Few questions about diving in Victoria (mid-April) - help please...

[wedivebc]

Other than spiney dog fish which are a smaller shark species I have only ever seen 3 sharks in 1000 or so dives in this area. Most sightings occue in the mid summer moths. Check out posts from this guy http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=131354
He takes lots of local water pictures and his web site is an excellent resource of local diving info.
How about 10ft octopus. Is that big marine life?

 

[donnyb]

Okay, I'll try to get them here for rent or just buy at the end... have dreamed about it for a long time anyway...maybe the time is come...

Is it possible to see any big marine life - like sharks, orcas, whales, etc..?
I saw sharks and mantas in Egypt many times - any chances to see something big this season in Victoria?

Mid April, the humpback whales are still down here in Hawaii. Possibly at north end of Vancouver Island you can see large groups of Pacific White-sided Dolphins (snorkel with them) and there are advertisements for resident pod Orca whale watching excursions everywhere. Sharks highly unlikely. In July there are six gill shark dives off Hornby Island, thats about it. I would agree the big octopus is the most exciting thing, especially a friendly one.

 

[pusser]

I would agree the big octopus is the most exciting thing, especially a friendly one.

Wouldn't a non-friendly one be more exciting

 

[CapitanBlack]

Thx! Please tell me, what valves do you use(most popular) in Canada - YOKE or DIN?
I guess YOKE but not sure.. Is it possible to find a DIN tank (for rent) in scuba centers?

 

[Hyper-limits]

Thx! Please tell me, what valves do you use(most popular) in Canada - YOKE or DIN?
I guess YOKE but not sure.. Is it possible to find a DIN tank (for rent) in scuba centers?

Yoke is the most popular,the DIN are used mostly by tech diver . I don't Know of any LDS around Victoria renting DIN. But I haven't rent a tank in a long time.

 

[Darnold9999]

Seals are possible as well. We have a resident seal at the most popular local dive spot in Vancouver. Hunts in your lights at night - very cool. I would expect that there would be seals in some locations in Victoria - locals will know, may be the wrong time of year though. Recall one dive off Discovery Island where we had half a dozen or so milling about. (This was a lets go see if there is anything there kind of dive. As I recall there wasn't, but this was quite a long time ago.)

Sea Lions off Race Rocks, again don't know if the time of year will be right for them. You do not want to approach them at the wrong time of year I am told. When I lived and was diving in Victoria you didn't approach them at all, but I gather the state of knowledge has improved since then.

 

[MarkH]

Steller's sea lions are probably the biggest thing you'll see around here underwater (I think they're quite a bit bigger than the dolphins). Race Rocks is a great place near Victoria to see them (there are also lots of California sea lions and a few Elephant seals, which are REALLY big, but underwater sightings are rare). I don't know about in the Spring, though. I've been out there in summer, fall and winter and there were always a bunch swimming around, tugging on fins, hoods, etc.http://www.victoriadiving.50megs.com/racerocks.html