Located within the boundaries of the Pacific Rim National Park on the west coast of Vancouver Island, Barkley Sound is a unique wild coast wonderland. Visiting divers can access the area by boat from Port Alberni, via the narrow 25 mile (40km) long Alberni Inlet or a 56 mile (89km) gravel logging road from Port Alberni to Bamfield. Diving is available year-round from several operators offering both day and multi-day excursions. With over 100 islands in the Broken Group alone, it’s easy to find a dive site even if the weather is bad.

Chup Point is a good place for fish photography, usually yielding more than five species of rockfish on each dive. Yellow and white dorids, orange-peel nudibranchs, frosted and opalescent nudibranchs can be seen at Christy reef. Renate’s Reef has numerous long gray resident wolf eels of varying length and age.

Although rare, six-gill shark sightings are possible at Tyler Rock. Ratfish, orange sea pens, octopus and sculpins can be found between Tyler’s two submerged pinnacles.

Not much remains of the 473-foot (142m) Vanlene since it went down in 1972 near Austin Island with its bow in shallow water and its stern unfolfing down the reef like a broken puzzle. I have spotted adult Puget Sound king crab, multi-colored sunflower stars, rockfish, and assorted macro subjects to photograph.

An abandoned Chinese migrant ship, approximately 100 feet in length, sits upright in 95 feet (28m) of water near Canoe Island in Sechart Channel. The hull and wheelhouse are easy to explore, with a majority of its marine residents growing on the outer hull and bow area.   

Nanaimo is centrally located on the eastern side of Vancouver Island and acts as a hub for incoming mainland air and sea traffic. There are 8-12 excellent boat dives and several good shore dives.

Popular wrecks include the 366 foot (111m) HMCS Saskatchewan, the 400 foot (122m) HMCS Cape Breton and the 157 foot (47m) North Sea rescue tug Rivtow Lion scuttled as artificial reefs. Currents are not usually a problem but better visibility tends to occur on a falling tide.

Deep walls can be found at Snake Island or at Orlebar, on Gabriola Island. Enormous white plumose anemones cascade down sandstone formations at Snake, dotted with bright pink crimson anemones, red blood stars and orange finger sponge. I have also seen wolf eels out in the open and clusters of cloud sponge at depth. Snorkeling with resident harbor seals is always fun between dives.

Orlebar is steeper, hosting an array of odd shaped chimney sponge, tiger and quillback rockfish and an assortment of crustaceans. This shore-accessible site is also utilized by technical divers.

As for drift diving, there are two narrow passageways where the currents reach 8 knots at full flow. Both sites can be explored during slack. Dodd Narrows has brilliant giant green anemones and pink tipped anemones in the shallows, while yellow zoanthids, orange cup corals, and small white anemones cover the rocks below. Gabriola Passage is equally as picturesque, hosting an array of red sea urchins, gray encrusting lobed ascidians, cabezon, grunt sculpins and painted greenlings.

Chemainus and Thetis Island are located in the Cowichan Valley on the eastern side of southern Vancouver Island, north of Victoria and Sidney. Boat diving is mainly done in this area, leaving from the Chemainus harbor or the marina on Thetis Island (ferry ride to the island). There are several historic wrecks and numerous colorful reefs to explore within Stuart Channel, Trincomali Channel and Porlier Pass.

The Del Norte is a 57 meter (190 foot) steamer which ran aground in the fog in 1868 at Canoe Reef. The 58 meter (194 foot) Bark - HMS Panther was originally stranded on Wallace Island after hitting a reef in 1874. In 1911 the Robert Kerr ran aground at Miami Reef with a load of coal while under tow. One of the most photogenic wrecks is the 31 meter (105 foot) wreck of the Point Gray in Porlier Pass.  The steel tug ran aground in 1949 and is currently resting upside down with two of its gigantic prop blades intact.

