Cambell River Bound, hopefully!!

[Narcist21]

My buddies and I dove Sanich(sp?) Inlet a couple months ago and absolutely loved it. Coming from California I was expecting the same type of enviroment/vis. When I jumped in and saw easily 60'+ I was shocked. We dove for a couple days and during the time I was told that we really needed to make it up to Port Hardy or Cambell River during the winter. That's where the really good action is at! So now we've been given short notice that we're going to pull in to Esquipmalt in a couple weeks, but none of us brought any gear. My plan is to rent a car and drive up Friday night, dive Sat/Sun, and drive back down Sun. night. The problem is who can I get dive gear from (everything- I need a drysuit too) and who to dive with, my timeframe is pretty short. I sent an email off to Earl (abysmal), but haven't heard anything back yet. Anybody here have some suggestions? Is this feasible, are the Olympics having any effect on this side of the sound?

Thanks,
Zach

 

[Acanthurus]

We rented Fusion dry suits from these guys and they treated us really well

Frank Whites Dive Shop

 

[cooldives]

Earl is usually pretty good about getting in contact with divers that we refer to Abyssal, so you might want to try phoning him just in case the email didn't go through?

You might consider diving around Chemainus as well with Peter from 49th Parallel, or Nanaimo with Ken from Divers Choice. If you are looking for more suggestions or help booking, PM me or see cooldives.com

 

[Narcist21]

I got my reply from Earl, unfortunately he's not doing the lodging/meals anymore. My problem now is being able to rent all the gear and return it Sunday night since we get underway early Monday morning. I sent an email out to Frank Whites to see what the latest time we could return the gear Sunday night was. That'll determine the feasibility of diving Sunday too! I hope this works out.

 

[CR Diver]

You can try Pacific Pro Dive & Surf. Although the shop is in Courtenay the charter boat is in Campbell River (32' full weld all. w/ heated cabin). If you go onto the website and/or use the link to facebook you can get accomodations (Whiskey Point Resort on Quadra) and diving for $135.00 a night. Also get all your gear needs with dry suits for rent. Gear rental is $75.00 a day, Bill will most likely swing in the drysuits if your doing multiple days for very little if anything. Bill will bring your gear up in the morning, and take it back after diving.
Pacific Pro Dive Toll free: 1-877-800-3483
website Pacific Pro Dive Ltd or search Pacific Pro Dive Ltd.
Check out Whiskey Point Resort website for accomodations.
Have fun, Chuck

 

[wedivebc]

I got my reply from Earl, unfortunately he's not doing the lodging/meals anymore. My problem now is being able to rent all the gear and return it Sunday night since we get underway early Monday morning. I sent an email out to Frank Whites to see what the latest time we could return the gear Sunday night was. That'll determine the feasibility of diving Sunday too! I hope this works out.

You can rent gear and DUI drysuit from Nanaimo Dive Outfitters
They are friends of mine and they will probably let you drop it off at my place Sunday on your way south. I am about 25 minutes north of Nanaimo
Let me know if I can help you somehow

 

[Narcist21]

I've got emails out to all of them to see if this can happen. Thanks for the information!

 

[cooldives]

Any luck yet? I hope you get your dives in!

 

[Narcist21]

It all came off great. We didn't get to dive in Campbell River, because of logistical issues but did five great dives in Nanaimo. We used Nanaimo Dive Outfitters for the gear and Diver's Choice for the charter. Both were outstanding and great to work with. I got to use a DUI CF200 for the drysuit rental, which was my first working with a compressed neoprene drysuit. Boy, was that thing warm. Now it's got me thinking about upgrading from my trilams, however the additional weight required is a drawback. The dives with Ken from Diver's Choice were outstanding. I didn't realize the # of wrecks out there! I'll definetly go back as his charter service was outstanding! We had between 40-70' of vis, coming from California I'd say it was incredible.

 

[cooldives]

Awesome - glad it worked out for you!