Staying Home Sucks, home
View over Karger Park to Victoria. MORE INFO IN PANORAMIO-DESCRIPTION - panoramio
Colwood, the nearest town, 14 km away. Photo: John Newcomb, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

Swordfish Island

Dive site · Canada

Advanced divers and up

Is it worth the trip?

61Good out of 100 for your dates

Home sucks

Best on Tue 3: Sea: flat, Visibility about 6 m, Water 9 °C

Each day of your trip, out of 100

Tue 3 · 65 out of 100

Sea
0.1 mflat
Wind
2 kn
Gusts
7kn
Air
11°C

Wed 4 · 64 out of 100

Sea
0.1 mflat
Wind
1 kn
Gusts
4kn
Air
11°C

Thu 5 · 64 out of 100

Sea
0.2 mflat
Wind
5 kn
Gusts
13kn
Air
11°C

Fri 6 · 28 out of 100

Sea
0.3 m
Wind
9 kn
Gusts
21knboats in
Air
11°C

Sat 7 · 63 out of 100

Sea
0.2 mflat
Wind
4 kn
Gusts
17kn
Air
12°C

Sun 8 · 63 out of 100

Sea
0.2 mflat
Wind
3 kn
Gusts
22knboats in
Air
12°C

Mon 9 · 63 out of 100

Sea
0.2 mflat
Wind
7 kn
Gusts
16kn
Air
10°C

Tap a day for sea, wind and water. Full forecast

Forecast: next 10 days

Full forecast
  1. Mon 264, good
  2. Tue 365, good
  3. Wed 464, good
  4. Thu 564, good
  5. Fri 628, poor
  6. Sat 763, good
  7. Sun 863, good
  8. Mon 963, good
  9. Tue 1063, good
  10. Wed 1158, fair

The site in five facts

  • Down to 18 mits deepest
  • From a boathow you get in
  • Advancedand up
  • Water 9 °Cdrysuit
  • Faces Sswell from there reaches it

Full forecast

every day, every number

The score doesn't know currents, the visibility on the day or your certification.

Suits Advanced divers and up, as a dive guide states it. Scored for Advanced divers.

Sea and wind forecast and score for each day at Swordfish Island
DayScoreSeaWindGustsAir
Mon 2Nov64, good0.2 mflat4 kn10kn10°C
Tue 3Nov65, good0.1 mflat2 kn7kn11°C
Wed 4Nov64, good0.1 mflat1 kn4kn11°C
Thu 5Nov64, good0.2 mflat5 kn13kn11°C
Fri 6Nov28, poor0.3 m9 kn21knboats in11°C
Sat 7Nov63, good0.2 mflat4 kn17kn12°C
Sun 8Nov63, good0.2 mflat3 kn22knboats in12°C
Mon 9Nov63, good0.2 mflat7 kn16kn10°C
Tue 10Nov63, good0.3 m1 kn27kn12°C
Wed 11Nov58, fair0.2 mflat8 kn28knboats in10°C

Sea is the waves near the site, in metres; wind and gusts in knots. "Boats in": gusts that keep dive boats in. More

Tide

  • Mon 2 NovLow 00:05 −1.6 mHigh 06:46 +0.9 mLow 12:47 −0.4 mHigh 18:15 +0.9 m
  • Tue 3 NovLow 01:15 −1.4 mHigh 07:49 +1.0 mLow 14:08 −0.7 mHigh 19:44 +0.8 m
  • Wed 4 NovLow 02:20 −1.3 mHigh 08:41 +1.1 mLow 15:12 −1.1 mHigh 21:02 +0.8 m

Local clock times; heights about mean sea level. On open coasts the times are usually within a quarter of an hour; in bays, estuaries and on the Gulf of Mexico they can be an hour or more out. Slack water, the safest time to dive where there is current, is about half an hour either side of each high and low. Tide: EOT20 global ocean tide model, Hart-Davis et al. 2021, DGFI-TUM (doi:10.17882/79489), CC BY 4.0. Times and heights computed by us. A model, not a tide table: check a local table before you go.

Forecast updated . It refreshes every three hours. Forecast data: ECMWF, DWD, Météo-France and NOAA, served by Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0). Changed by us. Generated using E.U. Copernicus Marine Service Information.

