Any divemasters on Galiano Island or Saturna Island?

[CalgaryTony]

Hello, Me and my son (age 18) will be visiting Galiano Island 5-12th August 2017 and Saturna Island 12-19th August. We will be diving from Victoria the week before, but just wondering if there are any divemasters who would be willing to show us some diving on either of these Islands (in which case we will take tanks and weights with us). We have 7mm wetsuits with 7mm farmer john and hood, not drysuits and don't have a great deal of experience (100 and 50 dives each, PADI AOW and SDI Rescue Diver certs, warm ocean dives and cold lake dives in Alberta, but no cold ocean diving experience before this trip). I understand there are no scuba facilities on these islands, so we could only dive the tanks we take, but would be nice to do a dive if possible, I just haven't been able to find anyone who dives at these islands, so any suggestions appreciated. Not knowing the area and understanding there can be strong currents we would like to dive with a divemaster with local knowledge. Thanks Tony.

 

[West.Coast.Diver]

Both of these islands have few inhabitants, so it's unlikely you'll find someone there to help you given low population and no support facilities. Best bet would be to see about charters and guides from one of the Victoria-area dive shops to see if they could help you. If you want to dive around Vancouver Island, there are other options.

 

[CalgaryTony]

Thanks, I had contacted Rockfish Divers, Wilson Divers and Ogden Point with the same question, no reply yet from 2 (I only sent them the message last week though) and the other one did not know of anyone on those islands. We will be diving with at least one of these shops the week before from Victoria so maybe we can make some arrangements with them as you suggested, also the VRBOs we are renting didn't know anyone, so this was my last option, thought it was worth a shot. If we just end up snorkelling, biking, hiking, kayaking and drinking beer its not a total loss

 

[Divegoose]

Rockfish Divers would be a good choice. I believe they have charters that run from Brentwood Bay.

Divegoose

 

[CalgaryTony]

Thanks Divegoose, I spoke with someone at Rockfish and we will do a Saanich Inlet charter with them to see how we like cold water diving in the ocean, then decide how much diving we want to do in the area.

 

[Divegoose]

Glad to be of assistance. Its been a while since I dove in the Saanich Inlet, but there are some very nice dives.

If you dive in a wet suit in Lake Minnewanka, you can handle the cold of the west coast waters.

Divegoose