Victoria Shore Diving can be divided into 3 distinct areas: Saanich Inlet, Central Victoria & West Shore.  Although the information below is reasonably complete, there are always new areas to be explored.  For ease of simplicity, we have only included the most popular shore diving sites. 

Frankly speaking, there is a local diver in Victoria who has put together an amazing website of local dive sites.  He has been working at this for years and there is no way we could replicate it, nor would we want to.  We encourage you to take a look at his site.  The appropriate legal jargon applies though - we are not responsible for his advice or you if you head out to local dive sites!

Central Victoria

    The Core Victoria area does not have as many shore dives as other areas due to decreased access.  

    Main Features:
  • Great for novice, experienced divers and those new to drysuits and cold water.
  • Amazing topography for divers of all levels.
  • Current at many sites should be investigated.
  • Typical aquatic life: octopus, wolf eels, jelly fish, rockfish, nudibranchs, sea stars, crabs and shrimp, cloud sponges and various invertebrate life.  Occasional sightings of seals or sea lions

​If you are looking for quick access to some great sites, the Victoria/Saanich area has some great dive sites.  There are easy sites like Spring bay and Saxe Point for new divers and more advanced sites like ten mile point that should be reserved for divers with an advanced certification (get a site briefing before diving here!!). Divers can find shallow nudibranch covered rocky reefs with all sorts of other macro life, swimming scallops, sea stars, sea cucumbers, schools of fish, massive lingcod, octopus, wolf eels.  

There are many dive site options to choose from that offer something for everyone from stunning topography to diverse marine life.   We've listed some of the key dive sites to choose from that feature the best experiences for divers.  We have dive professionals and local subject matter experts who are extremely familiar with diving in the Pacific Northwest, and safety is our primary concern.  Rockfish has introduced a Dive Site Difficulty Ranking System to better educate divers on the hazards of diving at these. Dive site difficulty ranges from Green Circle to Blue Square in the Central Victoria area.  Wetsuit divers will be comfortable between May to October; although drysuits are recommended for the rest of the year. If you have any questions regarding your experience and sites that would be best suited for your personal interests, do not hesitate to contact us!

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Ogden Point Breakwater
* Can be exposed to current, but an excellent dive site with a slightly difficult entry and exit.

Ten Mile Point
* Possibly the best shore site on southern Vancouver Island.  Due to very strong current, you must dive here at slack current!!

Saxe Point
* An easy easy site if you don't leave the bay.  Flat sandy bottom, not tonnes to see. 

Spring Bay
* Common training site.  A nice dive but you can get current if you get too far away from shore

McNeil Point
* extremely subjected to current.  A very difficult dive site.  Must only dive at slack current by the most experienced divers!
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Clover Point
* Can be subjected to a fair amount of current.  A nice site, but boat traffic is very common.  A diver flag should be used. 

The Saanich Inlet