Name: Paddys Head
Rating: 2.0

Nova Scotia

Halifax Regional Municipality

Diving in British Columbia is some of the finest in the world. From the shores of Vancouver, North to the Sunshine coast, and then to the inlets of Vancouver Island, there are phenomenal opportunities to view sea life and explore the underwater terrain. Local operators offer their guidance, expertise and advice; rely on their knowledge and understanding of their region. Explore the variety of dive locations and dive safely!

Canada

The site is contained by granite boulders and ridges to the right (norht) and by a long granite point jutting off the island to the left (south). This makes a very protected spot from east winds, and southly winds as well. The flanks of the granite ridges are cloaked in kelp and under story plants as well. The flats straight out have rich eel grass beds. This is a favourite check out spot for courses.

Take the Paddys Head road off the Peggys Cove Road (Route 333), and drive to the little white bridge. Parking is on a crushed rock flat area to the left of the community mailboxes. The small sandy beach is just 10m from the vehicles. There is amble parking for 5 or 6 vehicles.

Paddys Head is also known as St. Margerets Bay, Back Cove.

Indian Harbour

Paddys Head

Lots of marine life in the summer, mostly lobster, soft coral and lucky tuna

You could see Peggys cove light from a distance. there is 5 minute hike to the side. best dive time is high tide.

Cranberry cove

The flank of the ridge with the lighthouse is a nice granite slope cloaked in a rich kelp forest. Straight out is a gravel and sand plain, but there are several interesting granite ridges running offshore. Fish and plant life are abundant. Currents are minimal but only dive when the swell is light, as exiting up onto the sloping granite ridge can be difficult in waves. Dive only when it is calm.

Peggys Cove overs nice granite bedrock ridge diving with a clean gravel and sand bottom in the lee of the point with the lighthouse, just out front of the restaurant. There is amble parking in the restaurant/lighthouse parking lot. A paved path leads to the top of the granite ridge that is almost like a path down to the water. This dive site is recommended only on calm wind days, with low swell and winds out of the northeast or very light.

Peggys Cove

Sealife is visable until about 60ft, turns into a sandy bottom

Peggys Cove below Halifax Nova Scotia

Birchy Head

The spot is easy to see as there is a fish farm offshore, in the lee of an island, which partially shelters the dive site. This spot is where the main road comes very close to the water, and you just run out of trees. It is across the road from a couple of houses. Bayswater Pulbic Beach and Picnic area is in sight, just a kilometer further along the road.

Take care walking down the cobble, as the small rocks can shift under foot.

Nice fish life in the summer: Cunner, Pollock, Sea Ravens, Sculpins, Tomcod and some flounders.

There is room across from the houses and the side road to park off the highway. The top of the small cobble beach is safe to park on, but out further is soft. Water access is a short walk down the gently sloping shore. Nice underwater boulder field draped in seaweeds. Easy diving in the 10' to 50' range. There is deeper water out further, but the bottom changes to mud. Nicest diving is shallow.

No currents, but requires light winds if from any southerly direction, as the cobble beach faces southeast.

Bayswater

The path down to the shoreline is around the right side of the FISH SHACK, and is a short scramble down small boulders to and easy walk to a small granite point jutting out into the water. This point offers easy water access and is 3-9' deep, depending on tide.

The diving is on a nice boulder slope running down to 40-50' to a gravel slope that gradually drops to ~100' deep. The rich seaweeds and marine life are in the top 40' of water. 

It is calm in westerly winds, as it faces due east and is good for all level of divers in light northwest to southwest winds.

The dive site is in Halifax County, through the community of Hubbards, and on to Route 329 on the coastal road on the west side of St. Margaret's Bay. The spot is just past Mill Cove, once you enter the strip community of Birchy Head. It is marked by an old, broken down, and partially burnt FISH SHACK on the left side of the road going out...One has to turn around and park on the shoulder of the road facing back along by the shack. There is tight parking for 5 vehicles.



The fish shack

Mill Cove is a 0-star rated scuba dive and snorkel destination in Canada, Nova Scotia which is accessible from shore based on 0 ratings.

Mill Cove

Fox Point Beach is a 0-star rated scuba dive and snorkel destination in Canada, Nova Scotia which is accessible from shore based on 0 ratings.

Fox Point Beach

Since the site is shalllow, a little extra wight is recommended. It is good for macrophotography with lots of fish, crabs, lobsters and other subjects to shoot. 

This is an easy, basic dive spot and good when others are too rough as it is very protected from east, west and north winds.

Out the Hwy #333 that makes the Peggy's Cove loop, on the east side of St. Margaret's Bay is Indian Point. It is a long narrow point with the "Indian Point Road" running its length. Watch for the road sign on the right and the road makes a loop so you can't get lost!

The dive site is on the inside or east tip of the point. Indian Point has two island off its tip - the first is connected by a berm sheltering the dive site. One can dive on the sheltered inside or hike across to the open bay side.

The dive is quite shallow, so high tide is recommended for this spot. It is very easy with good parking along the edge of the road and a nice easy "driveway" like slope to walk down on.

Indian Point

The north side of New Harbour held a Whaling Plant through the 50's and 60's. The buildings are long gone, but some bones remain in the cove. Two partially intact whale skulls are located about where the GPS coordinates show the site. The are in about 5-7 m of water on the far side of the cove, almost directly opposite a fish shack with a blue door. Shoulder bones and vertebrae have also been found in the cove.

Visibility is only fair at this site. It is often low, so one has to pick good days to explore. This is also a working harbour for small fishing boats, so be ware of boat traffic. A dive float is recommended.

The far side of the cove, opposite the wharves and fish shacks has the best marine life. The rocky slope near the mouth, on the far side andoutside the cove is interesting diving.

Blanford Peninsula. From Blandford community, turn out along the shore and drive to the end of the New Harbour Road. There is a grassy area on the north side of the cove to park and one can enter down beside a slipway for boats. An alternate, if the harbour isn't busy, is to drive near the end of the fish shacks, park off to the side away from fish truck traffic, and enter off the wharf by the last building.

New Harbour

The rocky granite shoreline extends out in a gradual slop cloaked in rich seaweeds until breaking up into small boulders with sand patches between them. The slope is gentle, but you canget quickly to 5m deep, then the bottom is flatter and slowly slopes downward. A long swim may get you 15m to 20m, but 10m is more common in the first 50-70m offshore. The boulders range from 30cm to a few meters in size and are completely covered in rockweeds in the shallows and several species of red and green seaweeds out deeper. The site is open to the east, but well protected from all westerly directions making it often calm, with good visibility. In the summer, Cunner, Lobsters, flatfish and crabs are very common.

This is a good site for new divers to become accustomed to rocky shore diving and enjoy.

The Fox Point Anglican Church Divesite is a nice rocky granite shore dive about an hour from Halifax, NS out the southshore on HWY #103 to Exit #6, swing onto the Hwy #3 and back track into the community of Hubbards. In Hubbards, take the first road to the right, Hwy #329, out towards Fox Point and Mill Cove. Follow the shore road along until you pass the Fox Point Wharf and breakwater. The old St. James Anglican Church is only a few hundred meters further on, with the shore divesite almost in front of it. Parking is available at the top of the wharf or sometimes near the church. The steep bank has a nice grassy edge and moderate cobble and boulder slope just 30m south, further along, from the church itself. Scramble on down the slope to the granite bedrock taking care. There is a small inlet 3m wide and 8m long to the left with nice shelving rock to sit on, put fins on and slip off into 1.5-3m deep water.

Paddys Head

Snorkeling and Scuba Diving at Paddys Head