Yesterday I went snorkelling at the site that most people refer to as Ardmore because the beach access path is off of Ardmore Drive in North Saanich. When I first found it, I called it Yarrow Point because that is the name with which the Navionics chart labels the tip of the small peninsula at the end of the road and I thought a marine-based name would be most appropriate for a marine activity. Then my friend Tom pointed out that Yarrow Point is also the name of a small town near Seattle.
To avoid the ambiguity, I then switched to calling the site Dyer Rocks to name it after the islets just off the point. They are also the most interesting part of the area. Most of the time I swim directly toward them after I enter the water and I later found out that scuba divers commonly use that name for the site.
Some time after that I notice that snorkellers and freedivers were referring to the site as Ardmore, preferring to think of it in terms of both the road and the neighbourhood. Since snorkellers are the crowd I most associate with, I have settled on Ardmore as my name for the place.
Toward the end of my time in the water I saw someone else snorkelling around the rocks. On my way back to my entry/exit point I saw him on the shore so I swam over, stood up in the shallow water and asked “Are you Adam?” From my participation in the Vancouver Island Freediving, Snorkelling, Spearfishing Facebook group, I suspected that he was the person who most frequently posted photos from the site. I was correct and it was a pleasure to meet the the only person I know of around here who does not use a wetsuit for snorkelling. He told me where to look for the spiny dogfish he had recently photographed. I have not seen one since my scuba phase of life and had no luck yesterday but I will keep looking.
