JJ1:
Hey Ya'll
Just wondering if there's anyone on here from the great city of cowtown....
As well as outdoor diving - any diver friendly pools in the city?
There's bee a few replies to your message already, but I'd like to throw in my vote(s) for the Dive Shop and Aquasport as dive shops. Both run by excellent, knowledgeable, people; and you'll be hard pressed to beat their prices.
http://www.aquasportscuba.com/
http://www.diveshopscuba.com/
As for dive sites, there is a lot around Calgary, a few in it, but for the good stuff we all head west. The $100 and hour’s flight are well worth it.
Dives in Calgary:
"The hole": a deep spot in the river, by the zoo. Good place to grab junk, but noting else worth seeing. Enjoyed it when I was young, couldn't pay me to dive there now. :icosm12:
Sundance lake/Mindipore lake/Coral Springs lake. These are community lakes, where if you're fortunate enough to live in those communities, you can dive. Some shops now use them for open water. Pretty boring though. :snore:
Glenmore reservoir: Contaminate Calgary’s water supply, spend a night in jail, and dive our most exclusive dive site all at once! We don't actually dive there. I fell into it once as a kid, and got lectured by a cop for hours. So although it may seem like a good idea to dive there, don't. It is, however, the biggest body of standing water in Calgary, and probably the deepest thing within a 2 hour drive of cowtown. :klo: :water:
Dives around town:
Lake minnewanka: has been flooded 3x since the late 1800's. Old dam is still accessible from shore, as are some bridge pilings and foundations. Check out my gallery for a few photo's. In the middle of the lake are the remnants of an old town, complete with hotel. Never been there, but hear that it's cool. There's also a second lake close by, shallow, boring, but a common place for dive training. It's also where a lot of lost our cold water "cherries". :devil_2:
Waterton lake: The wreak of an old stern-wheeler paddle boat can be found in this lake. There is also a series of cliffs popular with divers for practicing deep dives. For the showboats, you can dive in the basin of Cameron falls. Shallow, but incredibly clear. Plus busloads of Japanese and American tourists to watch your every move. :martian:
Japer park: A few dives, the most "famous" being the wreak of a WWII top secret, experimental, super-secret-spy boat. 007 kinda stuff :theyareon Actually, it was a refrigeration barge which they tried to use to make a man-made iceberg. Idea being that you could use it as an aircraft carrier. And really, who's going to attack an iceberg anyways? (Un?)fortunately WWII came to a close, so Canada's super-secret plans to rule the world had to be put off :14:
???: Somewhere south of Calgary they just dammed a new lake. I forget where it is, or what it's called, but they put in a divers playground. Last I heard it was flooded, but visibility was in the sub-millimeter range, so it probably won't be divable for a few years. The bad vis has something to do with hundreds of square kilometers of flooded, rotting prairie I believe...
Forget-me-not pond: THE initiation site for the virgin cold-water diver. Fed by deep mountain springs, the temperature of this water is always just above freezing. But it is clear, and there is an occasional fish/beaver to juice things up. Some friends and I make it an annual trip. Drive out, BBQ, and then night dive. Unless you screw up, you can watch the stars and moon rise through 20' of water! :moon::11star:
Also, all dives around here are altitude dives, so if you're not familier with that you'll need to learn how to deal with it. Most shops offer a course, but most divers around here can teach it to you in a few seconds. It's just another table, or a button on your computer.
Hope this helps, and welcome to the wild west
Bryan
14ft Depth. Weekday only.
