Some pretty good diving here for sure, with lots of groups who regularly go out and dive. And if you get chance to head over to Vancouver Island there are many great sites for getting some amazing photographs - from Victoria to Port Hardy, there are many great shore and boat dives.
Enjoy your extended visit to BC!
I'll second this! But...mostly because I haven't dived the mainland.
I'm on my 7th year living on the island and can attest it is amazing diving. Grew up diving California (from north to south, mostly Monterey) so wasn't a big change as far as water temp (chilly, oddly have hit colder temps in Northern CA than here in BC), sea life ( mammals & fish ) & kelp.
Re: Vancouver Island diving
It's claimed Jacques Cousteau stated Vancouver Island as 'the best temperate water diving in the world and second only to the Red Sea' (perhaps apocryphal, but seen everywhere). I'm certain that this extends to all of the greater area (coastal BC / islands / WA & Puget Sound / etc ) so lots of great areas to explore.
Since you'll be around such a long time, I'd highly recommend the short ferry ride to the island. There's lots of great shore diving, photography/video opportunities, as well as several charter operations and dive clubs.
Re: Van Isl, Southern End
I'm on the south-end (near Victoria), so priv message me is you're interested in a dive buddy or more info about sites.
Starting point for greater victoria (where we do a lot of classes, easy entry/exit/depth) that's also great for sea life & photo/video is the Ogden Point break-water. Another great wall dive is Willis Point (wall continues from McKenzie Bight). 10Mile Point (watch currents/dive slack).
Re: Central
Lots of sites near Nanaimo, as well as dive operators (drop-in dives w/DM). Different ferry from northern Van lands there.
Re: Northern- out of Port Hardy
Search for God's Pocket/Browning Pass(wall). I dived about 1yr in Australia & had "talked up" our chilly waters. Had some friends from Oz come over & dived up north & they loved it....returned to Australia with tales confirming I wasn't lying about the quality of diving (i.e. worth putting on the drysuit).
Re: Western side
Barkley Sound also has some highly rated diving. I haven't dived there yet (shame), but am booked at Rendezvous Aug 8-10th so will report back.
There have been various locations around the island, over the years, which have had some frequent visits by our rare 6-gill shark. The current "hot spot" is Barkey Sound (crossing fingers, don't jinx myself).
Re: in general
Summer can be a bit (ok, more than a bit) pea-soupy. Often winter can be best viz (similar to California). However, it really varies... and often with a bit of depth it can clear up substantially (like from can't see fins to 40-50ft+). You can get those amazing 100ft+ viz days, and everything in-between.
It's all chilly up here - so your drysuit will come in handy.
Re: highlights
We've got our giant pacific red octopus (can even reach 20ft tip-to-tip), wolf eels (very common at aforementioned Ogden Pt in Victoria), lots of color & dense life, things seem to grow big in our challenging (cold/currents) water ( survival of fittest?
), marine mammals (otter/seals/seal lions), & cetaceans (more common from shore/boat & only rare story of a glimpse u/w).
Didn't mean to hijack the "Vancouver" topic & take it into Vancouver "Island", but I would recommend hitting the island a few times when you're just a short ferry ride away (either north to Nanaimo or south to Vicotoria/Saanich).
Happy Bubbling in BC!
Doug
P.S. [edit] Just saw another post with some video from Race Rocks (near Victoria) -
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/we...ly-5-2014-race-rocks-near-victoria-video.html
