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 Henderson Point near Sidney, B.C. Canada. These are mostly medium quality jpegs. But I have the RAW images as well. Email tjfidler@telus.net Directions to the dive site located at the bottom of this page. Type of dive: shore dive Rating for this dive site: 7/10 for ease of entry, and lots of rock structure Parking: 7/10 with space for about six cars,trucks,... Boat ramp: none Ease of entry: 8/10 but the rock steps can be challenging for the last few feet down to beach [Wheel chair access: No] Abundance of life: 6/10 Accommodations:  There are several places in Sidney or even Victoria that you could find lodging at. Including Motels, Inns and Bed & Breakfasts Attractions: fairly easy entry if you can get down the rock steps, protected from current, Bottom and depth: combination of rock walls & rocks at various depths and sand Facilities: none Hazards/Obstacles: getting down to the beach the last few feet, boats could be a problem but I've never had a problem Sensitivity to tide/current: protected from current, low tide can expose rocks that are better navigated at high tide Terrain: there is a lot of solid rock, and rock walls at this site. As well as a lot of sand in the shallows and flat areas 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 qualifty 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. They're eaten by a variety of animals - apparently as a good source of calcium.

Henderson Point:



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

Cephalopods

Octopus with a Head/Mantle length of around 2 inches [5 cm] long. 1 of 3 images of the same individual. The following is a link to a widescreen version of this image. (Feb 17, 2009)	Octopus with a Head/Mantle length of around 2 inches [5 cm] long. 2 of 3 images of the same individual. (Feb 17, 2009)
Octopus with a Head/Mantle length of around 2 inches [5 cm] long. 3 of 3 images of the same individual. They way its arms are spread out now is usually part of their hunting mode. (Feb 17, 2009)	Pacific Giant Octopus [Enteroctopus dolfeini] ~ 5 inches [12.5 cm] for the  head/mantle length. 1 of 4  images of the same Octopus. This was its initial  position, as I came across it. Trying to remain hidden by camouflaging itself against  the rocks. (Mar 11, 2009)
Pacific Giant Octopus [Enteroctopus dolfeini] ~ 5 inches [12.5 cm] for the  head/mantle length. 2 of 4 images of the same Octopus. It started to crawl along  the bottom. (Mar 11, 2009)	Pacific Giant Octopus [Enteroctopus dolfeini] ~ 5 inches [12.5 cm] for the  head/mantle length. 3 of 4  images of the same Octopus. In this image it is just  launching itself to swim away, but I was not able to capture a good image of this  "flying." (Mar 11, 2009)
Pacific Giant Octopus ~ 5 inches [12.5 cm] for the head/mantle length. 4 of 4 images of the same Octopus. It has now landed again and its arms are under its body to probably try and protect them. (Mar 11, 2009)

