where is the best place to dive in Canada?

Hello!

I'd like to come to Canada but don't know completly which direction is the best. I want to dive or even get a job in some diving centre.
so.. my question is- which part of underwater Canada is the most magnificent? Could you help me, please?

My vote is for the 1000 island area for wrecks. Kinda bias though as I have never been to western canada. But the wrecks there are often regarded as world class

That really depends on what kind of diving you're looking for.

I live and dive on the east coast (Nova Scotia). The diving here is good for life, and there are loads of shipwrecks for all levels of skill. The wrecks are generally quite broken up and often barely resemble ships at all. Open water year round to dive in.

I've never been to Newfoundland, but the diving there is supposed to be spectacular, with some first class WW2 wrecks just a short hop from St. John's.

I've had the pleasure to do a bit of diving in the St Lawrence, near Brockville, Ontario. The life was certainly nothing compared to out here, but the wrecks were beautiful. Lovely old wooden wrecks that almost looked as though they could still sail, much warmer water as well, aside from the fact that ice diving is your only option during the winter.

I've also had the opportunity to dive off of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The life out there was far beyond what I see here, even though it was winter while I was out there. Open water year round, warmer surface temps, and a lovely view combine to make the west coast a great place to dive. It seems that most of the wrecks out that way are artificial reefs, the real wrecks are generally quite deep I believe... the water on the Pacific coast seems to get deep very quickly.

Good luck, you couldn't really go wrong with any of these options.... that's not even counting the stuff that I've missed or not seen yet.

ok.. I see..
Thanks a lot for the responses..
so I can come to east part of Canada to pay a visit to my friends and stay with them as long as I wish and won't be bored in waters round Halifax, right?

easy_diver:

ok.. I see..
Thanks a lot for the responses..
so I can come to east part of Canada to pay a visit to my friends and stay with them as long as I wish and won't be bored in waters round Halifax, right?

Click to expand...

I don't know about your friends, but you definitely won't get bored with the diving out here.... lots and lots to see, and still many places left to explore.

enjoy

easy_diver:

Hello!

I'd like to come to Canada but don't know completly which direction is the best. I want to dive or even get a job in some diving centre.
so.. my question is- which part of underwater Canada is the most magnificent? Could you help me, please?

Click to expand...

Depends on what you want. West coast wins for sea life, hands down. East coast for big wrecks and salt water. Great Lakes for wonderfully preserved wrecks in fresh water although they tend to be smaller than the East coast wrecks.

Dude!!!!! Definately check out Vancouver Island. I was out there for a year and a half, pretty much all I did was dive. That being said there are too many good sites to list, just pick a spot on shore and go diving. There is every kind of diving available there, walls, drift diving, deep as you want, reefs, world class wrecks they actuall sunk a 737 to create an artifical reef the worlds FIRST!!!, and if you want just a nice simple shore dive well there will be enough life to keep you looking until the dive is over. I cannot say enough about this part of the world and not too many divers know what kind of diving the Pacific North West has to offer. It is murky at times especially in the summer, so winter is the best time to go, bring your dry suit and lots of thermal underwear. If you have the chance to go dont hesitate GO!!. If you end up Victoria make your first dive on the break water known as Ogden Point great dive and very friendly Wolf eels. Enjoy the diving splender that is CANADA!!!!!

Demo Dan,

My wife and I are looking to do our second dive trip ever this upcoming August somewhere off of Vancouver Island. Our first trip was in Mexico, for our PADI open water cert.

Would an August dive require a 7mm wetsuit or a drysuit? From what I've read, the vis can get pretty bad in August. Just how bad, in your experience?

Where would you suggest a couple of beginners such as ourselves go, where we can be accompanied by a friendly divemaster and see lots of cool stuff, but nothing too deep or tech? Thinking about perhaps doing a PADI AD or drysuit course out there.

Thanks

Mike

Hey Mike,

Yeah its been awhile since my last visit to this forum. Here are my thoughts, yes you will need a 7mm or drysuit it is cold water especially at depth. Its not crazy cold but you would find even on a hot day that you would get cold very quickly. As for vis, it really depends one day it is 60 feet then the next day or somtimes that same day but later on the vis can change to almost zero. But in my experiances diving there it was typically anywhere between 15 - 30 feet and very green, I think that people have called it the emerald sea before. Sometime they get what is called a celing effect where there is a blanket of algea that is on the surface, and that blanket can cause some low vis situations. The algea bloom is usually only the first 15 feet of water then it might clear up to almost 40 feet vis underneath, it is quite the cool dive situation but might take sometime getting used to. The best part of cold water diving in the Pacific Northwest though is the LIFE!!!!!!!!! Every single square inch of that ocean is teeming with life, I found that there was almost nowhere that I would look that did not have some sort of organizum making it home there. Hell sometimes I would just focus on the stuff floating in the water and I would see the most amazing comb jellies and little "things" swimming by. In short it is world class diving. I would suggest buy a book of the local sea life, there is one that I got that was excellant called " From Welks to Whales ", this way you can read up on the amazing life that you just saw in the water and be able to boast to all your friends what you saw. Here is a link to a great local Dive Master WWW.DIVEMASTER.CA his email will be on the web site if you wish to contact him. He is actually the man responsible for organizing the sinking of that 737. As for local sites for begginers the is one just outside the town of Duncan called Maple Bay, ask anyone at a gas station in duncan and they will be able to point out the right direction although its not hard to find. This site is fantastic, it has almost everything Pacific Northwest diving has to offer. Its max depth at high tide is 60 feet and it is a beautiful reef system, it is right at goverment warf so there can be some boat traffic but nothing too serious. There is typicaly a few divers there at any givin time and theer are ropes that will lead you out to the reef. All the other sites I did out there...which was alot....were kind of in between advanced and begginer dives, there is a dive shop in Cowichan Bay the name is Pacific Diving I think or somthing like that, the operator will give you some other good local sites. Oh and Victoria has the breakwater which is an astonishing dive site, there is a shop right there called Ogden point dive center...I'm not sure of my spelling but it is one of the most popular dive shops on the Island. Anyway man this post is huge I am sorry but I cannot say enough about that place it will forever remain in my heart. ENJOY!!!!


Dan

Hope this was helpful

Fantastic! I'm super stoked. Thanks a bunch, Dan