Joe

Updated August 10, 2022

This is the fifty-seventh in a series of reviews of the best dive resort locations around the world.  In this post, the focus is Howe Sound, Vancouver, Canada.

In addition to this series on dive resort locations, the best worldwide liveaboard dive locations and services are reviewed in their own series.  To check them out, or others in this series, click on Liveaboards/Resorts on the menu at the top and choose a title from the list.

Have you ever been diving in Howe Sound before?  If so, I’d love to know about your experience.  What dive shop or liveaboard did you use?  Which dive spots are the best and what are the conditions there regarding the visibility, current, water temperature, sealife attractions, etc.?  Please post your response in the comments section at the bottom and we’ll all learn something we can use.

Scuba Diving British Columbia – Howe Sound

Location

Howe Sound is an unincorporated area within 30-40 minutes from downtown Vancouver on Highway 1 via the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge or on Highway 99 crossing the Lionsgate Bridge.  Highway 99 follows along the entire east coast of Howe Sound providing shore access to many dive sites and continues all the way past it and on up to Mt. Whistler.  Ferries are available to cross the bay and to several of the islands.  Most of the diving is done from the eastern shore or from boats predominantly using the marina in Horseshoe Bay.

Undersea World

When most people think about Vancouver diving, the first thing that comes to mind is diving on Vancouver Island.  Not many are aware that within a few minutes of downtown Vancouver is a surprising variety of dive sites to satisfy all levels of divers from the most experienced to an absolute newbie.  There are dozens of sites right off the shore along Highway 99 from Larsen Bay all the way past Porteau and dozens more easily accessible by boat within an hour.

Steep walls, pinnacles, wrecks, and sandy bottoms provide excellent habitats for over 200 marine animals.  Many are marine protected areas and some have mooring buoys to preserve the rich invertebrate life including egg-yolk jellyfish, gorgonians, and multiple species of anemone, crab, shrimp, nudibranch, barnacle, sea star, tubeworms, and many others.  The reefs are also home to giant Pacific octopus, wolf eels, rockfish, lingcod, six-gill sharks, dogfish, sculpins, Steller sea lions, harbor seals, and several species of whale and dolphin.

For my reviews of other Pacific Northwest scuba diving areas, please check out these posts:

• Great Vancouver Island Diving Nanaimo
• Best San Juan Islands Holidays Scuba Diving

For more information about Pacific Northwest marine life, please check out this book review:

• Best Scuba Diving Books – Pacific Northwest Marine Life

Seasons and Conditions

It is possible to dive year-round, but obviously, it is quite a bit cooler in the winter.

Air temperatures reach average highs of 7°C (45°F) in December and January and 22°C (72°F) in July and August.

Water temperatures reach highs of 12-18°C (54-64°F) in summer and 6-9°C (43-49°F) in winter.  A few divers will go with a 7 mm wetsuit in summer, but most will opt for a dry suit, heavy hoods, and gloves year-round.

The driest time of the year is from May through September.

Visibility is quite variable based on the tide, algal blooms, and wind.  It tends to be best in winter reaching 21 meters (70 feet). The range in summer is from 3-15 meters (10-50 feet).  At slack tide, visibility tends to be better.

The biggest tidal exchanges are in the spring and fall which affect the current, though it is not usually strong.

Diving is available to suit all levels.

There are a number of dive shops operating in Vancouver that provide a full range of dive courses, equipment rental, and guiding from shore and by boat in Howe Sound.

For my reviews and information about cold water gear please click on the following post:

• Best Cold Water Scuba Diving Equipment

A Sampling of Howe Sound Diving Sites

Whytecliff Park: 3 or more sites in the park located near the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal, most diving from 12-18 meters (40-60 feet), good training area, shore entry with sandy areas, overhangs, walls, rich encrusting life, plumose anemones, red rock, hermit, and decorator crabs, rockfish, sole, gobies, sun stars, sea cucumbers, octopus, perhaps a six-gill shark or harbor seal, sites for all levels

Ansel Point: 24 meters (80 feet), somewhat difficult shore access, can access by boat, a rich site with a steep wall, lots of macro critters including golf ball crabs, squat lobsters, wolf eels, possible harbor seals, experienced level

Bowen Island: multiple dives around this big island, some require boat access, some are possible from shore, one site near Mannion Bay boasts many small red octopus, sole, sea cucumbers, crabs, and others at depths of 15-18 meters (50-60 feet), all levels

HMCS Annapolis: 32 meters (105 feet) maximum depth, 114-meter (371-foot) Canadian Helicopter Carrying Destroyer commissioned in 1964, sunk as an artificial reef in 2015, sitting upright in Halkett Bay, some soft corals and fish have started the reef-building process, some easy penetration, experienced level

