coastal waters of Vancouver island and north of Van along the sunshine coast are touted as being the best diving in the world. yes there colder but you buy a thicker dive suit. I used to dive but had to give it up after developing sinus problems.. now that I have had corrective surgery I wonder if I could do it again.

Steve

Off Hornby Island you can dive to a spot where you can (apparently) sometimes see six-gill sharks. This (to me) is interesting because it's apparently the only spot where they're found in water as shallow as that and it's the only spot in the world where they come into non-tropical waters or something like that.

Sam, I looked at the Contiki site, it looks like the learn-to-dive trip will be the Great Barrier Reef? That's probably worth it. Last time I made it down to GBR was 2001 and I can't wait to go again. Truly magnificent stuff. Only drawback to GBR is that you have to boat it out to the reef, along most places of the shoreline it's solidly offshore (e.g., an hour's boat ride) (there are parts where the reef touches the coastline but those places are closely guarded secrets, plus very inaccessible and treacherous accesses usually). As opposed to some good dive destinations (Cozumel, Fiji, Carribean) where you can walk offshore and see reef. But the reef is probaby one of the most amazing sites you'll see in a lifetime, so it's totally worth it. Man, I hope I can go back there soon. (Sigh....... :exclaim: )

samw i just picked up the new prodiver mag and it has a hole section on great vacation dive spots in the world.

The six gill shark is normally a deep water shark but for what ever reason they come up to about 130 ft in for a short period of time in the summer. Barkley Sound is another place where you can dive with the six gills.
It's true, IMO, Canada's west coast some of the best diving in the world. The soft corals, anemones and sponges are incredible. To see the giant Pacific octopus of have the wolf eels greet you and come out to play is beyond belief. Yes the water is cold and yes it can be murky but the abundance of live in the nutrient rich water makes it all worthwhile.
You have to see it to believe it.

Definitly dive here!! Even something as basic as Whytecliff park in West Van can be an incredible dive..We did our advanced there and had a seal do the whole dive right beside us..really cool considering it was night time and pitch black..Side note: the girl who died off of Campbell River a few years ago, got certified in warm waters and died on her first cold water dive here in B.C. It is a totally differnet way of diving, weighting yourself, potential problems, currents, visibility,..etc..I definitly recomend getting certified here. Diving anywhere else in the world will be a cake walk. And YES, being face to face with 6ft wolf eels and diving through massive white plume anenomes, and getting chased by 40lb breeding Ling Cod is an absolute thrill, and only experienced on our beatiful West Coast.
Joel