SUMMARY: The most highly- regarded shore dive in Victoria (for most people). My first choice when the current tables are cooperating. I can't say enough about this site. You really have to see it. LOCATION: At the end of White Rock Road near Cadboro Bay and the University of Victoria. Get a map or ask a dive shop for more information. The dive is straight out from the small parking lot. WHAT TO SEE: A wall drops from around 30 - 40 feet down to a rubble bottom at around 80 - 90 feet. A seasonal bull kelp forest grows in the shallows. The wall is covered with invertebrates: Plumose anemones, yellow sponges, colourful tunicate colonies, zoanthids, cup corals... etc. Big sunflower stars and nudibranchs are common. Fish life includes rockfish (copper, quillback,vermillion....etc.), decorated warbonnets, lingcod, cabezon and small sculpins. This is a good place to see red Irish lords. Octopus live at the bottom of the wall. The main attraction (for me anyways) are the invertebrates. CONDITIONS: The current rushes by here pretty quick. Most people dive here on slack. If you go down when the current is running, you won't have time to see much and you might end up drifting in the middle of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Visibility ranges from about 10 feet on a bad day to 50 feet or so on a good day.
