2000 Chapbook

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.

Ontario, Freshwater

Diver's Den/Deep Obsession, August 1999, Dave Kasper, Ann Arbor, MI. Vis: 20-50 ft: Water: 68-50 degrees. Tobermory is a beautiful tiny, charming harbor town built around two harbors: Little Tub and Big Tub. An inexpensive weekend of shipwreck diving is easy to come by. Grand View Restaurant, Craig's fish and chips (whitefish) and the Sweet Shop are good eating. Three dive shops; 20 well-preserved wooden shipwrecks from the late 1800's, early 1900's. Just scuttled in 1999 is the Niagara II,a 200 ft. long present day freighter, well prepared for penetration diving. Late July through early September are best temperatures. Dry suits needed below 70-80 ft. thermocline, wet suits/glass/okay above. Caverns and caves abound with appropriate C-cards. Recommend diving the Wetmore,King,Philo Scoville,Niagara 11,and snorkeling or diving the Sweepstakes.Book titled "Dive Ontario" tells the history of each wreck (photos), makes Tobermory diving all the more interesting. Deep Obsessionis best dive boat, available direct or through Diver's Den dive shop.

Diver's Den/Harbor View Motel, August 1999 Arthur C. Hulse (ntcc@grove.iup.edu), Kittanning, PA. Vis 20-50 ft. Water: 39 degrees. 6 mm farmer john and dry suit. Restrictions: None. Diver's Den, a nice shop, but check air fills. On a dive to the Arabiamy buddy and I each had only 2000 psi in steel 95's rated for 2600 psi. Not good on a 110 ft., cold (39F), low vis (20 foot) dive. Deep Obsessiona 44-foot steel dive boat, nice, stable, and fast. Captain Larry was great; knows the Lake and the sites. Gave great briefings. Dove deep (Niagara II,Arabia,San Jacinto) and shallow (Wetmore,Sweepstakes) wrecks as well as a number at intermediate depths. Dove Fathom 5 National Park and outside Park boundaries. Tobermory is a nice little town with a few good places to eat. Main item on the menu is whitefish. All cold water diving, fish life minimal.

Vancouver Island

God's Pocket, Port Hardy, B.C., April 1999, Von Jonasson, Gig Harbor, WA. Vis: 80-100 ft. Water: 45-50 degrees. God's Pocket is on a small island at north end of Vancouver Island, hour boat ride out of Port Hardy. Fair visibility and variety of life, it rivals most tropical diving, world class cold water diving. Excellent for photography and videography. Operation is friendly, well run, safe and fun. Food excellent, hearty, plentiful. Accommodations Spartan but comfortable. Above water scenery ruggedly beautiful. Take variety of clothes, weather is unpredictable and can easily range from calm and sunny 80's to stormy, wet 40's. (scuba@istar.ca; Telephone 250-949-9221)

Ogden Pt. Diving Center, Gingerbread B&B (Victoria, BC), September 1999, Carl Rutherford (CarlRuthe@aol.com), Redmond, WA. Vis: 30-50 ft. Water: 50-51 degrees. Sunny. Restrictions: Return when finished, 130 feet. Fresh water rinse tubs too small for even one camera and strobe. One of the best weekends that I have had in the Northwest. After work drove to Canada to catch a ferry to Victoria. We ate on the ferry watching the sunset at a window table. Gingerbread B and B in Victoria; rooms fine, breakfasts were superb. Two tank boat trip was $75 cdn, room $80 cdn and meals were 40% cheaper than the states. Drove 30 minutes in morning to dive the Mackenzieand Churchwrecks by Sydney. They trailered boat up from Victoria. 30 foot aluminum boat made for diving. Entry was easy with two side doors that fell into the water. Two ladders on the stern with good easy steps. Suited up at the dock and rigged our "kits" (had to talk like the locals) before leaving. 10 minute to the Mackenzie,one of 5 destroyers sunk by the government to promote diving. Well buoyed and easy to get to and leave. More growth than the Saskatchewan which I dove last year. Descended on an existing line to mast and covered the whole ship in one dive. Lots of large rock fish and cod, grunt sculpin on the main deck. Lots of good photo ops. Little current. Vis 30-35 ft., bottom 95 feet. The wreck has lots of openings to swim into. Returned to marina for interval and nice restaurant. 8 minute ride to the Church,sank before the destroyer. Great dive, went down bow line, came up stern line. Lot more life on this wreck. Huge lingcod, China rockfish, quillback rockfish, copper rockfish, larger than normal. Large octopus in the open; took off my gloves and played with it while it checked me out with its tentacles. Next day Race Rocks south of Victoria twenty minutes. In the middle of the Straits of Juan De Fuca and prone to currents. Colorful fauna: basket stars, soft corals everywhere. Large ling cods and cabezons, kelp greenlings. West Wall: sea lions were all over us. At the safety stop I positioned myself while hanging onto some kelp, under a female sea lion resting on the surface. Shortly I was surrounded with other sea lions checking me out. Night life was great in Victoria and the trip back on the ferry was beautiful.