Map

the site and its town

Each place wears its best day on these dates: green good, amber fair, pale red poor, as the key says.

The map needs JavaScript. Every place on it is listed on this page, and each place's page links to Google Maps.

One finger scrolls the page; two fingers move the map. Pins are our own positions. Map OpenFreeMap, © OpenMapTiles, data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

More diving near here

5 places

About

the place in full, sources, credits

About Swordfish Island

A reef dive. It goes down to 18 m. You get in from a boat. It suits Advanced divers and up, as a dive guide states it. The coast faces S: swell from the S reaches it, and wind from the N blows out to sea. No dive centre within 10 km, the nearest 17 km away. The sea is about 8°C in January, its coldest month (drysuit), and 12°C in August, its warmest (7 mm semi-dry or a drysuit). The town to stay in is Colwood. Within 5 km we also list 1 surf spot, 3 wind sports spots, 5 dive sites and 1 climbing area.

  • What it is Reef.
  • How deep Down to 18 m.
  • Getting in From a boat.
  • Who it suits Suits Advanced divers and up, as a dive guide states it.
  • Dive centres No dive centre within 10 km, the nearest 17 km away.

Water about 9°C: drysuit. Typical sea temperature for the time of year, not a forecast.

Visibility about 6 m. Typical for the time of year, estimated from ten years of NASA satellite water clarity, not a forecast. Clearest in Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Sep, Oct and Nov (about 6 m).

The score is the conditions only: the journey, the price and the partners never change it (how we score, how we earn).

Rough cost (estimate): about US$966–US$1,780 each

about US$966–US$1,780 each · 6 nights, 2 sharing: flights, hire car, stay, food.

Our estimate from typical public prices, not a quote: check the real prices before you book (where they come from). Prices are about, in US Dollar (USD): our pound figures at the European Central Bank's rate of 2 November 2026.

How we worked it out 
Rough cost per person for this trip
WhatHow we worked it outEach
Flightsreturn MDW to SEA, estimated from distance and season, 1 airline on the route, with a hold bagabout US$248–US$517
Hire car6 days, sharedabout US$134–US$228
Stay6 nights, a mid-range double, sharedabout US$275–US$456
Food7 days eating outabout US$309–US$577
Totalabout US$966–US$1,780

Guided dives are not priced yet: we have no sourced price, so it is not in it. Prices from public sources, checked in 2026.

Where to stay: Colwood

Ad Links marked Ad may pay us if you book. You pay the same, and they never change a score. How we earn

Closest

Colwood

about 25 min by car · 8 places to stay

about US$101/nightcountry average

See 8 places to stay in Colwood · Booking.com

About Colwood its beds, food and every spot near it

About US$101 a night is our estimate of the country's average 2-star double room that month: not each town's price, and not a quote. Drives are estimates. Prices are about, in US Dollar (USD): our pound figures at the European Central Bank's rate of 2 November 2026.

Getting there: about 8h 45m

About 8h 45m door to door from Chicago

Fly MDW → SEA, direct, then 2h 40m by road

An estimate, one way; the journey never changes the score.

In the water

Dive centres nearby

The nearest named dive centres and shops within 25 km, in a straight line; training agencies where the map states them. Listings, not a recommendation. Dive centres: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Credits

What you might see

Too few records at this site itself, so these are the animals divers and surveys have recorded at other sites within 25 km in the last 15 years. A record says someone saw it there, not that you will.

  • Dungeness Crab Metacarcinus magister

    Seen in 292 records, mostly Jun to Jul.

Records: OBIS (Ocean Biodiversity Information System, IOC-UNESCO), from the datasets named here, CC0 and CC BY records only. Names: WoRMS, through OBIS; common names from Wikidata. Largest datasets here: Mortality, Movements, and Migration Timing of Age-0 Cowichan Chinook Salmon Tagged in the Southern Gulf Islands in Fall 2017; 28621175-b49c-4fbf-9f60-9b82d78b7b0c; 4b8b3141-28a0-46e7-8651-46a786827419; Harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) counts and haulout locations in the Strait of Georgia, British Columbia coast; HGSS. Credits

This week's visibility and the current no free forecast gives. Ask a dive centre before you book.

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