Gabriola Pass is a ⭐ highly recommended (check conditions) boat dive in the Nanaimo Area. One pnwdiving report from 2022 recorded 25 ft of visibility. For the site briefing, see dive planning for Gabriola Pass.
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Dive report for 10/14/22
- Visibility
- 20+ feet (low tide)
This is high-current dive that can be done from shore with caution on the slack before flood on a weak exchange. Lots of invert life as expected. But very different from other "pass" dives I've done. Most of the boulders lacked "Deception Pass" level of color. Missing the anemones and sea cucumbers. Some huge yellow sponge, grey puffball sponge, red and tan encrusting sponge. Bright pink and purple coralline algae. Big cracks with plumose. Must have seen 30 Cooper's Dorid feeding on red sponge. Best stuff in 50-70ft range. Xtide predicted slack at 1:00pm, https://www.tides.gc.ca/en/current-predictions-station predicted slack at 1:13pm, actual slack was at 1:40pm.