New Diver in Vancouver

[LizSpinks]

Hi, I'm Liz.

This is an amazing resource. Have done lots of reading already. Particularly love the "what would you do if...." threads. Tons of safety info, and reinforcement of training.

My boyfriend and I first fell in love with snorkelling on Caribbean holidays. Then tried Discover Scuba in Mayan Riviera (Scuba Caribe at Grand Palladium), Dec 2010 and again in Zihuatenejo (Ixtapa Aqua Paradise at Barcelo), Feb 2011. Did our Open Water Certification at the Diving Locker (Paul Q.) in Vancouver with Tropical Referral to Cozumel for open water dives, Dec 2011. We used Buena Ventura Diving (Mario). After certification we got in two more dives down there. Nothing but really positive experiences so far and we're fast getting hooked!

I didn't realize scuba in our own backyard was so world-class, and also in order to scuba more than a couple of times a year on holiday we're planning on doing the DrySuit course and checking out the local area, probably starting with Tuwanek in August. Can't wait to get back underwater.

Any tips on great spots for new divers to gain experience would be appreciated. The currents here worry me a bit. Although we did do a drift dive in Cozumel and that was amazingly fun. Also the visibility here is another small worry, as I didn't find our Zihuatenejo dives as relaxing as the rest, having to worry about losing my buddy and DM.

Nice to meet you all,
Liz

 

[decompression]

Welcome to the board! There are so many sites on the coast and especially on the island (where I'm from) that you can enjoy. Locally, the most popular are white cliff and porteau cove. It's usually best to go to a local dive shop (LDS) and get more info and many offer free guided dives ( frank whites in Victoria for sure) so you can get experience at thoses sites. I highly recommend Ocean Quest, great staff and very helpful. Dives get easier with experience, and you change your focus from yourself to all the cool stuff around you. Enjoy!

 

[Scuba_Noob]

There are a ton of great spots close to Vancouver. The Pacific Northwest has some of the best diving in the world (though the very best in the area is on Vancouver Island ). My favorite dive sites in Vancouver are Kelvin Grove and Whytecliff. But Porteau Cove is good if you're willing to do a pretty long surface swim too, and I've heard good things about Ansell Point.

Of course, it'll be much more comfortable with a drysuit, so get that done. Once you have all your own equipment, everything is free (except for car gas, the yearly air fill card, and yearly gear inspection).

 

[Dr Dog]

Sounds like you kind of did the same as I did in getting certed. I went to Coz and did my referral and 10 ow dives after that. So I got a bit spoiled for the warm water, great viz and abundant marine life.

The biggest shock for me was the viz change. When you go from great down south, to about 20 ft here, until the silt got kicked up and then to zero viz. A bit unnerving when you lose even the surface at depth. But I did what I was supposed to, I lost my buddy, so I stayed where I was for a minute, and then slowly followed the bubbles to the surface.

You will be fine, just remember you can do it, you did your training, and diving cold water is a whole different scene, but remarkably similar. And when you can hold your trim and buoyancy in a 7mm with a hood and gloves on, you smile inside

 

[LizSpinks]

Welcome to the board! There are so many sites on the coast and especially on the island (where I'm from) that you can enjoy. Locally, the most popular are white cliff and porteau cove. It's usually best to go to a local dive shop (LDS) and get more info and many offer free guided dives ( frank whites in Victoria for sure) so you can get experience at thoses sites. I highly recommend Ocean Quest, great staff and very helpful. Dives get easier with experience, and you change your focus from yourself to all the cool stuff around you. Enjoy!

Thanks decompression.
I've been checking out some LDS websites and have noticed the guided dives. Will definitely give that a try once we have our drysuit course done. It's good to hear a recommendation for Ocean Quest. Earlier in the year, we went to the Vancouver Aquarium Dive Weekend and listened to Greg McCracken talking about Diving for a Living. We were impressed by both his competence and sense of fun, two very important diving characteristics, I'd say.
We love the ocean life in the Caribbean and are definitely looking forward to seeing the different stuff up here. Seals and Octupusses!!

---------- Post Merged at 03:00 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 02:50 PM ----------

There are a ton of great spots close to Vancouver. The Pacific Northwest has some of the best diving in the world (though the very best in the area is on Vancouver Island ). My favorite dive sites in Vancouver are Kelvin Grove and Whytecliff. But Porteau Cove is good if you're willing to do a pretty long surface swim too, and I've heard good things about Ansell Point.

Of course, it'll be much more comfortable with a drysuit, so get that done. Once you have all your own equipment, everything is free (except for car gas, the yearly air fill card, and yearly gear inspection).

