Top Ten Dive Sites in the Greater Victoria Area

Top Ten Dive Sites in the Greater Victoria Area

By Tyler R. Preston, PADI Course Director

I've held off writing this kind of blog for many years as I always knew the West Shore had great diving and without experience in that area, it would not be an accurate representation of the diving off Greater Victoria.  

Sometimes it's difficult to make Top Ten lists like this; doing a dive with 100' of vis and having a giant pacific octopus join you out of its den can skew  personal experience.  Should the next person come along in 5' of vis with little more than a sandy bottom, they may have a completely different dive.  My personal opinion is that you need to do a dive many times so you can take the overall sum of all of your experiences in order to properly assess the site.  

Take the following with a grain of salt: some divers like wrecks, some like walls, some like the challenge of tech diving.   Your opinion may differ from the next divers'........ this is the dive industry after all.

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#10
Ogden Point Breakwater
Ogden Point is an excellent shore dive.  Given the diversity of life, accessibility and proximity to Victoria it is definitely worthy of being in the top ten Victoria dive sites.  I'm personally not fond of the walk out to dive flag 4 or 5, but if you are after a quick, easy and diverse site, Ogden point is a great choice.  

10th best dive site - Ogden Point, Victoria, BC.

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​#9
Nudibranch Wall
Nestled in Sansum Narrows, I'm guessing few have been diving here before.  Although a bit of an environmental nightmare left over from commercial fishing in the past, the wall is exceptional given that you can dive it virtually any time despite current tables.  Nudibranchs and a dense array of fish and anemones cover this very steep wall, but the most interesting part is the huge nets draped along the wall.  As mentioned it is horrifying to think about the quantity of life that was likely once caught under these massive nets.   However, they bring a really eery and cool feel to the site. 

9th best dive site - Nudibranch Wall, Victoria, BC

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​#8
Great Race (Race Rocks)
Sea lions, sea lions, sea lions!  If you're after big interactive life, Great Race should be on your list!  Although you will still see lots of other cool life, this dive is non-stop sea lions.  Nothing quite like staring a sea bear in the eyes, while others are right behind you likely making faces.

8th best dive - Great Race, Race Rocks, BC

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#7
Swordfish Island 
The big draw to Swordfish is the swim through, which is a cavern of sorts.   Swimming through the tunnel is truly amazing.  There are few sites locally that have the color diversity found in the Swordfish swim through.   It doesn't hurt that the wall along the island is also great - often visited by sea lions, huge Puget sound king crabs, octopus and wolf eels.   There is no wonder Swordfish is a great dive to accompany a Race Rocks charter.

7th best dive - Swordfish Island, Victoria, BC

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​#6
HMCS McKenzie
At 366' long, the McKenzie is massive, has a serious cool factor, and is packed with life.  It's subjected to a lot of current so you need to be cautious on when you plan your dives, but the wreck has a lot of life - anemones, big cabezon, tube worms, barnacles and much more.  It would be higher on my list, but the current and highly variable vis drop it a notch or 2 for me.

6th best dive - HMCS McKenzie, Victoria, BC

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#5
Senanus Island Glass Sponges
The sponges hold an mysterious allure for most divers.  Found at over 100'/30m of depth, the sponges are homes to crab, squat lobsters, and lots of jeuvenile rockfish in a dark eery setting.  The inlet often has exceptional visibility and tends to be even better down at the sponges.  Nothing quite like seeing a big white sponge the size of a smart car appear out of the darkness.

5th best dive - Senanus Island Sponges, Victoria, BC

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​#4
Burial Islet
Nestled in the middle of Sansum Narrows, Burial Islet is a macro haven.  This high current area is like diving over rolling hills covered in freshly fallen snow given the coverage of so many white short plumose anemones.   Although not a lot of seals or sea lions, the density of smaller critters is impressive. 

4th best dive - Burial Island, Victoria, BC

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#3
Ten Mile Point
Ten Mile Point is the best shore dive I have done anywhere.  Although you don't see a lot of big life (except octopus and the odd wolf eel...oh yeah, and the big cabezons), the macro life here is exceptional. Warbonnets, grunt sculpins, anemones, scallops and so much more in only a square foot or .25m.  The locals love Ten Mile, and will hit the water at any time of day or night to catch a good slack.   It's no wonder you find lots of divers at the nearest local pub comparing photos on the quarter moon each month.   

3rd best dive - Ten Mile Point, Victoria, BC

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#2
Secretary Island
As you push out towards open ocean, the sea life changes.  The density of life on this island is impressive, but the diversity is even better.  The west wall at Secretary is still my favorite especially with good visibility.  You almost always get a visit from sea lions, and you can dive on or off slack! Strawberry anemones, pacific sea nettles, orange peel nudibranchs and much more can be seen here.

2nd best dive site - Secretary Island, Victoria, BC

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#1
West Race (Race Rocks)
West Race is truly a world class dive site.  I can only think of a few dives on the planet I would consider to be better than West Race.  Lots of sea lions (but not so many that it is distracting), octopus, wolf eels, basket stars, strawberry anemones, Puget sound king crabs and more anemones than you can imagine.  The diversity and density of critters make this dive amazing, but when you throw in several sea lion visits on a single dive - in my opinion, it is the best dive off Greater Victoria, in the top five (5) in British Columbia, and the top ten (10) in the world!  

West Race Rocks, Best dive in Victoria, BC

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Honorable mentions:

Beechy Head - I haven't done this site enough to experience its potential.  It is very subjected to current, but as I was blowing across at a knot or so, the wall was packed with life - the 6 or 7 pacific sea nettles didn't hurt either (I avoided the sting, but they were incredible to see)!

McCurdy Point - a Saanich Inlet favorite, especially when the vis is poor in the inlet.   For some reason, McCurdy always seems to have the best visibility when everywhere else is like soup.   The boot sponges along this wall are very impressive.

Moon jelly dive - the Saanich Inlet near the mouth of Tod Inlet hosts millions of moon jellies in the summer into late fall.  Accessible by shore or boat, diving with countless moon jellies is always good fun.

Lunch at Portland Island - There is nothing like stopping for lunch and a pee break after diving in the Southern Gulf Islands, especially sites including the GB Church, Arbutus Island or Schute reef.  I love pulling up on the beach and picking fresh apples for a snack in late summer, and driving home as the sun sets with spectacular colours.   

My list is never complete!  Really, we could make this the top 20, or even 50, but you have to cap it somewhere.   More extensive lists would definitely include:

• North Race (Race Rocks),
• Arachne Reef (Southern Gulf Islands),
• Church Islands (West Shore)

​....wherever the next exploratory dive takes us!   Stay tuned for future top ten lists that have a specific focus, such as top ten topography dives, top ten macro dives, and so on.

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