Attractions: Lots of giant barnacles as well as many other medium sized filter feeders. The fish however seem to be quite large and abundant at this site. Cabezon, red irish lords, rock fish as well as many other small fish are abundant. The best part of the dive is at the shallow wall at the northwest side of the reef as is shown on the map. There is an area on the wall that is covered in plumose anemones and lots of other marine life.

Directions: Launch at the Cattle Point boat launch and go northeast around Cadboro Point and Ten Mile Point and then go north (330° compass heading) to Johnstone Reef. It can be difficult to spot the Navigational Buoy which marks reef. If you have GPS (Global Positioning System) use the co-ordinates below. If you don’t have GPS just make sure you take a 330° compass heading as you turn the corner around Ten Mile Point and bring your binoculars.

Latitude: 48° 28.7

Longitude: 123° 16.3

Where To Dive: My favorite part is the wall (as shown on the map) at the northwest side of the reef. Start at either end of the reef as is dictated by the direction of the current.

Current: On my first dive at this site I forgot to account for daylight savings time when I was predicting slack time. Luckily, there was a small tidal exchange that day, about a five-foot change, so we were still able to dive an hour before slack. When we entered the water that day the current on the surface was still running fairly fast, but as is often the case on smaller tidal exchanges, as we got down deeper, the current weakened to a nice easy flow. It is however still a good idea to dive this site at slack tide even on a small exchange, it is just more forgiving when if you are a little off on your prediction.

During a flood tide, when you are going past the gap in between the two shallow reefs, the current has a tendency to push you in between the reefs when it is actually better to stay on the west side of the reefs as is shown on the map.

Depth: The best part of the dive is 80 feet or shallower. In the area around the wall the bottom of the wall varies between 70 to 90 feet. At the bottom of the wall is sandy bottom. Most other areas are sloping.

Hazards: The slack time on large tidal exchanges is short, and the current goes is strong.