Kelvin Grove: 25 meters (83 feet), located in a park in a residential area, protected bay with a steep wall, shore entry, boot and cloud sponges, some deeper than 24 meters (80 feet), many nooks and crannies, octopus, war bonnets, experienced level

VT-100 (Vancouver Tugboat 100): 15 meters (50 feet), originally was the HMCS Cranbrook, a minesweeper, easy shore entry, sunk after a fire in the 1950s, much deteriorated, red jellyfish, white nudibranchs, sea perch, flounder, Dungeness crabs, all levels

Porteau Cove: 11-17 meters (33-55 feet), marine protected park with 3 yellow marker buoys and several sites, can enter and descend immediately from steps or swim out to the buoys and then descend, sites include a sunken barge, the Granthall, a sailboat hull, the Centennial, several concrete pillars known as the Leaning Tower of Porteau, crabs, sea pens, tunicates, dogfish, octopus, lingcod, rockfish, all levels

Furry Creek: near residential area beyond Porteau Cove, easy shore entry, a wall with many nooks, golf ball crabs, squat lobsters, longhorn decorator crabs, all levels

Vancouver Photos

With the interesting underwater terrain, wrecks, colorful corals, encrusting invertebrates, crabs, octopus, and other macro critters, schools of fish, and fascinating scenery and historical sites on land, as well, there are many excellent photo opportunities.  For information and reviews of dive cameras, click here:

• Best Underwater Cameras Compared and Reviewed

Vancouver Transportation, Dive Shops, & Lodging

Transportation

Vancouver has a multifaceted modern transportation system.

The City of Richmond is the home of Vancouver International Airport with flights from around the world.

An extensive subway system, rail service, bus service, streetcars, and taxis are all available.

Car rental is popular and a bike-share scheme has recently been set up.

Dive Shops & Lodging

A number of dive shops operating in Vancouver year round provide a full range of services including equipment rental, dive courses, guiding, and boat dive cruises.  Some will arrange complete transportation from your hotel.

Hundreds of hotels and resorts are available in every class from $17 to $2,384 per night.  The website linked below is a good source for the available options and can arrange a booking.  Their rates are the lowest and it is free to cancel or change dates.

• Vancouver Resorts

Things to Do in Vancouver (aside from scuba diving)

Vancouver is considered one of the world’s most livable cities with fabulous cultural and natural attractions.  Here is a sample of some things to do when you are not diving:  check out the Museum of Anthropology, make the scenic drive up 99 past Howe Sound to Mt. Whistler and go skiing, hike the “Grouse Grind,” cycle Stanley Park, Shop in Gastown, enjoy authentic Chinese food in Chinatown, kayak in Deep Cove, have High Tea at the Fairmont Hotel, shop at Granville Public Market or Richmond Night Market, Hike Lynn Canyon, visit Van Dusen Botanical Gardens or the Vancouver Aquarium, listen to music at the Commodore Ballroom, watch a Canucks hockey game, run in Spirit Park, tour Christ Church Cathedral, eat lunch on Commercial Drive . . . . . .   Check out the video below for a glimpse of life in Vancouver and a few additional leisure options.

Scuba Diving Trip Insurance

A cushion for emergencies provides peace of mind when on vacation.  I recommend this diving insurance as they have worldwide coverage and provide scuba divers quality insurance and medical assistance service.

Feedback and Comments

I hope you found this post on Howe Sound scuba diving interesting and useful. If you have any questions or ideas, please feel free to share them in the comments section.  I’d love to know of any experience you have diving there.  If there is no comments section directly below, click here:  >>comments<<

Updated April 20, 2022

This is the thirty-third in a series of reviews of the best scuba diving destinations around the world.  In this post, the focus is on Dominica.

In addition to this series on dive resort locations, the best worldwide liveaboard dive locations and services are reviewed in their own series.  To check them out, or others in this series, click on Liveaboards / Resorts on the menu at the top and choose a title from the list.

Have you ever been scuba diving in Dominica?  If so, I’d love to know about your experience.  What dive shop or liveaboard did you use?  Which dive spots are the best and what are the conditions there regarding the visibility, current, water temperature, sealife attractions, etc.?  Please post your response in the comments section at the bottom and we’ll all learn something we can use.

The Best Diving in Dominica

Location

Situated in the Lesser Antilles between the Windward Islands of Guadalupe and Martinique, Dominica is geologically the youngest of the group.  Formed by volcanic activity, geothermal forces in the form of hot springs are still evident at Boiling Lake and the Champagne dive site.  There are 300 miles (188 km) of trails running through the lush mountain rainforest with hundreds of waterfalls and rivers and endemic creatures like the national bird, the Sisserou Parrot.  The Republic covers 290 square miles (750 square kilometers) with a population of 72,000 English-speaking citizens.  Creole, a French-based language, and Kokay, an English-based one, are also spoken.  A small group descended from the original Carib Indians still has a small settlement on the eastern side.

