Dive Review of
Dynamike Dive Charters in
Canada/Quadra Island, BC

 All over the Caribeean, Boanire, Curacoa, Mexico (both coasts), Galapagos,
Greece, Tahiti, Cook Islands, Fiji and Canada's West Coast. 

Dive Conditions

Lots of freedom for experienced divers.  Suggested "restrictions"
for divers with lessor experience.  

[None]  

Overall Rating

This was my second trip to Mike and Darlene Richmond's dive operation on
Quadra Island, BC., and certainly will not be my last - this is a great
dive operation.  The lodge is about a 4 minute ride from the marina and is
set back amongst the tall cedar trees, so it is a very quiet place to be
once the divers pack it in for the night.  A converted logger crew truck
takes the divers to and from the marina.  The accomodations are very
comfortable, with the divers having their own spaceous walk-out floor at
the lodge. There are 5 bedrooms which can handle 10 people, and a hot tub
for 8. The food is just so good and plentiful - you will not go hungry
there!  

The dive boat is about 25 feet long and can comfortably take up to 12
divers.  The dive ladders accomodate fins and Mike is always there to help
anyone out of the water. Longest time to any of the dive sites we visited
this trip was about 30 minutes.  The boat also has on-board storage lockers
so that divers can safely leave everything but their exposure suits on
board if they chose.  
Mike Richmond has a good selection of dive sites to chose from including
walls, wrecks, and terraces, and current/drift dives.  He has also been a
strong voice in protecting the marine life in the area for a couple of
decades now.  Mike can adapt on the fly once he gets a feel for the
experience levels of the divers.  He has a quiet engaging manner with his
guests and provides help to those of lessor experience in a nice easy going
way.  

The marine life is fascinating.  Lots of interesting critters on the walls
and in crevices.  Numerous types of fish, with the biggest I saw being
about 4 feet. I did not go much below 70 feet for any of my dives, so I
likely missed the bigger fish.  Only saw one octopus this time, and that
was during the night dive.    No wolf eels this time, although there were
signs that they were about.  There were some particlualy interesting areas
where we would pass through areas completely covered in soft corals,
anemoes, barnacles, crabs, feather worms, etc. and then hit an area with
very little life on it other than urchins.  The healthy areas seem to have
expanded since my dives with Dynamike two years ago.  We did the wreck of
the HMCS Columbia and it looked even better for sea life than it did when I
was on it in April.  My favourites would be Copper Cliffs and Steep
Island.

Chances are you will not see much in the way of advertsing about this
place other than the website, as the majority of Dynamike's business is
repeat customer.  Bookings are typically 1-year ahead to get the time spot
you want.  Needless to say our 2005 time slot has been already reserved.

 

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