Victoria, how goods the diving?

[Pegger]

I heading out to Victoria for the first time on the 17th and I have to make a decision as to whether to bring some equipment and get in a few dives or not. Can someone give me some insight as to what I might expect.

Thanks in advance,
Steve

 

[decompression]

World class, I've dove all over the world and I still enjoy the island. Of course there are good days and bad days and certain sites offer different things. Generally there are around a dozen shore dive sites around Victoria and many more as you travel up the island. Frank whites dive shop offer free DM led dives on the weekends as well Betty Pratt's books are a fantastic guide for dives around here. For ease, you could dive "the breakwater", downtown Vic with a dive shop/coffee/restaurant on site. There are 4 distinct dive sites all located within 750m. Octopus, ling cod and wolf eels are found along with the usual anemones and schooling fish. 10 mile point is a personal fav as the currents feed some great life. Spring bay is an easy entry and great for sea stars, nubibrachs and cabezon. Willis point is a Great Wall dive, Henderson point has tons to see including dogfish. These are just a few.

 

[Pegger]

World class, I've dove all over the world and I still enjoy the island. Of course there are good days and bad days and certain sites offer different things. Generally there are around a dozen shore dive sites around Victoria and many more as you travel up the island. Frank whites dive shop offer free DM led dives on the weekends as well Betty Pratt's books are a fantastic guide for dives around here. For ease, you could dive "the breakwater", downtown Vic with a dive shop/coffee/restaurant on site. There are 4 distinct dive sites all located within 750m. Octopus, ling cod and wolf eels are found along with the usual anemones and schooling fish. 10 mile point is a personal fav as the currents feed some great life. Spring bay is an easy entry and great for sea stars, nubibrachs and cabezon. Willis point is a Great Wall dive, Henderson point has tons to see including dogfish. These are just a few.

I spoke to Ogden Point Charters and they do a charter to Race Rocks on Sat. and dive with sea lions. Sounds very cool but Sat. is wedding day for my family so its out. Any other charters through the week or is it primarily weekends? What about the wrecks?
The drop in dives sound like a great idea!

 

[decompression]

Fantastic wrecks, the GB Church, HMCS MacKenzie both north of Sidney. Race rocks is great. Charters are mostly weekends but do some calling around. Try rock fish divers and other shops as the all use different charters.

 

[Jay-K]

I just got back from a weekend of diving in Nanaimo (HMCS Saskatchewan, Riv Tow Lion, Tyee Cove, Madrona point). The vis is poor in the top 30', but once you drop below the thermocline - the vis is great (~40+ feet). There are cool wrecks, and lots of sea life on wall dives. We saw wolf eels, octopi, lots of misc fish, lots of funky crabs, and my dive buddy noticed a sea lion swim by. Below the thermocline the water is ~50*F (3 days ago) - so a full 7mm suit with hood/gloves etc are required. I was chilly at the end of the dive, and needed to warm up between dives - a dry suit is warmer, but too much of a pain for me to bother with.

 

[bradells]

How long are you out there? I'm headed out on the 19th-22nd

Not too much experience with the sites in the south, but also not a stranger to some of them.

BRad

 

[Scubawankenobi]

I'll second everything decompression said in the first reply.
The island truly has world-class diving. I've dived all over the world, starting in the 1980s, many years in CA (much in Monterey, down to SoCal/Channel Islands), Caribbean, and spent ~1y in Australia - can't think of a single destination that easily beats BC/Van Isl for marine life.

Re: Viz/conditions
As stated Summer can be a bit "murkier", particularly surface/shallows. Most sites a bit of depth will remedy this. Sometimes quite shocking you'll think a dive is a blow-out & you drop another 10-15' and it opens open 10x fold.
So it's a gamble on conditions. Hate to talk up the diving too much & have you wind-up diving pea-soup, as is possible (more so in Summer). We did just get some overcast/cloud+rain for a couple of days so that can be a good thing.

Re: Charters -
From the shop @ Ogden Pt, on many weekends you can do Race Rocks or the Wrecks. Give them a call to see if they're going out.
They're also right there at the breakwater, so you can also do boat dives with them and then a shore dive along Ogden Pt afterwards, if you want to fill your day with easy dives from one spot (also, get fills/warm-up). If you're up for the hike, it's great to dove the breakwater further out (imho). Bit more depth & great life - look in the cracks for wolf-eels & octopus(also found all the way into the shallows/near shore).
Re: 10 Mile
As decompression mentions - top-notch site. Do keep in mind this is a HIGH current dive site. So if you're able dive with someone who knows it/verify your tides to dive it at slack.
Again, as mentioned - if you like walls, Willis Pt is great - easy shore entry, the walls starts really close to shore. You can dive another portion of that same wall at McKenzie Bite - it's bit more of a hike from the parking space. You can easily do both ends of the wall at these two sites.

Re: True competition for best/top diving on planet - North Island
Depending on how long you were staying, or if you could extend your trip to make this a dive trip, the north end of the island offers true world-class/best-of diving.
Search online for Browning Pass Wall / God's Pocket.
After a year in Australia, I'd talked some passionate dive buddies into trying out our chilly waters. These were also divers who've dived all around the world. The dived our north island and afterwards reported back to friends in Oz(& to me) that they agreed it was near top/good-as-gets.

Depending on how long you're here/how much you'll be diving, drop me a message if you're looking for a dive buddy.
I'm boat diving Saanich Inlet tomorrow (Sat) & might be doing charter to Race/Wrecks next weekend, but haven't firmed-up next dives. Might be able to meet up.
Regardless, happy to offer advice/answer questions.

Hope you enjoy your diving on Vancouver Island!
Doug