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Gabriola Reefs

Forget what you think you know about Pacific Northwest diving. Gabriola Reefs isn’t about dramatic walls or deep wrecks, it’s about the sheer, glorious abundance of smaller life, packed into a relatively shallow, accessible area. We love dropping onto the sandy patches between the rocks here, where you’ll often spot slender soles doing their best impression of a discarded leaf, or the surprising flash of a Northern Smoothtongue. The real show, though, is the macro. Bring your best lens, because the nooks and crannies are stuffed with character. Yellowleg Pandalids wave their antennae from every crevice, and the vibrant orange of Sweet Potato Sea Cucumbers adds a shock of colour against the greens and browns. You’ll find star ascidians clinging to the rock faces and, if you look closely enough in the eelgrass beds, the delicate forms of Slender Blade Shrimp. We’ve even seen Dungeness and Red Rock Crabs marching across the open sand – they’re bigger than you expect. It’s a photographer’s dream, particularly for those who appreciate the smaller wonders. We’d suggest a slack tide dive; the currents can pick up, but when it’s calm, you can just drift and observe.