Heading to Nanaimo

[CA cowgirl]

Howdy northern divers! I am Gisele, a Monterey, California diver.

My brother and his wife who live in Nanaimo, are expecting a second baby very soon and I'd like to head up there to visit. Though I really also want to dive for a day or two in the local waters beforehand.

After doing some pool work last night in a bilaminate dry suit I think I'm going to need to order a Bare suit real quick in order to satiate my needs! I will be certified with advanced, dry suit and nitrox, as well as renew my Reef Check CA certification (fish/algae/invertibrate volunteer surveying) by the end of this month. And maybe come late April be ready to head to BC.

So what I'm looking for is a couple good divers to do some diving with. I'm doing a little research on the lay of the land, but am not certain where between the Vancouver airport and Nanaimo that I might be able to get some diving in. Ideally I'd like to find some dive sites close to the points where I could pick up the ferry (though I'm going to guess that Murphy's law will make that an unlikely situation). And I'd plan on renting my tanks and weights so that I don't have to hassle with those in transport.

Maybe we could work out a trade. You could gleam some benefits of meeting up with me and diving in Carmel, Monterey, maybe even up the north coast near Mendocino and do some abalone diving. I have yet to collect abalone, but I know of those who do and I'm going to get on that this season.

I've been diving a bit over a year, have 30 hours logged in California, 3 hours in Grenada, West Indies. I'm not the most experienced diver, don't dive doubles and am not a tech diver, but I know people! And I know many of the local dive shops, dive boat charters, where to rent gear, and live 70 miles (~1.25 hours) from Monterey.

Here's my limited underwater photo skills with my Cannon A630:
Gisele's Photobucket account

For what its worth I am an adventurous but cautious type. I love scuba, motorcycling, horseback riding and hope to learn to fly (fixed wing first, then definitely rotary when I can) sometime soon. Food is what I live for - thai, japanese, indian, steaks, korean, yum!! Maybe we have a little in common and you could lend me some help with setting me up on where I could dive, rent gear, hopefully you can join me too.

I've been scoping out swankenstein's photos all afternoon... boy has time flown by at work! But now, gotta run and prepare a letter for one of my attorneys. Thanks for reading, hope to hear from you. TTFN!

 

[Darnold9999]

Personally I would wait until I got to Naniamo to dive rather than try to dive in Vancouver. Once you are on the Island the diving is much better than over here. Naniamo is a good place to start, you have three artificial reefs/wrecks, Snake Island, Dodds Narrows and a host of other sites within a short boat ride. There are shore dives, but I am not familiar with them. Divers Choice Charters would be my first choice.

Further afield Quadra Island, Victoria, Barkley Sound, Port Hardy all have excellent diving.

 

[sunnyboy]

Welcome! You will LOVE diving in Nanaimo (well, I do anyway).

I would be happy to dive with you, but be warned - I dive a PRISM rebreather. Not to worry, I am happy to dive with most anyone who enjoys a good dive. I tend to spend time taking pictures these days, but always look forward to diving.

There are lots of good dives in the Nanaimo area. May I recommend you check out the Dive Outfitter's forum - that way you can explore some of the shore dives that have been posted, and get to meet the some of the divers around here.

The Dive Outfitters Forum :: Index

Cheers,

-S