Gonzales Beach

Managed by Surfrider Foundation, Vancouver Island Chapter - BWYTF

Gonzales Beach is a sheltered, sandy beach in the neighbourhood of Fairfield, just east of downtown Victoria. The main access to the beach is located off Crescent Road, near the south end of Richmond Road. There are public washroom facilities and a small parking area, as well as some stairs and a ramp down to the beach. Private residences line the beach. This is a great spot to spend a relaxing afternoon.

The sampling location at Gonzales Beach is on the west side of the beach, near the bottom of the concrete ramp and stairs.

Get directions to this beach

COVID-19

Keep your distance from other people.

Practicing social distancing is still essential. Only go to the beach if you are able to keep 6 feet or 2 meters away from others. Follow the instructions provided by your local health authorities. If your community has asked that you remain indoors and away from others, do so. Spending a day in any crowded place is the worst thing we can do for our most vulnerable right now and will counter our efforts to curb the virus’s spread.

Water Quality

Meets water quality standards
Current Status
This status is based on the latest sample, taken on November 27th, 2022. Surfrider Foundation, Vancouver Island Chapter - BWYTF updates the status of this beach as soon as test results become available. These results were posted to Swim Guide on November 29th, 2022 at 1:22 AM.

For water quality icon legend, click:

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Monitoring Frequency

Source Information

Surfrider Vancouver Island’s Blue Water Task Force (BWTF) monitors 15 saltwater beaches and 4 freshwater beaches around Victoria, BC. Surfrider Vancouver Island volunteers collect and process water samples.

BWTF monitors sites around Victoria, BC year-round. Currently, BWTF is sampling (on average) 1 site every two weeks. They rotate the sites, so each one gets sampled on a regular basis, but they give priority to known or suspected problem sites.

Samples are typically collected on Saturdays, Sundays or Mondays, but Surfrider volunteers may collect samples on other days of the week depending on volunteer availability. Surfrider updates Swim Guide with new results as soon as test results become available, approximately 24-48 hours after sampling.

Surfrider’s BWTF utilizes the standardized EPA criteria of 104 MPN/100 mL for collecting and analyzing saltwater samples. The test results are expressed as Most Probable Number (MPN) of Enterococcus cfu (colony forming units) per 100 mL by using the IDEXX Quanti-Tray/2000 MPN Table.

Results are posted shortly after the lab results are available (approximately 24 hours after sample collection). Results will be communicated through the Swim Guide app and website. Results tables are also available on the Surfrider Foundation's Blue Water Task Force website at http://www.surfrider.org/blue-water-task-force/chapter/41.

A saltwater beach is marked Green when single sample results are under 104 Enterococci / 100 mL water.

A saltwater beach is marked Red when the results are equal to or above 104 Enterococci / 100 mL water. If a sample exceeds the standard, the site is given priority for re-testing.

A beach is marked Grey when there are no current results or there is no available information.

Water Quality Graph