Shore dive at Furry Creek
Mon 13 March 2017 by Tom LightfootMonday, March 13th was my second dive of the year but the Vanapneist hard core had been diving regularly for the past couple of months. A diver from Alberta named Nils was in town for a few days and wanted to get an opportunity to get into the water. Jaap suggested Furry Creek, which is just a bit north of Porteau Cove. I had never been to Furry Creek before so I was eager to take it in while the visibility was still good.
Our total contingent that day consisted of Nils, Jaap, Don and myself.
The entry point is a bit treacherous on a low tide at this time of year but once in, the dive was well worth it. For one thing, the plumose anemones, while not being very numerous, are orange and quite long.
I also saw the biggest sunflower star that I've seen in years. It was around 10 inches in diameter. I don't know how fast these things grow but they were all but wiped out in 2013 and have shown scant signs of making any kind of a recovery. Hopefully this is a sign of better times to come.
One other notable sighting was a bunch of shiny white blobs that I found in a crevice. I originally thought they were some kind of tunicate but couldn't find anything like them in my comprehensive Marine Life of the Pacific Northwest book. Upon closer inspection, these blobs seem to have one protrusion on the top rather than the typical two that you'd see on a tunicate. Could they be eggs of some sort? Have a look at the photo below and let me know if you identify it.
Here are the photos from that day: