Has anyone been diving in the PEI (Canada) area?

Was just speaking to someone who was suggesting there is a Strait in PEI that has warm water influence from the Gulf of Mexico. And this strait has warm water year round. I'm attempting to locate a shore diving area to practice skills and would prefer to not drive all the way to Florida. Anyone familiar with this warm water in PEI or maybe North Carolina?
Michael

This person is pulling your leg!!! The water freezes over in the winter - it's probably about 45F right now.

In the summer the water in the Northumberland Strait (between New Brunswick & PEI) is the warmest body of water north of the Carolinas. You may have heard of Parlee Beach in Shediac? People flock there for the warm summer water.

But in the winter it's still mighty cold.

KimInNB:

This person is pulling your leg!!! The water freezes over in the winter - it's probably about 45F right now.

In the summer the water in the Northumberland Strait (between New Brunswick & PEI) is the warmest body of water north of the Carolinas. You may have heard of Parlee Beach in Shediac? People flock there for the warm summer water.

But in the winter it's still mighty cold.

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It did sound too good to be true. Cheers,
UM

Hey there under Michael... Met you on the river last year.... Water is a a nice 35F down here in Nfld right now... come on down...before it gets cold.

Definitely having you on. Not only does the strait freeze over, I've known people who snowmobiled across from PEI to NS and back. The ferry's at the NS-PEI end can;t run in the winter as it's too shallow to break ice (there has to be water underneath to break/move it ). Where the bridge is now, it's deeper and they used to run icebreakers. In the summer it was a 45 minute crossing, the longest winter crossing I was ever on was 5 hours, but I've heard of much longer ones)

We did 2 dives last summer inthe area of Gaspereaux and Panmure Island. (Do a Mapquest search on Murray Harbour, PE, it's just North of there). Dives were approx 60 minutes and 90 minutes and the max depth we found was 28 feet. Water temps the last week of August was 63F at depth and low 70's in the shallows. Saw lots of seaweed, some clams, scallops, lobster, a string of lost or abandoned lobster traps (we made sure they were all open so that no lobsters would be caught and die in there), some asst small fish, did I mention the seaweed. We had booked to do a charter on the North side (from North Rustico), but the weather didn't co-operate and we were blown out.

Diver Joe:

Hey there under Michael... Met you on the river last year.... Water is a a nice 35F down here in Nfld right now... come on down...before it gets cold.

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Hey Diver Joe, I hear there's some great wreck diving (at rec depths) from the Rock. Thirty-five F sounds kind of balmy
still. It was 36 F in the Lake at K-town yesterday at the Marine Museum. Did you manage a New Years dive?
Michael

I was on PEI, last summer, so, I picked up a broucher on the snorkelling exscursion some dive shop puts on, in the summer. I think I should check it out, some time. Are there any divers/snorkellers from the Island I can get in touch with, about these day trips? If there are any, Iwould really appreciate it if they could contact me. SnorkelCorey

Hi all.

I live in PEI, and can definitely tell you...there is no warm water here. Ever. Middle of July? Still way too frikken cold! I think the warmest I've ever recorded, on the hottest day of the warmest summer since I started diving over ten years ago, was in the range of 20 degrees...and yes, I know that's not bad, but remember, that's the BEST it's EVER been, and that was near the surface. Drop down twenty feed, and you hit a wonderful thermocline...

Despite the cold, I love diving here, but there are some other downsides. Visibility is only fair at best, and if you're used to Caribbean diving, you'll be disappointed in the lack of bright colors. Shore dives are also problematic, simply because our shoreline tends to slope very gently, making it difficult to find places where you can get beyond 15 or 20 feet of depth from shore without a very long swim.

That said, by all means plan to do some diving while you are here. Diver's Quarters and Black Dolphin Diving are two shops based in Charlottetown that could hook you up with other divers who would be happy to have someone to go for a dip with. I work for Diver's Quarters during the summer, doing commercial diving with aquaculture. I know I'm almost always up for a trip, and there are plenty of others who are generally willing to go out for a couple of evening or weekend dives. Once we have a group of six or eight, we can generally get one of the fishermen to take us out, and compared to most places, you'll probably find a charter quite inexpensive. There wouldn't necessarily be a dive master, though, we'd be on our own to explore.

And there are some nice spots to explore. I know of a couple of wrecks that make nice dives, especially the Tunstal, located in about 75' of water a short sail out of Covehead. She's not intact, but there is plenty of debris, and a few large sections still recognizable. There are some nice areas off of New London and Stanley Bridge (near Cavendish) as well, with plenty of marine life to see. (But remember...no bright colors!)

Hope to hear from you...or anyone else who is on PEI and looking for a dive buddy!

HI, nice to hear from someone 'back home'. We had hoped to get on a charter, but fairly strong North winds most of the week we were there. We stopped for fills at Diver's Quarters and thought they were great folks.
Temp's you're describing are pretty similar to what we have here in the Great Lakes. Surface temps in some area's might reach the low 70's and once you get East to the St. Lawrence (Brockville area), the thermocline disappears due to the current. But on the Kingston wrecks, even in late August when surface temps are in the low 70's, the temp on the wrecks can be mid 50's to low 40's, depending on depth. Often two thermoclines. We also lack the bright colours of Southern destinations, but we do have better wrecks.

Temps are the same in the bay of fundy.. Now I know that there are a couple dive shops in PEI, I may plan to come over from NB and visit maybe get a dive in or two with my buddy.. Glad this subject was brought up.