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Crustaceans

Decorator Crab or Sharp Nosed Crab [Scyra acutifrons] sitting on a Spiny Pink  Star (March 25, 2006)	Decorator Crab or Sharp Nosed Crab [Scyra acutifrons] also sitting on the same  Spiny Pink Star (March 25, 2006)
Coonstripe Shrimp [Spirontocaris holmesi] sitting below a Warty Tunicate.  (December 9, 2006)	Red Rock Crab [Cancer productus] ~ 12 inches [30 cm] long. (December 9, 2006)
Longhorn Decorator Crab ~ 10 inches [25 cm] wide with the legs. (December 9, 2006)	Longhorn Decorator Crabs - female left and male right (December 9, 2006) This image also appears on the ocean-life calendar 2008 for Crustaceans of the Pacific Northwest. North America 2008 Calendar v01
Red Rock Crab [Cancer productus] (December 9, 2006) This photo also appears on the marine-life calendar 2008 for Crustaceans of the Pacific Northwest. North America 2009 Calendar v01 Now available as a wide screen image - click here.	A Longhorn Decorator Crab ~ 12 inches [30 cm] wide. (January 1, 2008) The pink stuff around it is Pink Encrusting Algae, which is rich in calcium and eaten by a lot of smaller animals like Chitons.
A Squat Lobster [aka Galatheid Crab] and two shrimp. (March 6, 2008) The length of the Squat Lobster is about 4 inches [10 cm].	A Squat Lobster [aka Galatheid Crab] ~ 4 inches [10 cm] long. These are more frequently found when its night or the sky is dark due to clouds. (March 6, 2008)
Two Coonstriped shrimp [Spirontocaris holmesi] ~ 3 inches [7.5 cm] long. Very common here. (March 6, 2008)	Kelp Crab ~ 10 inches [25 cm] wide with the legs. Very common here in the shore area. (Sept 30, 2007)
Pacific Prawn ~ about 6 inches [15 cm] along the main body. Very common here and most easily seen during a night dive when they come out to eat. They can avoid some of their predators by coming out mostly at night. (March 6, 2008)	Three Coonstriped Shrimp [Spirontocaris holmesi] eating a jelly fish. When I  originally came upon them there was about a dozen shrimp eating this jelly fish. But most ran away. (January 1, 2008)
Decorator Crab ~ 5 inches [12.5 cm] wide. This is on the side of a recently sunk sail boat. Approximately a 240 degree reading from the flag. (Nov 8, 2008)	Green Shore Crab ~ 2 inches [5 cm] wide. Very common here, but usually the water quality in the shallows is too poor to take the time to take a picture here. (Nov 8, 2008)
Golfball Crab ~ 4 inches [10 cm] wide across the legs. Note the Pale Sea Cucumber to the top-right of the crab. (Nov 5, 2008)	Golfball Crab - same one as to the left of this image. This is the only time I've been able to take a picture of this species here. And only the 2nd time I've seen one of these here. So, they seem to be rare in this area. (Nov 5, 2008)
Longhorn Decorator Crab at the base of a couple Short Plumose Anemones. The anemones are about 10 inches [25 cm] tall. These crabs are fairly common at this dive site. (Nov 5, 2008)	Northern Kelp Crab [Pugettia producta] ~ 14 inches [35 cm] wide across the legs.  And as you would expect its munching on kelp in the shallows. Very common  here, but often the water in the shallows makes taking a photo not worth it.  (Nov 5, 2008)
Northern Kelp Crab [Pugettia producta] ~ 18 inches [45 cm] wide across the legs.  Note how small the shrimp are compared to it. (Nov 5, 2008)	Red Rock Crab [Cancer productus] ~ 12 inches [30 cm] wide. Note that this is a  female and she is carrying eggs under her body. The orange mass. (Nov 5, 2008)
Spiny Lithode Crab ~ 10 inches [25 cm] wide with the legs. This is the only one I've seen at this site, and in fact is the second I've ever seen and also taken a photo of. The other was near Campbell River. (Nov 5, 2008)	Spiny Lithode Crab - same individual as the one found in the image left of this one. But I've included in this shot a Vermilion Star that was close to it. (Nov 5, 2008)
Shrimp ~ 1.5 inches [3.75 cm] long. Sitting on what I think are the eggs of a fish. Probably a sculpin, as one was nearby. (Feb 17, 2009)	Golf Ball Crab ~ 3 inches [7.5 cm] widle. Based on this size it is quite young.  (Feb 17, 2009)
Heart Crab [Phyllolithodes papillosus] ~ 3 inches [7.5 cm] wide across the legs.  This is the first time I've seen one of these at this scuba diving site. (October 2009)

