Barkley Sound · Canada · Wall
Plumose Gardens
Short cliffs off Gibraltar Island over a steep shell-sand slope
Plumose Gardens lies off the northeast tip of Gibraltar Island in the Broken Group of Pacific Rim National Park. Steep rock walls form short cliffs over a sand and shell slope that keeps falling away, giving a wall dive in the Broken Group with room to choose a depth.
Where it is and how deep
48.9183° N, 125.2417° WPublished position for this site.
The dive
Rocky walls drop steeply as short cliffs to 12 m, then grade into a bottom of coarse sand and shell that continues down very steeply. The typical dive sits between 15 and 20 m on that slope, and the deepest water reached on the site is 25 to 26 m. Prolific beds of huge mussels clothe the site, with plumose anemones, sea cucumbers, small crabs and bryozoans among them.
Marine life and season
The sources we used don't single out particular species here.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Fair | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Good | Good |
Season follows Barkley Sound: Dived year-round; autumn is the prime window, winter brings the clearest water and June a plankton bloom near the surface.
Know before you go
- Current is to be expected, and the site is more exposed to wind and wave action than the sheltered beginner sites.
Sources
- Pacific Rim National Park diving — Tourism Vancouver Island
More dive sites in Barkley Sound
Pinnacle
Twin pinnacles crowded with anemones, nudibranchs and sea pens
Wreck
A 1950 Japanese-built freighter broken in two on the Austin Island reef
Pinnacle
Rock pillars and a great canyon cut into the outer Broken Group
Reef
A shallow circuit around a sheltered Broken Group islet
Reef
A canyon lined top to bottom with giant white plumose anemones
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