Another favorite, easy site among local divers is the Boeing 737-200 plane that was scuttled in January of 2006 by 49th Parallel Dive Charters, the local dive community and the Artificial Reef Society of BC. All dangerous items, windows and doors have been removed. The plane sits on a stand in 90 feet of water with anemones, small juvenile fish, sea stars, crabs, feather stars and sponge already claiming it as their home! You can swim through the main cabin and sit where the pilot once sat while flying the plane. The cargo area is also accessibly. This is an easy dive because divers can follow a line from the surface, down to the plane.

Not far from the plane is a reef where you can find an assortment of marine life including wolf eels, rockfish and maybe an octopus!

Sidney

The 175-foot (52m) GB Church and the retired ex-naval ship HMCS Mackenzie are within minutes from Sidney, both sitting upright in relatively moderate current areas. When diving with one of the local dive operators, they will inform you of the best time to enter and exit the water during a slack current (when the water slows or stops to change direction). Keep an eye out for nesting lingcod, rockfish, swimming scallops and other filter-feeding critters. Both wrecks are excellent for macro or close-up photography. Visibility varies throughout the year.

Saanach Inlet

Saanich Inlet is located near Sidney on southeastern part of Vancouver Island. Although diving is good year round, during the winter months you can enjoy several excellent boat dives in Saanich Inlet with crystal clear visibility. At Senanus Island you can find great colonies of cloud sponge at 21-27 meters (70-90 feet). Wide angle photography is not a challenge because there is little current to worry about. At times the clusters of sponge seem to dwarf a buddy! Looking carefully in the openings of the sponge, you might find small rockfish or crabs partially hidden and peering out

Saanich Inlet also has some impressive wall diving and reefs excellent for macro or close-up photography. Small kelp and decorator crabs, nudibranchs, shrimp and anemones are also easy to find at most locations. Playful seals can be found at Repulse Rock and the snorkeling is good year round at just about any site.

A dive store/charter business is located at the Marina & Eco-Adventure Centre at the Brentwood Bay Lodge. The Brentwood Bay Lodge is also a great convenient place to overnight. Other dive businesses can be found in nearby Sidney.

Victoria is the capitol city of BC, located at the southern end of Vancouver Island, and can be accessed by air or ferry from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay (Sidney) or Port Angeles (WA) to Victoria.

Strong nutrient-rich currents support an assortment of large and small marine residents. There are numerous shore and boat diving sites around the city as well as Sidney and all along Saanich Inlet.

One of the most popular shore spots is along the Ogden Point breakwater, in front of Ogden Point Dive Center. An assortment of rockfish, kelp greenlings, nudibranchs, perch, and sea stars can be seen. Octopus and wolf eel also enjoy the protection of the blocks for their dens.

Race Rocks, located about three nautical miles from Pedder Bay in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, has great quantities of water flowing past creating a habitat to suit pink and white clusters of soft coral, finger sponge and colorful nudibranchs. Multi-colored brooding anemones cover the lower portions of kelp stalks, resembling a garden of flowers.

The 175-foot (52m) GB Church and the retired ex-naval ship HMCS Mackenzie are within minutes from Sidney, both sitting upright in relatively moderate current areas. Keep an eye out for nesting lingcod, rockfish, swimming scallops and other filter-feeding critters.

Sooke is a harbourside town located on the southwestern side of Vancouver Island, just 45 km (28 miles) northwest of Victoria on Highway 14. Highway 14 winds along the coast up to Port Renfrew. There are several suitable shore diving sites between the two towns as well as the occasional dive charter out of Sooke.

An assortment of marine life can be found in the Sooke area including, anemones, schools of rockfish, sea stars and great visibility. Always watch what the tides and currents are doing and check with a local dive shop for updated safety tips. Airfills are available from Wilson Diving on the Island Highway or from Scuba Stu’s on Ludlow Road in Sooke.

Port Renfrew is also the starting point for the famous West Coast Trail, a 77-km long hike formerly established as the West Coast Trail Unit for the Pacific Rim National Park (1993), ending in Bamfield. The hike takes 5-7 days, leading the adventurer through a spectacular coastline wilderness bordered by old-growth trees.

To get to the Sooke area, take the main road out of Victoria north on Highway 1, exiting on the West Coast Highway 14 heading west. The drive will take about 40 minutes.