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Fish

Copper Rockfish [Sebastes caurinus] ~ about 12 inches [30 cm] long. (March 25, 2006) This photo can be found on the marine-life calendar 2009 for  Fishes of the Pacific Northwest. North America 2009 Calendar v01	A Buffalo Sculpin [Enophrys bison] guarding an egg mass (March 25, 2006) The fish is about 14 inches [35 cm] long.
A Scalyhead Sculpin [Artedius harringtoni] ~ about 3 inches [7.5 cm] long. These  are one of our most colourful fish, and friendly as well. (March 25, 2006)	A Scalyhead Sculpin [Artedius harringtoni] with Shrimp touching the fish with their  antennae. (March 25, 2006)
Sculpin [of some kind] ~ 5 inches [12.5 cm] long and the mouth of a Slime Tube Worm behind it. A very friendly fish. (March 25, 2006)	Sculpin [of some kind] ~ about 4 inches [10 cm] long. (March 25, 2006)
Sculpin [of some kind] about 4 inches [10 cm] long and a Lemon Dorid. The yellow stuff around them is Yellow Boring Sponge. (December 9, 2006)	Smooth Alligator Fish sitting on an English Sole fish (December 9, 2006) The SMF is about 4 inches [10 cm] long.
Ling Cod [Ophiodon elongates] ~ 4 feet [1.3 m] long. By far the largest fish that is  commonly found at this dive site. (December 16, 2006)	Painted Greenling [Oxylebius pictus] ~ 10 inches [25 cm] long. A relatively  common fish here, but the hard part is taking a good picture of one. (December 16, 2006)
Sculpin [of some kind] that does take up most of the picture. (December 16, 2006)	Painted Greenling [Oxylebius pictus] (April 1, 2007)
Grunt Sculpin [Rhamphocottus richardsonii] ~ 4 inches [10 cm] long. (March 6, 2008) The unusual thing about these fish is that they can barely swim. They mostly crawl on the bottom, or along surfaces. And seem to only use their tails when trying to scale rock walls or move a little bit faster.	A baby Plainfin Midshipman ~ 3 inches [7.5 cm] long There were at least 12 of these this night dive. Never saw them before this dive except as adults at other dive sites. These fish seem to come out at night. So, if you want to see one of the babies try night diving. (March 6, 2008)
Some kind of Sculpin ~ about 7 inches [17.5 cm] long. (March 6, 2008)	Shiner Perch ~ the longest was about 6 inches [15 cm] long. These fish are easier to spot at night, as they often come to the lights. Or at least stay still longer if you find them. (March 6, 2008)
Tubesnout - a small but common fish here. ~ 5 inches [12.5 cm] long. These are more commonly seen at night. During the day I rarely see them. But at night I've run into schools of up to around 100 individuals. (Oct 29, 2008)	Longfin Gunnel - a type of eel like fish. ~ 6 inches [15 cm] long. These may be more common here, but they are quite small. And easy to miss if most of their body is hidden from view. (Nov 8, 2008)
English Sole ~ 12 inches [30 cm] long. At least I think this fish is an English Sole. (Nov 5, 2008)	Northern Ronquil ~ 10 inches [25 cm] long. A fairly common fish here, but hard to take a photograph of one. They are usually quite shy. (Nov 5, 2008)
Sole Fish ~ 4 inches [10 cm] long. The round object near the top of this image is the entrance to the burrow of a Slime Tube Worm. (Feb 17, 2009)	Scalyhead Sculpin ~ 5 inches [12.5 cm] long. These fish are common here, but this is my first decent shot of one at this location. (Feb 17, 2009)
Fringed Sculpin ~ 8 inches [20 cm] long. Not entirely sure this is a Fringed Sculpin  (Feb 17, 2009)	Possibly a Scalyhead Sculpin ~ 4 inches [10 cm] long. Note the arms of the Squat Lobster hiding under the rock. (Feb 17, 2009)
Tube Snout ~ 6 inches [15 cm] long. This fish was attracted to the little shrimp, that was attracted to my video lights during this night dive, and was eating the shrrimp. There is one of the shrimp just above it in this image. (Mar 11, 2009)

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Mollusks

Chiton ~ 3 inches [7.5 cm] long. Common at this site. (Feb 17, 2009)	Chiton ~ 3 inches [7.5 cm] long. Common at this site. (Feb 17, 2009)
Rock Scallop (?) ~ 6 inches [15 cm] across. (Feb 17, 2009)

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Sea Slugs or Nudibranchs

Clown Dorid ~ 5 inches [12.5 cm] long. (March 25, 2006)	Clown Dorid (March 25, 2006)
Clown Dorid ~ obviously common here. (March 25, 2006)	Clown Dorid - note it is missing its right Rhinophore (March 25, 2006)
Sea Lemon ~ 6 inches [15 cm] long. (March 25, 2006) Slightly photo enhanced to bring out texture.	Red Dendronotid about 10 inches [25 cm] long. This is the only time I've seen one of these nudibranchs here.(November 5, 2006)
Lemon Dorid ~ about 3 inches [7.5 cm] long. (January 1, 2008)	Gold Dirona ~ 4 inches [10 cm] long.  (Feb 17, 2009)
Gold Dirona ~ 4 inches [10 cm] long. Oddly enough prior to this day I had never seen these here, but ran into a few this day. (Nov 5, 2008)	An orange Giant Dendronotid [Dendronotus iris]  [nudibranch] ~ 18 inches [45 cm] long. I have only ever seen one of these in the past at Deep Cove near  Sidney.  (Feb 17, 2009)
White Lined Dirona ~ 4 inches [10 cm] long. Also known as a Frosted Nudibranch.  (Feb 17, 2009)

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Sea Anemones & Jellyfish ( Cnidarians )

Giant Plumose Anemones [Metridium farcimen] (November 5, 2006)	Giant Plumose Anemones [Metridium farcimen] and a scuba diver. (Sept 30, 2007) Looks like it could be the same two anemones as the photo on the left.
Short Plumose Anemones ~ about 12 inches [30 cm] tall (January 1, 2008)	Jellyfish ~ 6 inches [15 cm] wide. Fairly common here, but hard to get a good picture of one. (Nov 8, 2008)

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Starfish ( Echinoderms )