Hi Scuba_Noob,
Thanks for the reply. I appreciate the list of sites. I'd heard of PC and WCliff, but I'll add Kelvin Grove and Ansell Point to my list to investigate. We haven't actually done a shore dive yet, so that will be new. We've been spoiled with what I've heard called Valet Diving (boat diving, a crew to look after the equipment). I'm sure the extra work and exercise humping kit will be worth it though.

Yes, I think you are spoiled on the Island. I came across the Browning Wall/Port Hardy diving descriptions and videos. Something to look forward to, after many more dives under my weight belt....

Equipment. That's a whole other research project (I like to research stuff thoroughly!). For now we have our snorkel, mask, fins (closed, *curses*), and the very next purchase before we dive again will be a safety kit: whistle, knife, light, tank banger, etc. Boyfriend/Dive Buddy and I have already been discussing this after I read the great "what to do if you lose your buddy" thread. Then a dive computer, and then... and then...

---------- Post Merged at 03:19 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 02:50 PM ----------

Sounds like you kind of did the same as I did in getting certed. I went to Coz and did my referral and 10 ow dives after that. So I got a bit spoiled for the warm water, great viz and abundant marine life.

The biggest shock for me was the viz change. When you go from great down south, to about 20 ft here, until the silt got kicked up and then to zero viz. A bit unnerving when you lose even the surface at depth. But I did what I was supposed to, I lost my buddy, so I stayed where I was for a minute, and then slowly followed the bubbles to the surface.

You will be fine, just remember you can do it, you did your training, and diving cold water is a whole different scene, but remarkably similar. And when you can hold your trim and buoyancy in a 7mm with a hood and gloves on, you smile inside

Thanks Dr Dog,
I'm sorta prepared for the lower viz (Zihuatenejo was pretty cloudy). I'm thinking Tuwanek here for our first cold water dive and drysuit training as I heard it might be a bit clearer and calmer. I know winter is the clearest time, but I'm not a fan of being cold, so figured having drysuit experience before the really cold weather would be smart, so it doesn't completely put me off diving in BC. Ease into it, as it were. Yeah, maintaining buoyancy in a drysuit sounds satisfying. I'm looking forward to the challenge.

 

[spc751]

Hi Liz,

Welcome to the site. Lots of good diving along the west coast I wish I lived closer. I did my drysuit course at Whytecliff with Ocean Quest last Friday and joined their guided dives at Porteau Cove on Saturday. Great shop, well organized.

 

[LizSpinks]

Hi Liz,

Welcome to the site. Lots of good diving along the west coast I wish I lived closer. I did my drysuit course at Whytecliff with Ocean Quest last Friday and joined their guided dives at Porteau Cove on Saturday. Great shop, well organized.

Thanks spc751. I seriously considered Ocean Quest for the dry suit course a few weeks ago, but they told me honestly that the viz at surface was pretty low at this time of year, so I delayed. Maybe Tuwanek will be just as bad, but I read somewhere it was pretty clear, maybe cuz its in an inlet??? I didn't relish trying to learn skills in a drysuit without being able to see the instructor well.
I'm glad you thought they were good. I'm sure I'll be trying their guided dives in the future and maybe the AOW, or other specialty.

 

[rkissick]

Hi Liz,

I just got back from Vancouver and would love to do some diving in the Pacific Northwest at some point, so maybe you can give me some advice when you are a seasoned vet! Regarding your original question, I wanted to put in a recommendation for Bonaire in the Caribbean. It's a decent amount of travel from Vancouver (probably Vancouver => Houston => Bonaire), but it is IDEAL for new divers. My girlfriend is a recently certified diver, and we went there after her certification course in Los Angeles. The water is warm, clear and no currents. There's also incredible shore diving which makes life really easy (and can also make things fairly inexpensive depending on where you want to stay...we stayed at Captain Don's Habitat and had a great experience).

Anyways, just wanted to give you my two cents. Good luck!

Ryan

 

[LizSpinks]

Hi Ryan,
We try to do one or two warm vacations a year. Of course this new scuba hobby will dictate our choices down south from now on. Thanks for the Bonaire mention. I checked out and bookmarked Captain Don's. Looks good. Other than Dominican Republic and Jamaica because of the cheap (ish) all-inclusives (we've been to Mexico and Cuba), we've thought about Belize/Roatan as a plan in the next couple of years.

In the meantime we'll be checking out our backyard. I hope you enjoyed your Vancouver visit. As if we're not already spoiled living here, it's exciting to find out about the great diving. When you and your gf make it back up here, if we're both on ScubaBoard still, I'll be happy to share whatever area knowledge I've picked up!

 

[beaverdivers]

Welcome to SCUBAboard!

I haven't been diving off Vancouver yet, but its on my list.