This is dry suit country. If you can take the cold water, the rewards include an incredible array of filter feeders and marine life that you'll never dive with in warm waters. Vancouver Island, reachable by air or ferry from Seattle or Vancouver, BC, is a remarkable wilderness destination, both on land and in the water. A traveler may encounter anything from eagles to orcas, sea lions to bears, while diving with a remarkable range of critters such as sea lions, seals, wolf eels and giant Pacific octopuses. There are dive resorts in the Campbell River area, and a few liveaboards such as the well-respected Nautilus Explorer plie these waters. Diving is controlled by the enormous tides that dictate when and where the water is moving, so choosing an experience operator is important. Undercurrent readers have reported on other Western Canada dive operations located on Victoria Island and in Whitehorse (Yukon Territory), plus St. Albert and Edmonton (Alberta). Wreck diving is the big draw in Lake Ontario. Truly hardy souls can try ice diving at Baffin Island near the Arctic Circle. There's some diving off the Eastern provinces, such as Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.

British Columbia

Rendezvous, Barkley Sound, B.C., May 1998, Leon Garden, Monterey, CA. Dave and Riata have operated this dive resort, tucked back on a peninsula inside Barkley Sound for 20 years. A large comfortable lodge with 5 double rooms for diver-guests. No strong tidal currents -you dive a fixed schedule . . . 9:30 a.m. boat departs, 10:30 a.m. first dive, 12 noon lunch, 1:30 p.m. second dive, 3:30 back to the lodge. Vis: 20-60 ft., water 46-53 degrees. The boat handled our 8 photographers fairly well. Diving around Vancouver Island may be some of the best (but cool) diving on the west coast of North America. They take good care of divers at Rendezvous. (Ph: 250-720-9306, e-mail: rendvous@island.net)