Deep Cove wreck???

[MarkH]

I don't know if we'll make it there. We try to get to the best sites we can, cause we have to drive all the way out from Calgary. Luckily, my friends are getting more experienced, so I can take them on some of the more current-swept dives.

Speaking of which, I was checking out your page and it looks like you've found some interesting "unofficial" shore dives in the Victoria area. Are there any of those you think are particuarily good?

Bryan

Except for Enterprise Channel, I think that the "unofficial" dives aren't as good as some of the more famous ones. I think they're mostly good for local divers who have been to all the popular places and want to explore some place new. Sluggett Point and Yarrow Point in Saanich Inlet are pretty good, but access isn't very convenient. I think Harling Point is pretty good too, but it's shallow and in the summer would be covered in kelp. Pretty much any site is great to me when I'm poking around with a camera, but it's hard to recommend sites when I don't really know what "normal" divers like. I still think Enterprise Channel is great by just about anyone's standards. Just make sure that you go out past the bay because the farther out on the reefs you go the more current and colour there is. I think the best shore dives for visiting divers are: Ogden Point (past the second corner), Ten Mile Point, and (in Saanich Inlet) Willis Point (vis can be great in winter, but unpredictable in summer). Saanich Inlet is quite a contrast to the more colourful Juan de Fuca side of Victoria, but there are some nice walls and as mentioned, the potential for great vis. Anyone else have opinions on good local dives?

 

[MarkH]

Hey swankenstein,

I was looking at your page and found this pic:



What is that? I've come across a few of those while diving in Victoria and could never find a book which had a picture of it.

"That" being the big slimy thing.

Bryan

That's a hooded nudibranch. During that dive at Saxe Point there were hundreds of them clinging to the dead kelp off the point.

 

[Warthaug]

I think the best shore dives for visiting divers are: Ogden Point (past the second corner), Ten Mile Point, and (in Saanich Inlet) Willis Point (vis can be great in winter, but unpredictable in summer).

We've been coming to Victoria for a few years, and are very familier with these dives. I would agree that they are some of the best that I've seen in Victoria, except I prefer Henderson to Willis. You're right about the vis in Saanich - our first year there we had the clearest water I've ever seen (over 100' vis, once you got below the first 30'). The next year, same weekend, vis was next to nothing from top to bottom...

Bryan