Island View Beach

Managed by Surfrider Foundation, Vancouver Island Chapter - BWYTF

Island View Beach, located in Central Saanich, is an expansive stretch of mixed pebble and sand beach with superb bird watching opportunities. The beach is part of the 51-hectare Island View Regional Park and includes a loop trail through salt marsh and dunes, a picnic area, washrooms and a self-contained RV and tent campground. The beach offers scenic views of the Haro Strait, James Island, and Mount Baker. It is a popular spot for exploring the beach, picnicking, and swimming in the summer. Island View Regional Park is accessible by Island View Road, off the Pat Bay Highway.

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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

Passed water quality tests at least 95% of the time
Historical Status
This status is based on the latest sample, taken on October 3th, 2021. 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 October 6th, 2021 at 12:21 AM.

For water quality icon legend, click:

Current Weather

22°C

Mostly clear

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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