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Martin i haven't dove with ocean Quest charters, BUT iv heard some really good things about them. Everyone i talked to who's dove there has loved the diving well worth it. Flying to and from newfoundland is crazy expensive dunno what to tell you about that.
Martin,
Oceanquest has the best facilities and boat and they're great about customer service. There are cheaper alternatives though. I'm not sure of email addresses but if you do some looking around on the net or yellow pages, you can find other dive shops. I did some shore dives with a place called The Dive Center (http://www.thedivecenter.ca/) and had a great time. There's another site called dive newfoundland that you might want to try. I don't know anything about them though.
I don't know much about the other shops (well, I do, but not re: guided dives), but I would suggest that there's not going to be a substantial difference between their prices anyway. It's the industry you're up against, and the fact that it's in NL - people pay dearly for these things...very costly trips, indeed. I know what you mean about the expensive side of coming here. What NL'er or tourist doesn't? :-)
I can say from experience that Ocean Quest is a great crowd, as jiveturkey was saying. They're probably your best bet for sure as you'll get the best bang for your buck there, IMHumbleO.
Yup, if you wanna see the Bell Island Wrecks, OceanQuest have the best set-up to do that...The competition will cost you about half of what OQ charges...But OQ has been diving these Wrecks regularily for 10 years...they have the best Set-UP! If your coming all the way from Montreal...you might as well spend the extra $$$ and get what you paid for. Most people are happy with what they get from OQ. The Bell Island Wrecks are amazing. I recommend that you be at least Advanced Cert with a year or two's experience before diving the wrecks.
I'm coming to NL this summer! I've seen the photos and that is about the prettiest sight I've ever seen. However, I'm also a lot more fortunate than the average guy in Montreal and I have air miles...
My objective was to organise a dive club type of event and that is simply not possible with people earning a average of 30K CAD a year and airfare/dive charter that deer. How much do you earn in average in NL? 100K?
In Northern Europe, dive travel was well affordable with that kind of salary (30K), here with 100$ seen as coffee money, it isn't.
I know the dive charter business quite well, we have a lot locally. You have to find a balance between filling your boat and paying for your expences and time. This is often a nightmare equation. Most dive charter people here do it for fun, not money. Still 130$ is prohibitive for anyone less dive crazy than me.....
Well you can enjoy great shore dives here for free! You don't have to take charter...unless you want to do wrecks.
You might also want to consider going to Nova Scotia...good shore dives there and lots of great wrecks off of Halifax and the Charters are cheaper... A plus is that you can drive there from Montreal in about 12 hrs... a negative is that the wrecks are not as nice as our's off of Bell Island.
Im trying to help you out bud, not give you a hard time...
First: Sorry if I sound harsh, not trying to be hard on anyone.
Just don't used to the hard commercial aspects of diving/travelling North America. Do you also have the issue of getting people into this sport because of $$$ limits?
How is the diving in Nova Scotia compared to NL? Heard it is supposed to be good. Compared to Deer Island, NB?
No worries... yes $$$ is a big consideration when it comes to diving especially here in NL...Probably the main reason why diving is not very popular down here.. NS is beautiful and you will get more for your $$$ there. I am from NL originally but spent over 20 yrs living in NS. So I am familiar with both... You will enjoy both NS and NL...but you will find that you will save on Food, Gasoline, Fills and Charters in NS... you will likely pay the same for accomadations in NS and NL. Good Luck and have a great and safe summer diving vacation, where ever you go.
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