Yesterday, my plan was to go snorkelling among the islets of the Ten Mile Point Ecological Reserve during a brief period when the current should have been weak and changing direction. As has usually been the case when I have tried this in the past, the wind turned out to be stronger than what I had expected from studying my usual sources so I switched to my backup plan of snorkelling at Tudor Cove.
The above video shows the site from the shore. I have never actually seen Tudor Cove used as a place name on a map or nautical chart. It’s just the name I use for the small body of water beside the beach access at the sharp bend in Tudor Avenue in Saanich, BC.
This second video is a panorama of the cove taken from as far out as I had to swim to find water 5 m deep at a time when the Oak Bay tide height was 2.4 m.
This one shows some of what I saw slightly below the surface. The surface visibility was about 5 m. The spring phytoplankton bloom has not yet begun and I did not see a single jellyfish but it is clear that the seasonal kelp has started to grow back.
There is usually not much to see below the surface here so I would not include it in any list of underwater sightseeing destinations but it is one of my favourite places to take shelter from the wind on a sunny day.
