Kellett Bluff

Kellett Bluff runs along the southwest side of Henry Island, immediately northwest of San Juan Island, and drops as a vertical rock face with steeply sloping boulder substrate stacked below it. Diving depth on the wall itself runs from 70 to 100 feet. The face is heavily encrusted with plumose anemones and sponges. Lingcod are documented on the structure. Orcas pass overhead occasionally.

White boundary signs spaced roughly 150 yards apart along the Henry Island shore mark the Kellett Bluff Rockfish Sanctuary, a voluntary sanctuary that closes rockfish take inside the boundary.

Along the top of the wall and the shallow shelf, bull kelp forms a kelp forest biome; the vertical rock face and the boulder slope below carry the rocky reef biome down through the diveable range. Scuba is the sole activity documented on the wall, as depth and current rule out snorkeling. Substantial current runs off-slack, with surface drift measured at about 2.5 mph on ebbing tides, and the recommended window is off-slack on an ebbing tide during a mild exchange. Deep anchorage and current together make live-boat operation preferable.

The site is boat only, with no shore access; the nearest formal launch is Cornet Bay State Park on Whidbey Island, roughly 30 miles away. In practice most divers reach the wall on charter boats out of Anacortes. Rockfish take is prohibited inside the Kellett Bluff Rockfish Sanctuary; the surrounding Marine Area 7 baseline extends the same closure across Marine Areas 6 through 13. Lingcod spearfishing runs May 21 to June 15 with a 36-inch maximum and a daily limit of 1 fish, and cabezon is open May 1 to November 30 at an 18-inch minimum with the same daily limit. WDFW enforces.