Your Guide to Diving Canada

Diving Canada Overview

This is drysuit diving. If you can take the cold water, the rewards include an incredible array of filter feeders and marine life that you'll never find in warmer 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 above water 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 ply these waters. Diving is controlled by the enormous tides that dictate when and where the water is moving, so choosing an experienced operator is important.

Undercurrent readers have reported on other Western Canada dive operations located on Vancouver 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.

Canada Seasonal Dive Planner

Most British Columbia diving takes place from late spring to early fall. The waters of Vancouver’s Inside Passage are protected from the wind but there can be strong localized currents, and water temperature can be as low as 55°F (13°C). In Nova Scotia, the Gulf Stream warms the ocean surface to 64°F (18°C) in summer, but it’s much colder at depth. Canadian diving is snug drysuit diving with a thick hood and gloves.

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Diving Canada Reader Reports and Feature Articles

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Latest Reader Reports from Canada from the serious divers who read Undercurrent All Reader Reports from Canada	All 10,000+ Reports
Big Animal Encounters Report in Canada/Hornby Island "Great viz around Hornby Island" filed Feb 27, 2024 by Marcia Pedersen (Experience: 501-1000 dives, 14 reports, Contributor )
Captain Shannon was awesome! She was helpful, patient, and knowledgeable about the area. The Pacific Ata-tude is a beautiful 30' alumin... ... Read more
Browning Pass Hideaway Report in Canada "World's Worst Dive Resort" filed Sep 24, 2022 by Mr Brent Woods (Experience: 501-1000 dives, 22 reports, Sr. Contributor )
After I had finished unloading my dive gear from my car at the Port Hardy dock, a rusty vehicle pulled up behind me and a man who looke... ... Read more
Rendezvous Dive Adventures Report in Canada "Good, but not great" filed Oct 15, 2019 by Terramoto (Experience: 501-1000 dives, 4 reports, Reviewer )
The bedrooms are quite cramped and w/o a closet, clothes drawers or enough clothes hooks to hang your clothes we left most of our cloth... ... Read more
Divers Den Report in Canada/Tobermory "Great Lakes Wrecks" filed Aug 27, 2019 by Richard Jones (Experience: Over 1000 dives, 6 reports, Reviewer )
Divers Den is very well run and a friendly place. They accomadate you as well as possible. The town of Tobermory has many good, but no ... ... Read more
Divercity Scuba Report in Canada/Manitoba "Westhawk Lake, Whiteshell Provincial Park" filed Aug 14, 2019 by R Howard (Experience: 251-500 dives, 4 reports, Reviewer )
Westhawk Lake is a fresh water meteor crater lake near the Manitoba Ontario boarder. The dive site in this report is a training area th... ... Read more

Editor's Book Picks for Scuba Diving Canada

The books below are my favorites about diving in this part of the world All books are available at a significant discount from Amazon.com; just follow the links. -- BD

Beneath Cold Seas: The Underwater Wilderness of the Pacific Northwest
by David Hall

It's hard enough to take a first-rate photo of reef life in the best of conditions. Try doing it in murky, bone-numbingly cold water while wearing a dry suit with 40-plus pounds of weights around your waist, and thick, insulating gloves that make it hard to use the camera controls. That's what David Hall had to endure while photographing in Canadian waters, but those physical disadvantages make Beneath Cold Seas all the more amazing.

Hall's book successfully disputes the belief that cold-water reefs are drab and dismal. He has regularly photographed the world's most beautiful dive spots for major magazines from National Geographic to Time. While Hall's shots are taken entirely at Browning Passage in British Columbia, the reef life he shoots resides along the Pacific Coast, from Northern California up to Alaska, and they are as diverse and spectacular as any creature in Raja Ampat or Fiji.

Click here to buy it at Amazon via our website -- our profits go to save the reefs.

Reef Fish Identification: Baja to Panama
by Paul Humann and Ned Deloach

The latest edition in the popular Paul Humann series of marine life books. The most comprehensive field guide ever compiled for identifying reef fishes from the Gulf of California to the Pacific coast of Panama, including offshore islands. More than 500 photographs of 400 species taken in their natural habitat. The book is dedicated to Baja Legend Alex Kerstitch and includes several of his drawings and photographs. The concise text accompanying each species portrait includes the fish’s common, scientific and family names, size range, description, visually distinctive features, preferred habitat, typical behavior, depth range, and geographical distribution.

Click here to buy it at Amazon.

The Devil's Teeth: a true story of Obsession and Survival among America's Great White Sharks:
by Susan Casey

Perhaps the greatest gathering of great white sharks in the world is at the Farallon islands, 26 miles from San Francisco. Researchers have tracked and studied them for years and at least one diver still collects sea urchins in the midst of their gatherings. Journalist Susan Casey lived on these barren islands to write a fascinating, awe-struck account of the sharks, their amazing behavior, their killing strategies, their long distance travels, and life with the researchers. Click on this Undercurrent link to purchase the 304-page, hardbound, The Devil's Teeth at Amazon.com's best price, and all our proceeds will go to coral reef conservation.

An American Underwater Odyssey: 50 Dives in 50 States
: by Charles Ballinger.

Underwater Odyssey is the story of a scuba diving safari to every state in America. Tired of touring coral reefs, the author embarks on a year-long quest to discover the incredible assortment of adventure diving found in our nation's backyard. His dogged determination to follow his dreams and explore everything from flooded missile sites to abandoned mines should be an inspiration for any diver. Underwater Odyssey transcends the limits of a dive guide to reveal the broader adventure that diving provides.

Click here to buy it at Amazon.

There's a Cockroach in My Regulator
by Undercurrent

The Best of Undercurrent: Bizarre and Brilliant True Diving Tales from Thirty Years of Undercurrent.

Shipping now is our brand new, 240-page book filled with the best of the unusual, the entertaining, and the jaw dropping stories Undercurrent has published. They’re true, often unbelievable, and always fascinating. We’re offering it to you now for the special price of just $14.95.

Click here to order.

You might find some other books of interest in our Editor's Book Picks section.