Canada: British Columbia
Pacific Pro Dive & Marine Adventures
Courtenay, British Columbia, Canada
June 20th, 2024
Guide: Andy Luck
A family trip to Seattle and Vancouver Island included a jaunt down to Courtenay to dive in the “chilly” Canadian waters. Pacific Pro Dive is in Courtenay, without much diving in the immediate area. Currents can be strong and unpredictable with the tides and boat traffic further north makes shore diving difficult. They occasionally offer charters but primarily do shore dives around Nanoose Bay, roughly 45 minutes south. We met at the dive shop, loaded up gear and then the three of us dove to Tyee Cove.
Tyee Cove is a protective cove that has basic amenities and is only a short walk to the water (at high tide). The beach is rocky except for a worn path into the water that becomes a sand chute leading into deeper water. It is important to stay on the path as stepping off will result in having to walk over large algae covered rocks that shift unexpectedly. Visibility at the entrance gets mucked up quickly but after kicking out a few paces opens to 20-30 feet. During winter months Andy said visibility can get up to 50-60 feet but the water will be in the low 40’s.
Our first dive we went along the West route to try and find Gramps, the local Wolf Eel that is at least 50 years old. He is very used to divers and often “begs” for urchins and will “pout” if you fail to bring him treats. Unfortunately, he was not home, and we didn’t get to see him. There was an abundance of box jellies, moon jellies that harmlessly floated by. There were several very large fried egg jellies that our guide pointed out and warned us not to go near. I promptly ignored this and immediately swam towards them for pictures. I avoided getting stung and still gave them a wide berth.
After a quick break and gear swap, we reentered the water and took the east route in search of octopus and other macro life. There were nudibranchs all over; ranging from a few centimeters to over a foot long. We located a curious octopus hiding under some algae that grabbed onto our hands when we set them out and hung out with us for a while before moving on. Another rare find was a cabezon fish. They’re not normally in shallower waters, these sculpins can be found on the rocky ledges waiting for prey to swim past usually at 100+ feet. A nice dive site and one I will visit again if I happen to be in the area and another site wasn’t available.
