need your help with incredible Dive Canada Adventure.

My wife and I are embarking on an incredible adventure mid next year. We have decided to drive and dive our way across Canada. We will be starting in Halifax NS with a base in Cape Breton for a few weeks. Once the easter ferry starts running we will be heading up to Newfoundland and from there we will be heading out west with the last stop being Vancouver Island.

The route is 100% decided by where the diving is good! This is were we need your help. What are the no-miss dive sites in your area, and why?

Once we have some great recommendations we will nail down the itinerary.

Thanks in advance for your help.

(I have posted this in each of the sub forums, if this is a no-no please let me know and I will delete the posts in question.)

"Google" Tobermory, Ontario (Fathom Five Provincial Park). It has some of the clearest water and best wreck diving in Canada. It's around 4 hours north of Toronto so I am not sure how that works with your driving route and your itinerary but you will LOVE the diving.

Bob

Another option that is not "far" from Tobermory / Manitoulin is the Straits of Mackinaw. Issue? It is in the US....norther Michigan. Rumour has it that it has some spectacular wrecks to dive. Just an option that would only take you a couple hours (~ 50 miles) over the border on a road you will pretty much have to be on anyway (through the Sault).


EDIT


Just to address the depth issue in the next post, many are within but close to the recreational depth (i.e. 100' to 130'). That is part of why the wrecks remain in such good shape. So it you like 45' then no need to cross the border.

Ontario top spots:
Tobermory (wrecks and clear water)
Kingston (wrecks n drift)
Brockville (wrecks n drift) and Prescott St.Lawrence
Niagara River for faster drift in Niagara region
As ScubaSteve said, there are more wrecks in the straits too. Many that are quite deep AFAIK.

In Quebec, the only spot i heard about was the Empress of Ireland wreck

In Newfoundland, there are wrecks and very cold water....but apparently with many soft corals. see
Newfoundland Wrecks

lakes
Lake Ontario
Huron
Lake Erie
Lake Michigan



West of Ontario....no clue!

Please post all your final findings so we can all tak advantage of the list

Perhaps you could provide your skill level as it may reduce the option list.

Be sure to dive the breakwater at Ogden Point (in Victoria, BC) and head up to the Port Hardy area. Campbell River area diving is also amazing for colourful invertebrate life.

Waterton Lake and Lake Minnewanka in Alberta are my normal dive sites, ideal for practicing skills without the unwanted distractions of stunning scenery or great visibility.

If you are going to Newfoundland then check out:
Home

The water is quite cold but the biggest problem you will face is not wanting to leave.
Ontario locations:
Tobermory
Brockville
Kingston

and on your way West a detour to the Straits of Mackinaw would be very rewarding.

Hope you have planned plenty of time for this trip. St. John's to Victoria is almost 7500KM without any side trips

You might want to skip Quebec entirely unless you pony up for FQAS license. You can get away w/o FQAS doing only shore dives, but that limits you to quarries or canals.

No dive operator will let you dive w/o it. However, it's 55$ per diver (approx).

Worthwhile to get to dive Les Escoumins in the Tadoussac / Rimouski area (wall drift dive, cold salt water).

In and around Montreal, most people go to quarries or lakes, the St-Lawrence seaway has great places in Ontario - I haven't been to any yet. Only Lac St-Francois, which is really the St-Lawrence river backed-up because of hydro dams in the Valleyfield area. Slight current.

If you want to do anything in Quebec, I can recommend you talk with Stoni or Marie-Êve of Einstein Scuba (einsteinscuba.com), they will recommend you the better spots, get you up to speed about FQAS and the "better" dive destinations of Quebec.

Both speak English, Marie-Êve speaks also French and Stoni speaks German.
Nanook speaks Wouf.

Thanks all for the great tips. Right now we are starting to plan our trip and we will surely share the plans as well as blog about the trip.

The plan is to take several weeks to do this trip as we are relocating to Vancouver Island after the adventure.

Great tip on the FQAS. My understanding is that as long as you can show the right experience level you do not have to do any supervised dives. Is this correct? our local dive hole is Geneva Lake in Switzerland so dark, no-vis, deep and cold is no news to us...

Another detail question: Is it necessary to do a medical check like in France to get the FQAS?

FQAS is just to certify that you're not an idiot DSD diving in unsafe conditions.
It was instigated after numerous Quebec deaths, that would have been prevented, had basic guidelines been followed.

It's basically a 10 question form, then a single checkout dive with 3 essential skills + buoyancy. Like mask removal, buddy breathing simulating out of air.
No medical test.
It has to be done with an instructor-level FQAS recognized diver, that fills out the info on the website. This costs the dive op at least 30$, plus the instructor's time, air, gear usage. You can bank on it costing you more than 55$ per person.

Not a single dive operator will take you on their boat / excursion if you don't have FQAS. They'll face fines & such. Shores are not policed for this, you can rent tanks & weights and shore dive.

Because quarries are on private land, some guides / operators don't push FQAS on their students.

My understanding is that as long as you can show the right experience level you do not have to do any supervised dives. Is this correct?

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No. You won't get on the boat w/o FQAS. You won't get gear/air in a "tourist" dive spot. If something bad happens to you, they trace the equipment back to the shop, the shop is in serious trouble. They won't risk it, unless you do a private dive in a private quarry (private land) WITH their guide as part of a "group".

Up to you to decide if it's worth the possibly extra 200$ and time to do the exam + checkout dive. Might add an extra day to your stay, something to consider.

Mark Derail:

It's basically a 10 question form, then a single checkout dive with 3 essential skills + buoyancy. Like mask removal, buddy breathing simulating out of air.
No medical test.

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There is a temporary FQAS permit you can get. You need to bring your log book and certification card. I went to Sharkys in Ottawa, great service there.

$16 a person and it is good for 30 days of diving in Quebec.

Sharkys employee was very nice, gentlemen from France, very knowledgeable about it all. Asked us questions, looked at our dive cards and log book and takes about 5 minutes per person.