SUMMARY: The easiest wreck dive in Victoria. LOCATION: At the Deep Cove marina on the north-west end of the Saanich peninsula. If you've never been here before, you'll definitely want to check the details at a dive store or ask someone who's very familiar with the site. Otherwise you'll probably end up swimming around the bay without finding the wreck. WHAT TO SEE: The main attraction is the wreck of a wooden barge. No one seems to know exactly how it got here or when it sank although there are plenty of ideas floating around. The one that makes the most sense (and is the least dramatic) is that is was anchored in front of the marina as a breakwater and later sank in a storm or from neglect. It seems to be a couple of hundred feet long although I never measured it. Most of the wooden structure is collapsed. What you see is a jumble of wood and the metal fittings that held it together. The bow is made of metal and is in pretty good shape. Near the stern there is a large metal water or fuel tank with piping and valves laying around. The wreck is home to schools of perch, lingcod, copper and yellowtail rockfish, plumose anemones, nudibranchs and seastars. The area around the wreck is interesting too. There is lots of junk lying around from the marina including old bottles. Many of these bottles have mosshead warbonnets and tiny red octopus living in them. A small speedboat is lying on the bottom near the barge a bit closer to the marina. There are sunflower stars digging holes for clams and alabaster nudibranchs on the sand. At nearby Setchel point there is a surprisingly bare rocky reef that goes down to 70 feet. In the bay there are small, scattered reefs with plumose anemones and rockfish living on them. CONDITIONS: The wreck lies in about 50 feet of water at the end of the marina. You could get hopelessly lost exploring the reefs in the bay - even with a compass. You may have to surface to see where you are. The dive is very close to an operational marina with boats coming and going. If you hear an engine, don't surface for a closer look. Every time I dive this site, the visibility is 30 -50 feet, but other people tell me that at times it can be a lot worse. I would avoid this dive in spring and early summer when the plankton is going crazy. You shouldn't feel any current on the wreck but you might feel a very slight pull at the entrance to the bay. Since this site is in Saanich Inlet, it is fairly well protected from nasty weather.
