Tyee Cove

Tyee Cove is a beach-entry shore dive in Nanoose Bay, just north of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. It has a forgiving entry and varied depths, and it is regularly used for open water training, club dives and relaxed fun dives. Parking is close to the beach, with picnic tables for gearing up, a washroom and a small changing facility, and it is a short walk to the water. The easiest entry is on the right-hand side of the beach, where kayakers have worn a path into the water. The access trail itself is steep.

From the beach you swim out into a small bay framed by rocky formations. A sandy chute runs north to south and divides the left and right sides of the site, which makes it the main navigation reference. Turning right at the chute brings you over a rubble slope and rocky terrain full of cracks and ledges, reaching roughly 24 m (80 ft) with a much deeper wall beyond. As the wall curves back toward shore you can recross the chute at about 20 m (65 ft) and reach a series of shelves, a common place to find octopus and rockfish. Further right, more rock formations rise out of the sand and suit photography. The left side of the chute is steeper and more dramatic.

Octopus and rockfish are regular finds on the shelves. Other residents recorded here include nudibranchs, wolf eel, giant Pacific octopus, Puget Sound king crab, spiny lumpsuckers, decorator crabs, hermit crabs, perch, herring and sea lions.