Scuba diving on Vancouver Island offers world-class cold-water experiences where vibrant marine life meets dramatic underwater landscapes. This site guides divers through the top dive sites, local stories, photos, weather, and everything else you need to explore Vancouver Island scuba diving safely and confidently.
Madrona Point in Nanoose Bay / Parksville, is one of the best dive sites on the whole of Vancouver Island, and well worth the visit! With its good shore access and multiple dive plans you can follow, this site is easily the best shore dive location in the central island area.
You can dive the Small Wall, the Mid Wall or the Maze, which are all good dives at a 60 foot maximum depth, and the last, the Main Wall is an advanced level dive with a maximum depth of around 90 feet.
This awesome Nanoose Bay dive site always has lots to see and do, with depths and challenges to accommodate all levels of divers. It is located just one half hour north of Nanaimo, BC.
Click here for a downloadable Map & Dive Site Description
Follow the Island Highway (Hwy 19) North of Nanaimo to a road called Northwest Bay Road and turn right. Follow this winding road for 5 or 8 minutes and then make another right at Beaver Creek Wharf Rd. This road will "T" into Madrona Drive. Turn left here and when you reach the dead end you are at the dive site.
On my last visit there we saw a small pod of orcas just as we were about to go into the water; there were 5 or 6 of them and they were very close to shore. Fortunately, we were running a few minutes late or they would have gone right over our heads!
Especially exciting about this site is the strong possibility of some interaction with the local sealions, as this site is located very close to a log dump where these large mammals have been hanging out for years. Meeting these five or six hundred pound giants (these are the California sealions, Steller sealions can be over 1,000 lbs) can be a little intimidating to say the least, but we have yet to hear about any dangerous or aggressive behavior from these large mammals. Even so we suggest you keep your hands to yourself! Did you know sealions display aggression by going vertical in the water and blowing bubbles - sound familiar?