February Diving in Vancouver Island

[Diveholic]

Hi there,

I’m contemplating flying over from Ontario to Vancouver Island from Thursday Feb 15 to Tuesday Feb 20th so that I can do some diving on the Sat, Sun and Mon (and possibly an after-wfh shore dive on Friday). I’ll be diving in a dry suit but have only had one winter dive (30 min at 2.5’C; surface temp -1’C) so far and I found it too cold to do a second dive. I had a few questions:

1. Is it a good time to come in February, or should I come back later in the year when the weather is warmer even if it means worse vis? I’m particularly concerned about not being able to do more than 1 dive/day if it’s too cold.

2. Where on Vancouver Island should I go? I enjoy all types of dives but am not particularly interested in wreck diving.

3. Are there boat charters active during this time? I’ll be diving alone and would need a buddy - is it hard to find people who are also diving around this time? I imagine there is a minimum number of divers required.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

 

[Gandalf-the-Diver]

Hi there,

I’m contemplating flying over from Ontario to Vancouver Island from Thursday Feb 15 to Tuesday Feb 20th so that I can do some diving on the Sat, Sun and Mon (and possibly an after-wfh shore dive on Friday). I’ll be diving in a dry suit but have only had one winter dive (30 min at 2.5’C; surface temp -1’C) so far and I found it too cold to do a second dive. I had a few questions:

1. Is it a good time to come in February, or should I come back later in the year when the weather is warmer even if it means worse vis? I’m particularly concerned about not being able to do more than 1 dive/day if it’s too cold.

2. Where on Vancouver Island should I go? I enjoy all types of dives but am not particularly interested in wreck diving.

3. Are there boat charters active during this time? I’ll be diving alone and would need a buddy - is it hard to find people who are also diving around this time? I imagine there is a minimum number of divers required.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Hi, depends on where you want to go on the island. There are tons of shore diving sites at the south end (Victoria) although north of Nanaimo there are sites with a ton of life. Frank Whites dive shop in Victoria, has a boat and do regular charters. There is a very active dive community, on the island. The best spots, at the north end of the island ; God's Pocket, are not open in the winter. There are shops in Campbell River that have boats too. In Victoria, Franks does a Sat am drop in shore dive, and Rockfish Divers does a Sun am drop in dive. Today the group did Ogden Point Breakwater and the water was 8C. It does not get as cold as the fresh water lakes out east. 6C is the coldest I have seen in 3 yrs, and that was only once. Franks has a FB page, Frank Whites Buddy Up, Rockfish has Rockfish Dive Club, but Friends of Rockfish, Dive Buddy Central is more active. Vancouver Island Scuba Divers and Scuba Diving Victoria BC, are also very active local FB groups This is the BEST guide for diving on the island I have found, and it actually covers the mainland too. ( index ) The diver who does this guide, does all these dives, Solo. If you have any further questions, reach out through DM. I encourage you to join the FB groups, as a lot of the local dive community, uses FB to set up dives.

 

[Diveholic]

Hi, depends on where you want to go on the island. There are tons of shore diving sites at the south end (Victoria) although north of Nanaimo there are sites with a ton of life. Frank Whites dive shop in Victoria, has a boat and do regular charters. There is a very active dive community, on the island. The best spots, at the north end of the island ; God's Pocket, are not open in the winter. There are shops in Campbell River that have boats too. In Victoria, Franks does a Sat am drop in shore dive, and Rockfish Divers does a Sun am drop in dive. Today the group did Ogden Point Breakwater and the water was 8C. It does not get as cold as the fresh water lakes out east. 6C is the coldest I have seen in 3 yrs, and that was only once. Franks has a FB page, Frank Whites Buddy Up, Rockfish has Rockfish Dive Club, but Friends of Rockfish, Dive Buddy Central is more active. Vancouver Island Scuba Divers and Scuba Diving Victoria BC, are also very active local FB groups This is the BEST guide for diving on the island I have found, and it actually covers the mainland too. ( index ) The diver who does this guide, does all these dives, Solo. If you have any further questions, reach out through DM. I encourage you to join the FB groups, as a lot of the local dive community, uses FB to set up dives.

Thanks so much for your very detailed response! I think I’d be fine in 8 degree waters - that’s what I usually dive during the summer Do people usually do just one dive for the drop-in dives? I’m hoping to do as many dives as possible and would prefer a boat dive if it allows for more than one dive vs a shore dive. How likely is it that I’ll be able to fill all 3 days (Sat Sun Mon) with two dives per day? I don’t see any boats scheduled in the future with Frank Whites or any other dive shop at this time.

 

[Gandalf-the-Diver]

Thanks so much for your very detailed response! I think I’d be fine in 8 degree waters - that’s what I usually dive during the summer Do people usually do just one dive for the drop-in dives? I’m hoping to do as many dives as possible and would prefer a boat dive if it allows for more than one dive vs a shore dive. How likely is it that I’ll be able to fill all 3 days (Sat Sun Mon) with two dives per day? I don’t see any boats scheduled in the future with Frank Whites or any other dive shop at this time.

