Norris Rocks

49°29’02.4″N 124°38’53.5″W

Norris Rocks is located just south of Hornby Island and is a great diving opportunity to interact with a large population of sea lions. If diving with sea lions sounds intimidating or exciting, you're right!! If it is too much for you, just ignore these giants, and check out all the other marine life that abounds here at this marine preserve that makes up Helliwell Provincial Park.

It is absolutely loaded with rockfish and huge lingcod, as well as many other species of fish and invertebrates. There were many rock scallops, and also a few of the weather vane variety. We even found one healthy-looking abalone. There were some prime-looking octopi dens with signs, though we did not see any of the elusive cephalapods the day we were diving here.

There is good anchorage in the little protected bay that faces Hornby Island. While one of our party snorkeled in the shallows, we dove off that same side of this small islet facing Hornby island, and had about a 45 minute dive, maxing out our depth at around 60 ft (18m).

Keep an eye out for boats in the area also, as we found discarded fishing line and gear during our dive. I say discarded, but it was obvious the fisherman got snagged, and it cost them some expensive fishing gear.

Anyway, it was a great day for diving and we took full advantage. Previous to this dive, we went over to Flora Islet in search of the six gill sharks that occasionally appear in the summertime. This was also a great dive on pretty much a sheer wall, with excellent visibility. Unfortunately, there were no sharks (other than a spiny dogfish and his distant cousin, the ratfish), but I was in no way disappointed by this otherwise spectacular dive location.

Oh, and we also had a great picnic on the beach in Tribune Bay. Be sure to check it out!

Have fun and dive safe, cheers.