Vancouver Island Travel Forum

Hi folks,
I’m planning to visit Vancouver Island for about 11 days in September. I was hoping to get a flight to Tofino and spend some time there and in Bamfield (total of 4 days). Are these good places to scuba dive?
Next I plan to make my way via Port Alberni using the Lady rose marine service and onto Nanaimo, where I expect to spend a day. Was thinking of travelling to either Hornby Island or Cortes Island for some more diving and wilflie watching? Any reasons why I should choose one over the other? Then perhaps paying Campbell River a visit and finally onto Victoria for a restful day before flying onto the Rockies.
I'm planning to rely on public tranport.
Was hoping for some ideas on how to plan the travelling aspects of the trip and any suggestions on where the great places to scuba dive are? All advice welcome,
Thanks
Brendan

I have never heard of good diving on the West coat of the island but there are some great places on the East side around Campbell River. Also, the sunshine coast from Powell River to Gibsons has many excellent dive sites. I would suggest that when you are finished on Vancouver Island then take the ferry from Comox to Powell River and then make your way down to Vancouver (I assume you are flying out of Vancouver).

Desolation Sound has THE best cold water diving in the world.

Tofino and Ucluelet are north of Barkley Sound and Bamfield is on the south. I don't know of any regular transportation between them, but you might email one of the B&B operators or dive companies in the area, they should know.

I think Nanaimo has some good diving too. A google search will turn up lots of information and contacts.

Quadra and Cortes Islands are very laid-back, eco-friendly places great for kayaking, cycling and no doubt great for scuba as well. Much more off the beaten track than Nanaimo. I see from their website that Cortes has a ride-sharing program. You might want to make sure that it's still on.

http://www.cortesisland.com/cgi-bin/tideline/show_home.cgi

Hornby is smaller, very low key, a lot of the people from its hippie colony days still live there. It's locally known for its nude beach, but most of the people there have been there since the 60's, so don't expect it to be like the south of France!

I'm not a diver, so I suggest you contact Vancouver Island dive clubs, dive companies and forums for info on sites. http://www.coastalbc.com/dive/index.htm

Check out this site for a great description about Vancouver Island scuba diving. http://vancouverisland.com/recreation/?ID=21.

This is what they say about Hornby Island:
At Hornby Island, from May to September you can see six-gill sharks off Flora Island, the only location in the Strait of Georgia to do so - its rated among the top 10 dive sites in B.C.
Sounds like a good spot for sure!

They cover all the areas you are thinking of travelling so check it out. Of note, in Chemainus which is 35 mins. south of Nanaimo they just sunk a Beoing 737 a few weeks ago with the intention of drawing divers to this area. http://www.divemaster.ca/boeing/ for more info.

All the best.