In comparison to the other island nations in the region, Dominica has a low per capita GDP with its foundation mostly in bananas and agriculture. A major economic initiative started in 2006 which pushed into new fruits, coffee, patchouli, aloe vera, and a few other crops, and an emphasis on offshore and financial services, and tourism.  Without a lot of sandy beaches, ecotourism has been a focus.

For more demographic, geographical, and cultural information on Dominica, click here: Dominica (Wikipedia)

Undersea World

Recognized by many as one of the top 10 dive areas in the world, Dominica is known for beautiful coral reefs, volcanic subsea terrain with hot springs, and a rich variety of marine life including 22 species of whale.  Most of the best sites are on the west side where currents are mild, with the most sites in the southwest section.

The volcanic topography includes canyons, volcanic craters, steep walls, arches, pinnacles, and bubbles emerging from hot springs in several locations.  The encrusting invertebrate life is impressive with rich hard and soft corals, gorgonians, huge barrel sponges, and other colorful tube and pipe sponges.

Several marine sanctuaries help preserve the pristine marine life which includes a long list of highlights including macro critters like seahorses, frogfish, flying gurnards, huge crabs, spiny lobsters, scorpionfish, octopus, reef squid, moray eels, spotted flamingo tongue snails, and Peterson cleaner shrimp.  There are reef tropicals like sargassum triggerfish, French grunts, parrotfish, pufferfish, yellowtail and mahogany snappers, blackbar soldierfish, black durgons, Creole wrasses, and chub along with barracuda, jacks, stingrays, eagle rays, nurse sharks, 4 species of turtles, spinner dolphins, 22 species of whale, with sperm whales in residence year-round.

Seasons and Conditions

It is warm year-round with daytime temperatures between 24-32°C (75-90°F).  The mountains are a bit cooler.  Accordingly, water temperatures are also warm in a tight range of 26-29°C (78-84°F).  The best time to dive is from December to May.  July to October is the rainy season with the dry from December to April.   Visibility is generally quite good at 18-30 meters (60-100 feet) with the low end coming during rains.  Current is mild to non-existent most of the time but can be strong.

Liveaboard Diving

Dominica is not an area renowned for liveaboard diving, but there are many cruises in other areas around the Caribbean.  Below are several great yachts to check out:

Avalon II, Jardines de la Reina Liveaboard Diving – Check the Price & Details

Turks & Caicos Explorer II, Turks & Caicos Liveaboard Diving – Check the Price & Details

Bahamas Master, Bahamas Liveaboard Diving – Check the Price & Details

Belize Aggressor III, Belize Liveaboard Diving – Check the Price & Details

For reviews of diving in eastern Florida and other Caribbean locations, please check out these posts:

• Scuba Diving in Islamorada Florida
• Scuba Diving on Key West Florida
• Best Scuba Diving Key Largo Florida
• Scuba Diving West Palm Beach Florida
• Ft. Lauderdale Scuba Diving
• Scuba Diving St. Barts
• Scuba Diving St. Eustatius
• Scuba Diving in Saba
• Scuba Diving St Kitts and Nevis
• Best Scuba Diving St. Martin
• Scuba Diving Ambergris Caye Belize
• Best Guadeloupe Scuba Diving
• Anguilla Scuba Diving
• Scuba Diving in Antigua and Barbuda
• Best Scuba Diving Jamaica
• Scuba Diving Cuba Best Dive Sites Cuba
• Best Cuba Scuba Diving Liveaboard Jardines de la Reina
• Scuba Diving the Dominican Republic
• Best Scuba Diving Panama
• Banco Chinchorro Diving Mexico
• Scuba Diving Playa Del Carmen
• Scuba Diving Tulum Mexico
• Cozumel Scuba Diving Review
• Scuba Diving Cancun Mexico
• Best Scuba Diving Puerto Rico
• Scuba Diving St Vincent and the Grenadines Review
• St. Lucia Scuba Diving Review
• Turks and Caicos Scuba Diving Review
• Best US Virgin Islands Vacations Scuba Diving
• Best Trinidad and Tobago Vacations Scuba Diving
• Best Caribbean Beach Vacations Curacao Scuba Diving
• Best Caribbean Diving Destinations Aruba
• Best Caribbean Dive Vacations Bonaire
• Best Caribbean Scuba Diving Los Roques Venezuela
• Barbados Scuba Dive Vacations
• Grenada Scuba Diving Review
• Best Scuba Diving Caribbean – Martinique
• Best British Virgin Island Diving Liveaboard
• Best Bahamas Liveaboard Scuba Vacations
• Best Belize Dive Trips & Cocos Island Diving

Selected Dominica Dive Sites

Southwest Sites

Champagne Reef: 5 meters (15 feet), hot springs bubbles, light current, can do multilevel dive around the deeper exterior with safety stop on the springs, seahorses, frogfish, flying gurnards, squid, huge crabs and lobster, scorpionfish, octopus, stoplight parrotfish, turtles, good night dive, possible stingrays and eagle rays, all levels

