Vancouver/Vancouver Island recommendations for late November

[TSandM]

Yes, I think that is what I remember reading about.

Sounds as though we have a LOT of options.

Sea lions sound good to me; wrecks sound good to my friend Diver0001. Maybe we can do a little of each!

 

[Diver0001]

I'd rather go for the sea lions. We have wrecks over here too but no big animals.

R..

 

[TSandM]

Race Rocks it is, then! Then we have to figure out what to do on Sunday

 

[Peter Guy]

YEA! I've been THROUGH Race Rocks many times while sailboat racing. I'm looking forward to getting under Race Rocks to actually SEE what I missed.

 

[Darnold9999]

You will want a back up plan to dive off Willis Point or some other protected location. As I am sure you know Race Rocks is very exposed and weather in November has storms as a possibility at any time.

---------- Post Merged at 10:21 AM ---------- Previous Post was at 09:50 AM ----------

Still like Ogden Point as a dive when in Victoria. A fairly easy shore dive with lots of life. Another option is the MV GB Church off Portland Island. This would be a charter from Sidney. There are other dives around Portland island that are worth doing as well. Another option that I have never done, but have seen others do is to dive Active Pass. Huge tidal flow so likely a very cood dive, but you have to time both currents and ferries. You would be diving within 50 yards of the ferry route so would need an experienced operator to make the dive safely. 10 Mile Point is another shore dive that I am told is one of the better dives around.


Race Rocks would be my first choice diving from Victoria.

 

[TheWetRookie]

Darnold9999, I have dove Active Pass and it is awesome, tons of life in the channel. I have only dove it on a slack tide but it can be done as a drift also (live boat). Oh and bring ear plugs for when the ferries go by plus every bone in your body will shake. We were diving along the edge of the channel so the ferries were not a concern.

 

[Darnold9999]

Very cool. Have seen divers only once from the ferry and thought what a great place to dive. Have gone by on my boat, but my partner is not up to doing a live boat pickup and I am not confident on my own that I can time the slack well enough to get back to the boat on my own. Will have to find a charter that is doing it some time.

 

[ratjn]

I also recommend Peter with 49th Parallel off of Thetis Island. We did Porlier Pass, an AMAZING wall dive with a great variety of life for this far south on Vancouver Island. There are several other dives in this area, North Galiano Wall is one of my favourites and a 100 year old wooden wreck called the Del Norte. Porlier and the wall must be hit near slack, there are a few other dive sights in the area that are diveable any time.

I spent 4 days in Campbell River with Abyssal Dive Charters and will definitely be heading back there as well.

Tyee (Dolphin Beach) in Nanaimo is one of our favourite shore dives. Another wall dive but missing the anenomes.

I also know of a charter heading to the Sechelt Rapids November 5&6 as the tidal exchange actually allows diving on these days.

Jim

 

[rob1967]

Rockfish Divers does Sechelt. We have dived with them (I think they would remember ). I love the cloud sponges. Those are deeper dives -- Rob, are you okay with doubles with 25/25 and a stage of 32% for the second dive?

Rockfish Divers does Saanich Inlet, not Sechelt.

The only charter boat currently operating in the Vancouver area is The Topline, run by Sea Dragon Charters. They do Howe Sound out of Horseshoe Bay. I have dove a lot with them, Jan and Kevin are great. It's a good option if you are restricted to the Vancouver area. However, if you are willing to take a ferry, the diving gets better...

Victoria, Nanaimo and the Sunshine Coast (i.e., Sechelt) all have better diving, IMHO. Of course, Port Hardy is the best, but if travel time from Seattle is a consideration, and you don't mind a 2 hour ferry ride, you are better off going to either the Victoria or Nanaimo area. Shore dives and boat dives, as others have mentioned. If you can make it all the way to Campbell River, Bill Coltart at Pacific Pro Divers runs a great operation, and he is now on his winter schedule, doing boat charters out of Campbell River. The diving there can be quite good, not quite Port Hardy good, but a bit closer!

Another option is the Sunshine Coast (i.e. Sechelt), which is a short (40 min) ferry ride from Vancouver. There are some boat diving options there as others have pointed out, as well as nice shore diving. If you are interested in Tuwanek, it's a great shore dive near Sechelt, and a nice easy day trip from Vancouver, I can show you around there Nov 25 if you want!

 

[Slamfire]

If you like sponges you have to dive the bioherms in Howe Sound. The Topline/Seadragon takes experienced divers to the Halkett Pinnacle Bioherm aka Sponge Bob. The shallowest part of this dive is at ~70' but you can very easily go to 120' and deeper. So 25/25 and 50% might be a good idea. Here's a video StuartT took from when we did this dive for the first time.


Also, if you haven't done so yet, you should try the Agamemnon Channel. TheWetRookie and I along with 3 other divers did this one a month ago on Sept 29. Not only do you get to see lots of sponges, but you also get to see large colonies of the rare gorgonian coral. For this one you should be prepared to go down to at least 120+'. It would not hurt to prep for 180'. Here's a 2010 video of a dive that some friends of ours did on the same site.
[vimeo]15210778[/vimeo]