Dive trip Quebec

Stay, Diving Holidays in Eastern Canada, in Quebec

Can you imagine skiing in the Virgin Islands? Then diving in Eastern Canada must seem very incongruous to you!
If beautiful hikes are to be made in the fall in Quebec with superb landscapes of orange and red forests if snow goose observation in the Cap Tourmente reserve is one of your dadas, why not also take advantage of the excellent opportunities for scuba diving in Eastern Canada?
Diving is a popular activity in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, as well as in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario.
It is even in Ontario that divers are most passionate about visiting shipwrecks, exploring sunken underwater villages, and beautiful river drift dives.
Of course, the water is cold and the visibility varies greatly depending on where you dive, whether it's in a lake, a river or a bay...

Lake diving is world-renowned in these great Ontario lakes, as they account for one-third of all the freshwater on earth. Dives are particularly popular in major lakes Ontario, Erie, Superior, and Huron, and in rivers including the St. Lawrence River.
Wrecks are also part of diving trips in Canada, with the most famous of them being the Empress of Ireland, a transatlantic liner of the Canadian Pacific Steamship. It sank overnight in 1914 while en route to Liverpool in Great Britain.
Divers depart either from the shore or by boat in Fathom Five National Marine Park to visit shipwrecks. Here they explore in shallow depths, two-masted schooners such as China, a passenger steamer, and four small tugboats. This marine reserve also includes caves in Georgian Bay, near Tobermory.
In the harbor area of Tobermory, divers are even allowed to dive from the wharves.

With a large beach along the St. Lawrence River, campgrounds, bicycle paths, hiking trails, boat ramps, and picnic areas, the Thousand Islands region, near Lake Ontario, also has some great diving surprises in store for you.
Villages were submerged to make the St. Lawrence Seaway navigable for transatlantic liners and to build hydroelectric power plants.
Off Macdonell Island, the Lock 21 dive site is one of the best dives in Canada with the remains of Lock 21 and these sunken villages, the Lost Villages.
Diving in Canada is also an opportunity to specialize in local schools with the use of Dry Suit Diver, Wreck Diver, and Drift Diver wetsuit techniques.

Marine species in the area

Dive sites

In the Gulf of St. Lawrence, several wrecks sank near Pointe-au-Père, including the Empress of Ireland, nicknamed Canada's Titanic.This ship had rammed a Norwegian-flagged ship, the Storstad, causing the disappearance of 1,000 people.
Other wrecks to be explored in this area include the Barge, the Germanicus, the Shemogue, and the Frederika Lensen.
In the Thousand Islands Archipelago in Ontario, a magnificent underwater biodiversity reigns among the 1,865 islands located in the middle of the St. Lawrence River.
Very popular for scuba diving, they embody the natural border between the United States and Canada by extending over 80 kilometers.

Some of the islands are Canadian and part of Ontario, while others are American and belong to the state of New York.
Some are 100 square kilometers in size, others are just confetti where migratory seabirds nest.Many dive sites are accessible from the shore for dives on both the Canadian and US sides.
The customs are officially crossed by car with paper control when you go diving from the shore.
If you are diving on a boat from Canada, there is no control.The discovery of villages that were submerged when hydroelectric dams were built awaits you there.Near Kingston, the dive sites contain about 16 wrecks, some of which are the subject of great stories such as the two-masted schooner Fabiola whose crew members escaped the sinking on their way to False Duck Island.

But there are also tragic endings such as on the Manola or the Olive Branchou or the three-masted schooner George A. Marsh, who have suffered significant loss of life.The descent underwater on the wreck of the City of Sheboygan, dating from 1871, is truly impressive.
The owner had overloaded the ship with feldspar ore, and the ship ran aground in a storm in which the entire crew disappeared.Funny stories also circulate, such as the Wolfe Islander steel ferry that was built by the Canadian government as a gift to China. But when China became a communist state, Canada reversed its decision and got rid of the gift.
Another wreck, whose name and past was unknown, took the name of the psychiatric hospital next from which the ship sank: Kingston Psychiatric Hospital or K.P.H. Wreck!

Wooden boats with paddle wheels and steam engines can also be visited, such as the Comet, built-in 1848, and the Cornwall, built-in 1854.
The two-masted schooner the Aloha concentrates a lot of fish and marine life.
Underwater photographers particularly appreciate the steamboat, Queen Mary, for its large propeller, rudder, and fauna as well as the Annie Falconer with its two anchors and helm.
To dive in Quebec, a permit must be taken either by the day or by the month. Quebecers' permits are renewed every 3 years only if they can prove that they have made 10 cold water dives.

Diving is governed by the Fédération Québécoise des Activités Subaquatiques (FQAS) which issues certifications that also allow for equivalencies with international certificates.
Depending on the season, temperatures can fluctuate a lot, especially over such vast territories. In summer, the water surface is certainly warmer. On the other hand, cold currents are present at depth with the famous thermoclines. This forces you to wear a dry suit! The visibility can reach 30 meters in autumn and winter. Summer is the best season to dive in Eastern Canada, although visibility can reach 30 meters in winter, depending on the location.