Scott’s Head Pinnacle: to 40 meters (130 feet), unusual topography with a large rock formation called Swiss Cheese and a swim-through called Soldierfish Cave, bisecting a pinnacle beginning at 10 meters (35 feet), to the wall of the interior of a crater that goes to 40 meters (130 feet), gorgonians, lobster, big schools of blackbar soldierfish, experienced level

L’Abym (La Sourcier): wall from 12 meters (40 feet) to 450 meters (1500 feet), rock shelf at 8 meters (25 feet), sheer drop off, sponges, coral, lots of fish, seahorses, turtles, barracuda, sargassum triggerfish, possible hammerhead sharks, little current, experienced level

West Central Sites

Nose Reef and Whaleshark Reef: 18-40 meters (60-130 feet), huge and colorful barrel and tube sponges, banded and Peterson cleaner shrimps, nudibranchs, arrow crabs, spotted flamingo tongue snails, a vertical wall at Whaleshark Reef, Spanish mackerel, amberjacks, turtles, experienced level

Rina’s Hole: shallow, swim-through to a rocky formation, encrusting corals, sea fans, giant anemones, sea plume beds, moray eels, great macro critters, schools of chub, stingrays, eagle rays, nurse sharks, sandy bottom, bright and colorful, beginner level

Five Finger Rock: to 30 meters (100 feet), rocks sticking out of the water resemble fingers, rock and coral slope to 30 meters (100 feet), big barrel sponges, lots of small reef fish like shoaling chromis, copper sweepers, rock beauties, butterflyfish, wrasses, trunkfish, goatfish, bigeyes, turtles, experienced level

Northwest Sites

Toucari Bay: 12 meters (40 feet) to 33 meters (110 feet), a honeycomb of tunnels, 8-13 meters (25-45 feet long) at 12 meters (40 feet), rich corals, frogfish, big crabs, mahogany snapper, French grunts, parrotfish, pufferfish, octopus, moray eels, squid, rays, lobster, trumpetfish, parrotfish, drops off to 33 meters (110 feet), good night dive, beginner level

Douglas Point: several sites, canyons, tunnels, and rocky areas with rich corals and sponges, drop-offs with landings at 15 meters (50 feet) and 55 meters (180 feet), flying gurnards, moray eels, lobsters, large reef fish, barracuda, mackerel, experienced level

Point Ronde and the Craters: gentle sloping reef to 21 meters (70 feet) and the Craters, from there drops off to 27 meters (90 feet) and then 36 meters (120 feet), pristine rich marine life, warm sand with occasional escaping, bubbles, experienced level

Dominica Photos

With the macro life, beautiful, diverse coral reef, and lots of fish, there are many excellent photo opportunities.  For information and reviews of diving cameras, including the Panasonic GH5 used in the above video, click here:

• Best Underwater Cameras Compared and Reviewed
• Best Waterproof Cameras

Dominica Transportation, Lodging, and Diving Services

Transportation

There are two regional airports in Dominica: Douglas-Charles Airport, previously called Melville Hall Airport, in the northeast, and Canefield Airport near Roseau.  They handle flights from Puerto Rico and other Caribbean Airports.

On Dominica, there is a system of convenient and reasonably priced minibusses for transportation around and across the island.

Lodging and Dive Shops

Many of the available hotels are located in the Roseau area and start from $50/night on up.  As for diving, there are several dive shops, most of which are in the southwest area near Roseau.  Anchorage Hotel also has an in-house dive center.

This website is a good source for the available options and can arrange a booking:

• Dominica Resorts

Dominica Things To Do (aside from scuba diving)

The natural environment featuring volcanic activity is the main attraction, aside from diving.  There are many waterfalls including Trafalgar Falls, Victoria Falls, and Emerald Pool.  Morne Trois Pitons National Park has Boiling Lake.  Geothermal springs, known as sulfur springs are available in many locations. Hiking into the mountains or along the coastline is popular.  Of course cruises and beach and seaside activities including whale watching are awaiting. There are various tours, historic sites, botanical gardens, markets, restaurants, and city activities in Roseau. Popular sports are cricket, netball, basketball, rugby, tennis, and soccer. This list leaves out quite a few.  Check out the video below.

Scuba Diving Trip Insurance

A cushion for emergencies provides peace of mind when on vacation.  I recommend this diving insurance as they have worldwide coverage and provide scuba divers quality insurance and medical assistance service.

Feedback and Comments

I hope you found this post on Dominica scuba diving interesting and useful. If you have any questions or ideas, please feel free to share them in the comments section.  I’d love to know of any experience you have diving there.  If there is no comments section directly below, click here:  >>comments<<