Help w/ Dive Shop/operator

[TURTLE696]

I will be in Vancouver Sept. 22-25. I want to dive on Friday and Sat. Can anyone give me some Dive shops/operators I can use. What kind of water temp. to get ready for.
Any info will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[deepdiverbc]

I will be in Vancouver Sept. 22-25. I want to dive on Friday and Sat. Can anyone give me some Dive shops/operators I can use. What kind of water temp. to get ready for.
Any info will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Where is League City?

Anyway, here is a list of local dive shops.

http://dive.bc.ca/links/stores.html#vancouver

They are all pretty good shops and I haven't had experiences with all of them but recently did a dive with Ocean Pro in White Rock that was well organized and lots of fun.

 

[TURTLE696]

Where is League City?

Anyway, here is a list of local dive shops.

http://dive.bc.ca/links/stores.html#vancouver

They are all pretty good shops and I haven't had experiences with all of them but recently did a dive with Ocean Pro in White Rock that was well organized and lots of fun.

Texas and thank you for the list.

 

[deepdiverbc]

Texas and thank you for the list.

In case you aren't aware I should mention that the best diving is not near downtown Vancouver.

You should consider Nanaimo, Victoria, Seachelt or even better go north up Vancouver Island to Quadra or Port Hardy for some advanced dives.

 

[TURTLE696]

In case you aren't aware I should mention that the best diving is not near downtown Vancouver.

You should consider Nanaimo, Victoria, Seachelt or even better go north up Vancouver Island to Quadra or Port Hardy for some advanced dives.

I will be flying into Vancouver Int. and renting a car around 6pm on Sept 22. My flight home is around noon on the 25th. I do not mind driving to the best dive area. I can book a room in that area if that would be better. I just want to dive as much as I can
those 2 days.

 

[JustinF]

I didn't see anyone comment on temps, I would say around 50of give or take 5.

I highly recommend Ocean Quest for a shop, I love those guys & gals! They are about a 20min drive from the Airport, very easy to get to.

 

[deepdiverbc]

I will be flying into Vancouver Int. and renting a car around 6pm on Sept 22. My flight home is around noon on the 25th. I do not mind driving to the best dive area. I can book a room in that area if that would be better. I just want to dive as much as I can
those 2 days.

Considering your schedule I would recommend Nanaimo because you can get there in 3-4 hours from the airport. Port Hardy and Quadra Island are better dive sites but add another 2-4 hours travel time. It would be difficult to make it to these areas on Thursday night and back Sunday morning for the noon flight.

Nanaimo has some great wreck diving sites and also some good current driven dive sites which is where you life is. You could book with Sundown Diving, Ocean Explorers or any other outfit on the list I sent and stay at the Buckaneer Inn which is close to the harbor and caters to divers.

http://www.thebuccaneerinn.com/

If however you want to tour a city, stay at 4 star hotels and enjoy fine dining you could consider Victoria which might fit your schedule. Dive sites such as Race Rocks, Ten Mile Point and the shore dive at Ogden Point would be good choices. There is also a wreck dive on the HMCS Mackenzie but the tides have to be right to dive it unlike Nanaimo where you only have to worry about windy days to access the wreck sites.

If you wanted a third choice you could attemp to pull of a trip to Quadra Island and dive with Abyssal Charters.http://www.abyssal.com/ To do this you should ideally book a flight from Vancouver to Campbell River on Thursday night then return from Quadra by rental car after your dives on Saturday to get to Vancouver late that night. This trip is possible but would require more planning. If you do this you should reserve your spot on the ferry from Nanaimo to Vancouver for Saturday evening just to make things run smoother.

Have fun. Let me know if you need more information on anything.

 

[TURTLE696]

Thank both of you for your help.

 

[TURTLE696]

Ttt

 

[KrisB]

is the only reason for your trip to dive? If not, and you need to be in Vancouver for other times, then going to Nanaimo, Victoria, etc. is not in your best interest (the ferry crossing is more than $50 each way, and takes a couple hours).