DIVEMASTER.CA
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Weather conditions for Vancouver island, Chemainus and Salish Sea .
The weather in the Salish Sea and the surrounding area's is reasonably predictable although climate change does appear to be adding some interesting variations in what we normally expect. We normally expect two snow dumps and 3 or 4 storm systems of significance between November and March. November and December have occasional fog but other times of year it's normally clear. Stuart Channel where we have placed the plane is very well protected, by Vancouver Island to the west and the Gulf Islands to the east. If there is a strong wind it comes out of the south. Current is not more than 1 to 1 1/2 knots near the aircraft site. Wave action although can be rough when windy, normally there are not "big seas", even in moderate wind the waves are not more than a foot, in heavy wind they might be 3 or 4 feet and I have seen storm force winds in shallow areas with waves taller than I would rather remember being out in but this is rare perhaps a couple of times a year. Trincomali Channel and Porlier are subject to more variable wind and sometimes the seas near Porlier can get serious but with the number of islands we can usually find a spot to drop you in and enjoy the quite of the depths. Winter can be cold, it does rain, wind on average might be a couple of knots with only slight seas. In my mind there is nothing quite as lovely as returning from a dive to a snow covered winter wonderland.. No matter what time of year we normally are able to find a dive site that we can put you in and retrieve you from safely. Visibility is variable 10 to 60 feet depending on all of the above conditions. We do strive to pick the sites best suited to the conditions. In the event that visibility is poor we try to pick walls where navigation is straight forward and the sea life is close at hand. We dive two distinct geographic area's and can normally find you a place to dive with acceptable visibility. |
