BC diving reccomendations
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Sunshine Coast Tours - Bryce Christie is a diver and knows the area.
He suggested we stay at Lowe's resort. It was affordable, scenic (Eagles) and they have a compressor at their dock. Bryce booked it for us and we were very happy. Have returned several times.
There are great walls, reefs and bays.
Bryce helped our Dive Club by doing most of the arrangments and Pender Harbour is only a 30 min ferry ride + 1 hr drive from Horshoe Bay, Vancouver.
Sunshine Coast Tours
If the conditions are calm, ask to go Anderson Bay on Texada Island - It is a bit of a ride ~1 hour, but is a very nice wall and protected bay dive.
He suggested we stay at Lowe's resort. It was affordable, scenic (Eagles) and they have a compressor at their dock. Bryce booked it for us and we were very happy. Have returned several times.
There are great walls, reefs and bays.
Bryce helped our Dive Club by doing most of the arrangments and Pender Harbour is only a 30 min ferry ride + 1 hr drive from Horshoe Bay, Vancouver.
Sunshine Coast Tours
If the conditions are calm, ask to go Anderson Bay on Texada Island - It is a bit of a ride ~1 hour, but is a very nice wall and protected bay dive.
you have to head up to Powell river and do some shore dives there. in powell river theres Don's dive shop for your air fills and if you want to do some boat diving. Dive Mermaid cove. 9' bronze mermaid.. very very nice shore dive. we will be there sept 13-18 if ya want to hook up and do some dives. we were there last year. nice diving..
I dove with Porpoise Bay Charters a few times and have nothing but praise for them. Great diving, everything from drift to wreck to flora/fauna. The are located in Sechelt on the Sunshine Coast.
http://www.porpoisebaycharters.com/
Good luck, I don't think you would be disapointed.
http://www.porpoisebaycharters.com/
Good luck, I don't think you would be disapointed.
I done some diving in Barkley Sound out of Port Alberti, but the majority of time has been in Nanaimo. I got some information out of NW Dive News which lists a number of operators in the area. You might try contacting some of the dive shops in the Seattle area to see who they recommend. Good luck, you'll love the diving up north.
jimisurf
Contributor
I would also recommend Pourpoise Bay charters, I dove the Chardiere with them in December. Other good spots include "under the power lines" and Fearney Bluffs in Agamemnon Channel. A night dive at Coopers Green is quite good too. Look for the Octo den at about 55 feet on the West side of the island (He's huge!).
Have fun!!
Jimi
Have fun!!
Jimi
Shadow
Contributor
I have been diving in Powell River and along the Sunshine Coast, including the Chaudiere and Skookumchuk Narrows. It's okay, but I was not impressed. If you are coming up here, go to Vancouver Island, and dive around Campbell River/Quadra Island. It's about the same amount of travel time as the Sunshine Coast. And the weather is better on the east coast of the island. There is no comparison between the diving on the Sunshine Coast and Campbell River area.
My experience with the boat dive out of Egmont on the Sunshine Coast was terrible. The boat operator was so obnoxious that I actually started to cry! How embarrassing. For the "drift dive", he put us in the water, and instructed us to swim one direction until we hit 1500 psi, then swim back! What kind of a drift dive is that? What's the point of having a live boat, if I have to swim back to it? And there wasn't much life. It was a huge disappointment. I can let you know the operator's name if you PM me. There's basically no life on the Chaudiere, and it's the same type of ship as the Columbia, which you can dive out of Campbell River.
So don't waste your time going up the Sunshine Coast. It's good for us locals who have the time to do it all, but if you want the best, go to Campbell River/Quadra. Dive with Abyssal. Earl, the owner, is an excellent fellow. He'll take out as few as two people at a time. When I opted to abort the second dive due to nausea, Earl dove with my husband while I drove the boat! He's great. In fact, I'm going back to stay at his lodge next weekend, and I am so excited. The diving is superb. You won't see anything like it anywhere else, except around that area (Campbell River to Port Hardy). But you have to be comfortable in current. For more info, here's his web address:
www.abyssal.com
Enjoy your trip!
My experience with the boat dive out of Egmont on the Sunshine Coast was terrible. The boat operator was so obnoxious that I actually started to cry! How embarrassing. For the "drift dive", he put us in the water, and instructed us to swim one direction until we hit 1500 psi, then swim back! What kind of a drift dive is that? What's the point of having a live boat, if I have to swim back to it? And there wasn't much life. It was a huge disappointment. I can let you know the operator's name if you PM me. There's basically no life on the Chaudiere, and it's the same type of ship as the Columbia, which you can dive out of Campbell River.
So don't waste your time going up the Sunshine Coast. It's good for us locals who have the time to do it all, but if you want the best, go to Campbell River/Quadra. Dive with Abyssal. Earl, the owner, is an excellent fellow. He'll take out as few as two people at a time. When I opted to abort the second dive due to nausea, Earl dove with my husband while I drove the boat! He's great. In fact, I'm going back to stay at his lodge next weekend, and I am so excited. The diving is superb. You won't see anything like it anywhere else, except around that area (Campbell River to Port Hardy). But you have to be comfortable in current. For more info, here's his web address:
www.abyssal.com
Enjoy your trip!
Port Hardy, Campbell River are great. Barkeley Sound is also great but it is on the westcoast of VI. Texada Island is probably nice but I haven't been there. Does anyone know about CortezIsland?:rfish:
akforsyth
Contributor
I have done some great diving off of Prince Rupert. Namely around the Rushton Islands. Just another thought if you would like to go further north. The area is one of very low use, so the chances of you ever seeing another diver other than ones with you is basically none. Great town too...
Earl is a genuine gourmet chef... his wife is a sous chef... you eat... very well... dives are at slack and in between dives you return to the lodge to eat some more. For three days at Earls plan on three weeks dieting to get it back off.
Nothing to do with diving but:
Prince Rupert... hmmm... my last experience with PR was not a happy one.... summer of '97 on our way back from Alaska... dead tired we anchored across from town in 100' of water only to be swarmed by fishboats anchoring all around us... we pulled up anchor at 0 dark 30 and got out of Dodge... things just didn't feel right... arriving in Campbell River even more tired we read in the newspaper that all the fishboats that had amassed around us that night had ended up blockading the Alaska State Ferry at daybreak. I figured from that little experience that we 'mericans were not welcome in PR.
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