DIVE BRITISH COLUMBIA

[Louie]

I've spent over ten years in the Lower Mainland of BC and my experience is only limited to the Vancouver area but I've heard rave reviews from serious BC divers about Port Alberni.

It's a bit of a distance but it would make a pleasant trip on land as well (the western side of Vancouver Island is very scenic and relatively unspoilt).

 

[canuckton]

I'm on Vancouver Island and I do the bulk of my diving here. If anyone is looking to dive here, or for a guide, lemme know. Might I say that a trip here without a dive on Hornby Island to look for six gills (hexanchus griseus) would be incomplete.

Race Rocks is great, Port Hardy amazing, and the Saanich Inlet is fantastic due to the slow movement of water but high tides and extreme stratification of the water, both in temperature and salinity. There are lots of wrecks to dive because of the Artificial Reef Society.

It was 63 degrees on the surface in the Inlet today!!

 

[Boston Baz]

Anyone heard anything pro or con about Sun Fun charters in Port McNeil?

 

[ColdH2Odvr]

I’ve been up to Gods Pocket (a little north of Port Hardy) three times and plan to go back once or twice a year if I can. The diving is exquisite and Bill and Annie run a great show. Browning Pass and Browning Wall are world famous for good reason. This is the best cold water diving I have ever done. The life is like the Puget Sound on steroids with tropical visibility.

If your looking for a place to go diving in BC, I’d put this way up on your list. See www.godspocket.com

Dave

I've added a pic of one of the natives for good measure.

 

[diverjed]

I wish I would've seen one of these bad boys when I was out there.

 

[JeffG]

Since Victoria is the closest Diving Location for me, I invested the money ($20 Can, which must around $1.25 US these days;-0) and bought the Vancouver Island South Dive Guide (found at http://dive.bc.ca/ or at the local dive shops). Its great for planning dive trips. (I love diving in the Victoria area, But One day, I hope, I get a chance to dive in some warm water (and not the self-inflicted warm water dive )

 

[RSdiver]

I was Vice President of Seattle's oldest dive club for a while and used to run weekend trips to BC's inside passage for the budget minded. We would stay at Lowe's resort (Pender Harbour) and SCUBA Dive with Bruce Christie's Sunshine Coast Tours [url]http://www.sunshinecoasttours.com/scuba.html[/URL] . We loved diving the Malaspina Strait, Texada Island, Agemmemnon (sp?) channel, The scuttled destroyer "Chaudiere" and the "ulltra killer" Skookumchuk passage which is a VERY narrow pass that is the only that feeder for three large Inlets and is only diveable a few days out of the year when it isn't rolling at 15 knots.
Bryce is very friendly and accomodating, I would let him put our itinerary together and we were never dissappointed.

Yeah, I've been to Port Hardy, Barkeley Sound, Nanaimo, Quadra Island, Campbell River and they are all great with helpful and friendly Canadiens (eh?), but when it comes to a convenient, close in diving I always chose the Sunshine Coast.

I would suggest having Bryce take you to Anderson Bay on Texada Island, absolutely fantastic cloud sponges the size of Volkswagens and a 4 meter Octopus (armtip-to-armtip) have been seen there.

Kind regards

 

[diverkim]

The diving is fantastic around Vancouver Island. Definitely if one is a keen diver then they have to dive VI.
Octopuses, wolf eels, sea lions, six gill and dogfish sharks, lingcod, plumose anemones, Pacific whitesided dolphins, cloud sponges, nudibranchs, rockfish, Puget Sound crabs, etc...
Real heart-thumping drift diving, wreck diving, deep diving...Viz can be 30+ meters depending on where and which season.
Can't wait to get back and try Port Hardy for the first time.

I also am keen on diving the rivers on VI. Cowichan, Nanaimo, and Campbell Rivers were great: salmon, trout, crayfish, fresh water sponge.ut:

 

[diverdeb001]

I'm on Vancouver Island and I do the bulk of my diving here. If anyone is looking to dive here, or for a guide, lemme know. Might I say that a trip here without a dive on Hornby Island to look for six gills (hexanchus griseus) would be incomplete.

Race Rocks is great, Port Hardy amazing, and the Saanich Inlet is fantastic due to the slow movement of water but high tides and extreme stratification of the water, both in temperature and salinity. There are lots of wrecks to dive because of the Artificial Reef Society.

It was 63 degrees on the surface in the Inlet today!!

I'm considering a trip to Vancouver in June. Would I need my dry suit?? debbie

 

[ColdH20diving]

We head out to Nanaimo a couple times a year, the only other place we gone to was Port Alberni. The diving is excellent and we always have a great time. My only complaint, the US dollar exchange rate isn't what it used to be...