JJHACK
Registered
Well, we had a great week of diving. My wife is a very new diver with 12 dives when we arrived, but she really got a lot of good experience this week. We also had the absolute pleasure of diving with the author Andy Lamb on the boat! He is not only incredibly knowlegable about PNW sea life but a very nice guy to share diving with.
We dove the Rivtow wreck twice, snake island on the SE side and then again on the NE side with the seals. If you just hold still in this place the seals will swarm you to see what you are doing there. It's a photography dream for seals. Visibility as about the same everyplace, 30-40 feet or possibly more, even when getting down to 75 feet plus. ( my wife did not dive this deep)
Another great location we visited was the HMCS Saskatchewan and another place called clark rock. The HMCS was too deep for my wife, but clark rock was a fabulous dive us both. We also did some shore dives which are so much fun in BC. The locations are well mapped by the dive shop and have very well done changing rooms made of wood with benches and clothing hooks, with an attached outhouse next to the facilities.
Put simply the diving is better than anything I have experienced yet in the sound or seattle area, and in all but one location I was the only vehicle in the parking lot! I really like diving Alki cove two but the parking is a pain. Nanaimo BC is a pure joy to do a week long trip and dive multiple amazing locations with no crowds or traffic to deal with.
We used our camp trailer for the base camp and stayed in the " Living Forest" RV park. It's private but so heavily wooded it's much more like a state forest campground. Plus they have a great ice cream shop down by the inlet over look.
This is certainly a place I will dive again soon. Steve and Shirley at the Nanaimo dive shop were so helpful in pointing out the best places and in helping us make good decisions for the proper locations to choose from for my wifes level of experience. Their Dive boat Shepard Charters is custom built for diving with the platform being about 5" from the surface of the water. Steve and Shirley are both 15 year plus technical divers and know the area as well as anyone.
We dove the Rivtow wreck twice, snake island on the SE side and then again on the NE side with the seals. If you just hold still in this place the seals will swarm you to see what you are doing there. It's a photography dream for seals. Visibility as about the same everyplace, 30-40 feet or possibly more, even when getting down to 75 feet plus. ( my wife did not dive this deep)
Another great location we visited was the HMCS Saskatchewan and another place called clark rock. The HMCS was too deep for my wife, but clark rock was a fabulous dive us both. We also did some shore dives which are so much fun in BC. The locations are well mapped by the dive shop and have very well done changing rooms made of wood with benches and clothing hooks, with an attached outhouse next to the facilities.
Put simply the diving is better than anything I have experienced yet in the sound or seattle area, and in all but one location I was the only vehicle in the parking lot! I really like diving Alki cove two but the parking is a pain. Nanaimo BC is a pure joy to do a week long trip and dive multiple amazing locations with no crowds or traffic to deal with.
We used our camp trailer for the base camp and stayed in the " Living Forest" RV park. It's private but so heavily wooded it's much more like a state forest campground. Plus they have a great ice cream shop down by the inlet over look.
This is certainly a place I will dive again soon. Steve and Shirley at the Nanaimo dive shop were so helpful in pointing out the best places and in helping us make good decisions for the proper locations to choose from for my wifes level of experience. Their Dive boat Shepard Charters is custom built for diving with the platform being about 5" from the surface of the water. Steve and Shirley are both 15 year plus technical divers and know the area as well as anyone.