Franks is the only store in Vic with a boat.
The FB pages I mentioned, if you use those to question ppl about specific days, you should be able to find someone to buddy up with for a 2nd dive. A lot of times, there are ppl who are willing to do a second dive, and there are ppl who are available on Mondays too. There are a lot of active divers here, and they are all on FB. For finding buddies here, that is the best way.
I have found the Rockfish drop in, usually has a few more ppl than the Franks drop in; I dive more with them, due to my work, and it is the shop I did OW and AOW with.

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

Since you're interested in wreck diving and have only a few days to dive...... and depending on your skill level, you might find Nanaimo as a good base option to dive the HMCS Saskatchewan and the HMCS Cape Breton.... Both of these wrecks were purposely scuttled as artificial reefs in 1997 and 2001 respectively and are both are well within recreational dive limits. I actually won a Diver magazine lottery contest and once it was confirmed cleared of all demolition ordinance was on the first recreational team to dive it......on my birthday in June of 1997. Then right nearby is the Cape Breton. Although considered by some as advanced dives. as with many wreck dives both of these be as advanced as you want them to be.

HMCS Saskatchewan

The HMCS Saskatchewan is an amazing artificial reef near Nanaimo BC.

www.vancouver-island-dive-sites.com

 

[ChrisMBC]

It does not get as cold as the fresh water lakes out east. 6C is the coldest I have seen in 3 yrs,

I somewhat disagree with this - fairly consistently, the coldest water temperature I see is ~4C at depth in the Strait of Georgia during late winter/early spring, or a little warmer (6-7C) in the Saanich inlet. I just pulled this data with the min temperature per month from my dives around the island (due to the time it takes for the temperature on my Garmin to stabilize, the min temp is almost always the temp at depth):

February would (statistically) be the coldest time to visit, but it would still be warmer than diving out East, especially if diving in the Saanich Inlet.

As others have mentioned, God's Pocket is typically the 'destination' to go dive, which operates during the warmer months. However, there's a lot of shore diving around Victoria/Duncan/Nanaimo/Nanoose that is good year-round, as well as boat operators in Victoria and Nanaimo (as well as seasonally around Campbell River).

If you want to optimize for good viz and warmer water, the best time to visit (I think) is around late November/early December - the water hasn't had time to cool down all the way yet, but the viz is consistently quite good. For the last three years running, my favourite dives of the year have been between Christmas and New Year's in the Inlet.

The time to carefully avoid is during the spring plankton bloom, when viz turns to crap. Timing is variable (although you can get a forecast a few months in advance), but normally sometime in March.

If you do come over in February this year, and want to dive around the South Island, shoot me a message and I'd be happy to meet up if timing allows.

 

[Diveholic]

Thank you all for your advice! I’ll have to decide whether I’ll make the trip in Feb vs waiting until late fall/early winter but will be sure to reach out via DM and the facebook groups if I do end up visiting next month

 

[grantmac]

I would plan for shore dives over boat dives. Personally although I'm located in Victoria I prefer the Nanoose (north of Nanaimo) area for shore diving.

 

[Gandalf-the-Diver]

I somewhat disagree with this - fairly consistently, the coldest water temperature I see is ~4C at depth in the Strait of Georgia during late winter/early spring, or a little warmer (6-7C) in the Saanich inlet. I just pulled this data with the min temperature per month from my dives around the island (due to the time it takes for the temperature on my Garmin to stabilize, the min temp is almost always the temp at depth):

View attachment 822678

February would (statistically) be the coldest time to visit, but it would still be warmer than diving out East, especially if diving in the Saanich Inlet.

As others have mentioned, God's Pocket is typically the 'destination' to go dive, which operates during the warmer months. However, there's a lot of shore diving around Victoria/Duncan/Nanaimo/Nanoose that is good year-round, as well as boat operators in Victoria and Nanaimo (as well as seasonally around Campbell River).

If you want to optimize for good viz and warmer water, the best time to visit (I think) is around late November/early December - the water hasn't had time to cool down all the way yet, but the viz is consistently quite good. For the last three years running, my favourite dives of the year have been between Christmas and New Year's in the Inlet.

The time to carefully avoid is during the spring plankton bloom, when viz turns to crap. Timing is variable (although you can get a forecast a few months in advance), but normally sometime in March.

If you do come over in February this year, and want to dive around the South Island, shoot me a message and I'd be happy to meet up if timing allows.

4C ... was that on a deep tech dive? I have not done as many Straight of Georgia dives as you Chris, the inlet or 10 Mile to Sooke is where I have been, so 6-7C has been my coldest. By the way, it's been too long since we have gone diving.

 

[ChrisMBC]

4C ... was that on a deep tech dive? I have not done as many Straight of Georgia dives as you Chris, the inlet or 10 Mile to Sooke is where I have been, so 6-7C has been my coldest. By the way, it's been too long since we have gone diving.

No, just checking - out by Race for some of those, or around Sidney. I think it depends a lot on which way the current is going at dive time. But yes, let’s go for a dive!