its dancing. (Sept 2009)
Hooded Nudibranchs ~ 4 inches [10 cm] for the widest mouth here. Note the yellow object between them. I believe these are eggs, and I spotted them several times next to such yellow egg masses. (Sept 2009)	Might be a Heath's Dorid/Nudibranch ~ 4 inches [10 cm] long. This was the only one that I spotted. (Sept 2009)

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Sea Anemones & Jellyfish ( Cnidarians )

Lion's Mane Jellyfish ~ 10 inches [25 cm] wide across the bell part. (Sept 2009)	A short video of a Lion's Mane jellyfish swimming. This shows how they move. (Sept 2009)
Clinging Jellyfish ~ 1 inch [2.5 cm] across the bell. (Sept 2009)	Red-Eye Jellyfish ~ 8 inches [20 cm] tall. Note the red eyes at the bottom of the bell. This animal seemed to be able to see me as it moved away from me and hid behind the kelp. (Sept 2009)
Fish-Eating Anemone ~ 12 inches [30 cm] wide. I only spotted two of this species on this day. For more information on anemones check out this link to Wikipedia. (Sept 2009)	Painted Anemone ~ 10 inches [25 cm] wide. Quite common at this dive site. (Sept 2009)
Scalloped Jellyfish ~ 3 inches [7.5 cm] in diameter. (Sept 2009)	Short Plumose Anemone ~ 10 inches [25 cm] tall. (Sept 2009)

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 Sea Cucumbers & Starfish ( Echinoderms )

Blood Star ~ 6 inches [15 cm] wide. Note the small sculpin fish on the right arm. (Sept 2009)	The red bushy looking thing is a Creeping Petal Sea Cucumber. ~ 3 inches [7.5 cm] across. The large yellowish mass is a sponge of some type. (Sept 2009)
Mottled Star ~ 16 inches [40 cm] wide. Note that one of its arms is quite short, and is probably re-growing after being bitten off by some other animal. (Sept 2009)	Red Sea Urchin ~ 12 inches [30 cm] wide. Oddly enough this was the only one I spotted. Usually you would see more than this if you spot any at all. (Sept 2009)
Sea Cucumber beside some eggs of some animal. Dimension across the eggs ~ 4 inches [10 cm]. (Sept 2009)	Sea Cucumber ~ 16 inches [40 cm] long. Which actually based on its size makes this a small one. Common here at this dive site. (Sept 2009)
Purple Star ~ 16 inches [40 cm] wide. Quite common in the shallows at this dive site. (Sept 2009)

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Sponges

Ball Sponge ~ 4 inches [10 cm] in diameter. The small orange objects are mostly Orange Social Ascidians. (Sept 2009)	Sponge of some kind. Looks an awful lot like the kind carried by some hermit crabs, but I did not stop to flip any of them over to see if this was the case. For this first dive I was mostly just sampling the marine life here. (Sept 2009)

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Tunicates

Some Shiny Orange Sea Squirts. They can get up to about the size of an orange, but these ones were quite young and no larger then an egg. (Sept 2009)	Orange Social Ascidians ~ a half inch [1.25 cm] across. Which is about normal size for these animals. Unlike their cousins the Shiny Orange Sea Squirts which get to be the size of oranges. (Sept 2009)
Warty Tunicate ~ 4 inches [10 cm] tall. I only spotted this one on this first dive here Note the Calcareous Tube Worms above and below it. (Sept 2009)

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Worms

These strands are actually the feeding parts of a Spaghetti Worm. This digital image is about 14 inches [35 cm] across for the view it shows. (Sept 2009)

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Miscellaneous

My first sort of ok seal picture. Previously the only image I had was that of a seal fin. The water was not exactly that great for a photograph today. But for video it was fine. Check out the Youtube video to the right of this digital image. It was about the size of a large dog. (Sept 2009)	A short video of a playful seal. In the last part of this video I only got this close because it was pulling on my fin. In the beginning it was keeping its distance, but eventually it over came is shyness and started to pull on my fin while I was taking a picture of a hooded nudibranch, My thought was "Why is my foot moving?" I heard from other divers about seals and sea lions pulling on their fins but I had never had this happened until today. (Sept 2009)
Me [scuba diver] and a dog that I scared when I surfaced within about 2 m of it. It got quite scared and started howling and barking. So, I started howling as well. A few people on the beach were quite surprised as well and did not realize there were scuba divers in the water. But they had been watching the bubbles as I approached and were wondering what was making them. : ) (Thanks Jane for the photo.)

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If you want to locate this site on a map, or print out a map, you can user either:

Google Maps: Insert directions here - coming soon
Or
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