Painted Star - Four armed? - no stump apparent (March 25, 2006)	Brittle Star (December 16, 2006)
Mottled Star (December 9, 2006)	Mottled Stars. Note that one has only four arms. (December 9, 2006)
Red Sea Urchin ~ about 10 inches [25 cm] across spines. (December 16, 2006)	White Sea Urchin ~ about 5 inches [12.5 cm] (December 16, 2006)
Sunflower Star ~ about 2 feet [60 cm] across. (December 9, 2006)	Spiny Pink Star ~ about 3 feet [90 cm] across. (December 9, 2006)
Close up of a Painted Star (April 1, 2007)	Sea Cucumber (April 1, 2007)
A group of Creeping Pedal Sea Cucumbers (April 1, 2007)	Creeping Pedal Sea Cucumber (April 1, 2007)
Sun Star ~ about 2 feet [60 cm] across. (January 1, 2008)	Sun Star ~ about 20 inches [50 cm] across.
A six armed Vermilion Star and an Umbrella Crab. (Jan 1, 2008)	Sun Flower Star - is it itchy? (Jan 1, 2008)
Mottled Star - but not sure. (Jan 1, 2008) I was not going to include this image as it is not very good, but I like the idea of showing the young Morning Star just before I zoom into it. See next image to right.	A young Morning Star ~ about two inches [5 cm] across and a shrimp of some kind. (Jan 1, 2008)
Vermilion Star and a small Hermit Crab to its right. What is this Starfish doing? Probably the same thing that the next starfish appears to be doing. Reproducing. (March 6, 2008)	Blood Star - if you look closely you can see that it is giving off either unfertilzied eggs, fertilized eggs or sperm. I'd guess fertilized eggs. (March 6, 2008)
An Orange Sea Cucmber and two Pale Sea Cucumbers. (March 6, 2008)	An Orange Sea Cucumber with one of its arms/tentacles in its mouth. Licking off the food. About 14 inches [35 cm] across its arms. (March 6, 2008)
An Orange Sea Cucumber, a Copper Rockfish, and a Creeping Petal Sea Cucumber. The Copper Rockfish is about 6 inches [15 cm] long. (March 6, 2008)	An Orange [brown] Sea Cucumber and a Shrimp. (March 6, 2008)
An Orange [brown] Sea Cucumber. Here you can see that it has tube feet just like a starfish. And in fact has 5 rows of tube feet which is the same as the number of arms you find on most starfish species. Although in British Columbia many species have more than 5 arms. (March 6, 2008)	This is actually two animals. A Morning Starfish apparently killing a Mottled Starfish. ~ 16 inches [40 cm] wide if you combine their sizes in this image. This might explain why the morning star has need of so many arms - usually a dozen or so. It is always a treat to capture behaviour. (Nov 8, 2008)
Mottled Starfish ~ 10 inches [25 cm] wide. Very common here in the shallows. Note that they are usually more orange or brown in colour deeper off shore. (Nov 5, 2008)	Mottled Star ~ 10 inches [25 cm]. (Nov 5, 2008)
Rose Star ~ 8 inches [20 cm] wide. This starfish does not seem to be common at this dive site. (Oct 29, 2008)	Sunflower Star ~ 3 feet [1 metre] wide. The less common brown variety of these giants among starfish. (Nov 5, 2008)
Striped Sunstar ~ 3 feet [1 metre] wide. A more colourful starfish when it comes to the bigger ones. (Nov 5, 2008)	Purple Stars ~ 12 inches [30 cm] wide. Common in the shallows here. And for some reason they like to come together often. (Nov 5, 2008)
Pale Sea Cucumber ~ 10 inches [25 cm] tall with the tips of the arms included.  (Feb 17, 2009)

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Sponges

Some kind of Sponge. (January 1, 2008)	Yellow Boring Sponge and surprisingly part of a Golf Ball Crab. You can see it on the top right of this image. I say surprisingly, because I have never actually seen a Golf Ball Crab at this site yet. That happens now and then with photography. (January 1, 2008)
Some Velvety Spong (I believe) and also a Warty Tunicate to the left of it.  (Feb 17, 2009)

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Tunicate

Spiny Sea Squirt ~ 3 inches [7.5 cm] in diameter.  (March 25, 2006)	A pair of Shiny Orange Tunicates ~ 4 inches [10 cm] long for the larger one. There is also a Stalked Tunicate directly above them. (Feb 17, 2009)
A pair of Stalked Tunicates and a Sculpin of some kind ~ 3 inches [7.5 cm] long.  (Feb 17, 2009)

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Worms

Marine Worm crawling on a Paintes Star fish. I often spot them on starfish.  (Feb 17, 2009)

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If you want to print out a map you can user either:

Google Maps :  looking for an address, basically at the end of Senanus Drive in North Saanich, British Columbia, Canada

MapQuest : ?